Bel and the Dragon — The Coverdale Bible (1535)

Bel and the Dragon is the Greek addition to Daniel in which Daniel exposes the idol Bel and destroys the dragon of Babylon. In Coverdale’s Bible of 1535 it stands in the Apocrypha, which Coverdale gathered into a section of their own under the heading “The story of Bel, which is the xiiij. Chapter of Daniel after the Latin”. It is printed without chapter or verse divisions, so the text keeps its own paragraphs, with the marginal notes and references printed at the end.

[A] THere was at Babilon an ymage, called Bel: and there were spent vpon him euery daye, xij. cakes, xl. shepe, and sixe greate pottes of wine. Him dyd the kynge worshipe himself, and wente daylie to honoʳ him: but Daniel worshiped his owne God. And the kynge sayde vnto him: Why dost not thou worshipe Bel?⁽¹⁾ he answered and sayde: Because I maye not worshipe thinges, that be made wᵗ hondes, but the lyuynge God, which made heauen and earth, and hath power vpon all flesh. The kynge sayde vnto him: thinkest thou not, yᵗ Bel is a lyuynge God? Or seist thou not, how moch he eateth and drynketh euery daye? Daniel smyled, and sayde: O kynge, disceaue not thyselfe: This is but made of claye within, and of metall without, nether eateth he euer eny thinge.⁽²⁾

Then the kynge was wroth, and called [B] for his prestes, and sayde vnto them: Yf ye tell me not who this is, that eateth vp these expenses, ye shal dye: But yf ye can certifie me, that Bel eateth them, then Daniel shall dye,⁽³⁾ for he hath spoken blasphemy agaynst Bel. And Daniel sayde vnto the kynge: let it so be, acordinge as thou hast sayde. The prestes of Bel were lxx. besyde their wyues and children. And the kynge wente with Daniel in to the temple of Bel. So Bels prestes sayde: Lo, we wil go out, & set thou yᵉ meate there (O kynge) & poure in the wyne: then shutt the dore fast, and seale it with thine owne signet: and tomorow when thou commest in, yf thou fyndest not, that Bel hath eaten vp all, we wil suffre death: or els daniel, that hath lyed vpon vs. The prestes thought them selues sure ynough, for vnder yᵉ altare they had [C] made a preuy intraunce, & there wente they in euer, and ate vp what there was.

So when they were gone forth, the kynge set meates before Bel. Now Daniel had cōmaunded his seruauntes to bringe aszshes and these he siffted thorow out all the temple, that the kynge might se. Then wente they out, & sparre the dore, sealinge it with yᵉ kynges signet, and so departed. In yᵉ night came the prestes with their wyues and children (as they were wonte to do) and ate and dronke vp all. In the mornynge be tymes at the breake of the daye, the kynge arose, & Daniel with him. And the kynge sayde: Daniel, are the seales whole yet? He answered: Yee (o kynge) they be whole. Now as soone as he had opened the dore, the kinge loked vnto yᵉ altare, and cried with a loude voyce: Greate art thou o Bel, and with the is no disceate. Then laughed Daniel, and helde the kynge, that he shulde not go in, and sayde: Beholde the pauement, marcke well, whose fotesteppes are these? The kynge sayde: I se the fotesteppes of men, women and children.

Therfore the kynge was angrie, and toke [D] the prestes, with their wyues and childrē, & they shewed him yᵉ preuy dores, where they came in, & ate vp soch thinges as were vpon yᵉ altare.⁽⁴⁾ For the which cause yᵉ kynge slewe them, & delyuered Bel in to Daniels power, which destroyed him and his temple.

And in that same place there was a greate dragon, which they of Babilon worshipped. And yᵉ kynge sayde vnto Daniel: sayest thou, yᵗ this is but a god of metall also? lo, he liueth, he eateth & drinketh: so yᵗ thou cāst not saye, that he is no lyuinge God, therfore worshipe him. Daniel sayde vnto yᵉ kinge: I wil worshipe the LORDE my God,⁽⁵⁾ he is yᵉ truelyuynge God: as for this, he is not the God of life. But geue me leaue (o kynge) & I shal destroye this dragon without swearde or staff. The kynge sayde: I geue yᵉ leaue. Then Daniel toke pitch, fatte and hairie woll, and did seyth them together, and made lompes therof: this he put in yᵉ Dragōs mouth, and so yᵉ dragon barst in sonder: and Daniel sayde: lo, there is he whom ye worshipped.

