Transcript God’s Word in English

God’s Word in English
From Tyndale to King James
1526 - 1611
God’s Word in English
 When Christianity came to England c.
4th century, God’s word was not
printed in English, but Latin
 Near the 7th century, Caedmon
translated some Bible stories into
Anglo-Saxon or “Old English”;
Aldehelm translated the book of
Psalms; Egbert translated the
gospels; Bede translated the gospel of
John
God’s Word in English
 Alfred the Great translated portions of
the OT; Aldred wrote an English
interlinear of the gospels; in the 10th
century, Abbot Aelfric translated
portions of the OT
 Near the 14th century, Ormin
translated the gospels and Acts;
William of Shoreham and Richard
Rolle translated the Psalms into
“Middle English”
God’s Word in English
 John Wycliffe, Oxford professor, was
the first to make a complete
translation of the Bible from the Latin
Vulgate into English c. 1382; John
Purvey made a revision of Wycliffe’s
Bible c. 1395 (the English of this time
was called “Middle English”)
 Wycliffe died in 1384 and body was
exhumed and burned in 1428
 A reproduction of Wycliffe’s Bible can
be found in The English Hexapla:1841
God’s Word in English
 William Tyndale, after studying at
Cambridge, was the first to make a
translation from the original Greek
into “Modern English” (1526) using
the Greek text of Erasmus (1516)
 Tyndale had to run from London, to
Cologne, to Worms to print his Bible
 Copies were bought and burned by
the Catholic Church; Tyndale was
imprisoned and burned at the stake
God’s Word in English
 Tyndale published the Pentateuch in
1530 and revised his NT in 1534-35
 Tyndale was imprisoned for heresy in
1535-36, strangled and burned at the
stake
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God’s Word in English
 Miles Coverdale, an associate of
Tyndale, published the first complete
translation of all the Bible in 1535; it
was based upon the work of Tyndale
and Latin / German versions
 Coverdale’s Bible was the first English
translation to circulate without official
hindrance; favored by Anne Boleyn;
introduced chapter summaries;
separated the Apocrypha from the OT
books
God’s Word in English
 Thomas Matthews, the pen name of
John Rogers and friend of Tyndale,
published his translation in 1537 using
the work of both Tyndale (NT) and
Coverdale (OT); called the “Matthew’s
Bible”
 He added notes and references; also
borrowed heavily from French
versions
 Like Tyndale, Rogers was burned at
the stake for printing his Bible
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God’s Word in English
 Richard Taverner, a Greek student
from Oxford, published his Bible in
1539; it was a revision of the
Matthew’s Bible with an emphasis on
revising the NT from Greek
God’s Word in English
 The Great Bible (1539), or Thomas
“Cranmer’s Bible,” led by Coverdale,
was another revision of the Matthew’s
Bible; it was the first English Bible to
be read in English Protestant churches
 Known for its great size (16.5 x 11
inches); people came to read the
Bible rather than hear the sermons;
removed the Apocrypha
 A reproduction of the Great Bible can
be found in The English Hexapla:1841
God’s Word in English
 The Geneva Bible (1560), printed in
Geneva, was the first Bible to be
printed with numbered verses and
italicized words not found in the
original; it came with illustrations and
(Calvinist) comments in the margin;
the Apocrypha was in the appendix
 The Geneva Bible was quoted by
Shakespeare and carried by the
Pilgrims to America; remained popular
until c. 1644; formed during the reign
of Queen Mary (“Bloody Mary”)
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God’s Word in English
 The Bishop’s Bible (1568), was a
revision of the Geneva Bible by a
group of mostly bishops; the Calvinist
comments in the margin were
removed; it was revised in 1602 and
used as the bases for the KJV
 Instead of “love” (Geneva Bible), the
bishops followed the Latin caritas and
used “charity”; this found its way into
the KJV
God’s Word in English
 The Catholic Church also produced a
translation in English from the Latin
Vulgate called the “Douay-Rheims”
(Rheims France, NT, 1582; Douay
Belgium, OT, 1609-10)
 It was a translation from Latin by a
few men (Martin, Allen, Bristow) and
not a committee
 A reproduction of Rheims Bible can be
found in The English Hexapla:1841
God’s Word in English
 The King James Version was produced
1607-1611
 Work began in 1607 to revise the
1602 Bishop’s Bible (and other
versions from Tyndale forward), not
make a new translation
 47 Greek and Hebrew scholars worked
at West., Oxford, Cambridge
 There were to be no biased marginal
notes like the Geneva Bible
God’s Word in English
 Revisions of the KJV were made in
1613, 1629, 1638, 1769, etc.
 The KJV rivaled the Geneva Bible in
popularity and then surpassed it
−Greek and Hebrew scholarship
−Classic English style of the day
−Profited from the excellencies and
shortcomings of previous versions
( 90% of Tyndale’s work is found in the KJV )
−A work of a committee, not one man
God’s Word in English
 The KJV was never officially called the
“Authorized Version;” both the Great
Bible (1539) and the Bishop’s Bible
(1568) were “authorized” to be read
in the churches
 The title page reads: “Appointed to be
read in the churches.”
 The KJV NT was not in printed in
America until 1777 and the complete
Bible in 1782
God’s Word in English
 The original preface to the 1611 KJV
contained three pages of false flattery
toward King James I
 The original preface to the 1611 KJV
contained 12 pages “to the reader” of
the importance of and need for Bible
translation
 The original 1611 KJV contained a
Bible reading calendar
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God’s Word in English
from Tyndale to King James
William Tyndale (1526)
Miles Coverdale (1535)
Matthew’s Bible (1537)
Richard Taverner Bible (1539)
The Great Bible (1539)
The Geneva Bible (1560)
The Bishop’s Bible (1568)
Douay-Rheims (1582 / 1609)
King James (1611)
Lessons Learned
 Great sacrifices were made at this
time to transmit God’s word into the
language of the people (Jer. 36:23)
 People in general at this time
hungered for God’s word in their own
language (Neh. 8:1; Acts 13:42)
Lessons Learned
 The practice of translation at this time
was one of literal, word-for-word
transmission (Rom. 4:3)
 The practice of placing comments in
the margin at this time was highly
scrutinized after the appearance of
the Geneva Bible (Mt. 15:3-6)
Bibliography
Earle, Ralph. How We Got Our Bible. Revised. Beacon Hill
Press, 1992.
Gleiser, Norman L and William E. Nix. A General Introduction
to the Bible. Revised. Moody Press, 1986.
Kerr, John Stevens. Ancient Texts Alive Today: The Story of
the English Bible. American Bible Society, 1999.
Lewis, Jack P. The English Bible From KJV to NIV: A History
and Evaluation. Baker Book House, 1984.
Lightfoot, Neil R. How We Got the Bible. Second Ed. Baker
Book House, 1988.
www.bible-researcher.com