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Building the Bible

The 1500s: The Protestant Reformation

Which Bible was printed soon after the Matthew’s Bible?

The Great Bible was published in 1539. This was the first officially authorized English Bible. Thomas Cromwell (1485–1540), chief minister to King Henry VIII, assigned Miles Coverdale the job of completing this translation. Throughout the project, Coverdale used Tyndale’s Bible and the best Hebrew and Greek texts that he could find. By 1541, seven editions of the Great Bible were published.