When they of Babylon herde that, they [E] toke greate indignacion, and gathered them together agaynst the kynge, sayenge: The kynge is become a Iewe also, he hath destroyed Bel, he hath slayne yᵉ Dragon, and put the prestes to death. So they came to yᵉ kynge, & sayde: let us haue Daniel, or els we wil destroye the and thine house.

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Now whan yᵉ kynge sawe, that they russhed in so sore vpon him, & that necessite constrained him,⁽⁶⁾ he deliuered Daniel vnto them: which cast him in to the lyons denne, where he was sixe dayes. In the denne there were seuen lyons, and they had geuen them euery daye two bodies and two shepe: which then were not geuē them, that they might deuoure Daniel.

[F] There was in Iewry a prophet called Abacuc, which had made potage, and broker bred in a depe platter, and was goinge in to the felde, for to brynge it to yᵉ mowers. But the angell of the LORDE sayde vnto Abacuc: go cary the meate that thou hast in to Babilon, vnto Daniel, which is in yᵉ lyōs denne. And Abacuc sayde: LORDE, I neuer sawe Babilon: and as for the denne, I knowe it not.⁽⁷⁾ Then the angel of the LORDE toke him by the toppe, and bare him by the hayre of the heade, and (thorow a mightie wynde) set him in Babilon vpon the denne. And Abacuc cried, sayenge: O Daniel thou seruaunt of God,⁽⁸⁾ haue, take the breakfast, yᵗ God hath sent yᵉ. And Daniel saide: O God, hast thou thought vpon me? wel, thou neuer faylest them that loue the. So Daniel arose, & ate: and the angel of the LORDE set Abacuc in his owne place agayne immediatly.

[G] Vpon the seuenth daye, the kynge wente to bewepe Daniel: and whan he came to the denne, he loked in: and beholde, Daniel sat in the myddest of the lyons. Then cried yᵉ kynge with a loude voyce, sayenge: Greate art thou,⁽⁹⁾ o LORDE God of Daniel: & he drewe him out of the denne. As for those that were yᵉ cause of his destrucciō,⁽¹⁰⁾ he dyd cast thē in to the denne, and they were deuoured in a moment before his face.

After this, wrote the kynge vnto all people, kynreddes and tunges, that dwelt in all countrees, sayenge: peace be multiplied with you. My commaundement is, in all the dominyon of my realme: that men feare and stonde in awe of Daniels God,⁽¹¹⁾ for he is the lyuynge God, which endureth euer: his kyngdome abydeth vncorrupte,⁽¹²⁾ and his power is euerlastinge. It is he that can delyuer and saue: he doth wonders and maruelous workes in heauen and in earth, for he hath saued Daniel from the power of the Lyons.

Notes

⁽¹⁾ Deut. 4. c and 5. a Exo. 20. a Deut. 6. d Matt. 4. a

⁽²⁾ Eccle 30. e

⁽³⁾ Leu. 24. c

⁽⁴⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽⁵⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽⁶⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽⁷⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽⁸⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽⁹⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽¹⁰⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽¹¹⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽¹²⁾ Luc. 1. c Esa 43. b Ose. 13. b Dan. 3. f

The ende of the Storye of Bel.

Colophon

This page is an archival transcription of the printed text, not a Good Works Translation. Source: Biblia the Byble, that is, the holy Scrypture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully translated in to Englyshe (M.D.XXXV; STC 2063.3), translated by Myles Coverdale, the copy in Cambridge University Library, keyed and encoded by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP Phase I, text A10349, 2005) and released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 public-domain dedication.

2 places illegible in the Cambridge copy were filled from Samuel Bagster’s 1838 page-for-page reprint of the edition (archive.org, holyscriptures00cove), only where the reprint’s reading is certain; each fill is listed on this room’s Supplied Readings page; 8 places are still marked ⟨illegible⟩ (0 in the text, 8 in the marginal notes).

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