The origin of the English Bibles of today can be
traced to a time when men, under the divine
inspiration of God, first wrote the books of the
Bible. This word of God was transmitted from
generation to generation by handwritten copies and by
word-of-mouth. As men began to realize how valuable
these teachings were, attempts were made to collate
these teachings into a single comprehensive book.
Most of what we now know as the Old
Testament was originally written in Hebrew,
and the New Testament largely in common
(koine) Greek. Since no printing press
existed until 1450 AD, all of the original
compilations of the Bible were done by hand.
The history and development of the English
Bible can be divided into 3 sections;
ancient versions in other languages, early
English versions, and New English versions
(since 1901). Brief descriptions of the
significant versions in those time periods
follows.
The Septuagint
Version
(285 BC) — This was a translation of the
Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures into Greek,
Probably done in
Alexandria
.
The Samaritan Pentateuch (BC ?)
— A copy of the Hebrew text done in
Samaritan characters.
The Peshito or Syriac (1st or 2nd century
AD) — A
common language translation of the entire
Bible used in parts of
Syria
The Codex Sinaiticus (330 AD)
— A manuscript that contained the Greek
Bible. It was purchased from
Russia
in 1933 by
Great Britain
and is now housed in the
British
Museum
.
The Codex Vatkanus (340 AD)
— This manuscript is currently housed in the
Vatican library in
Rome
. It originally contained the whole Bible,
but parts have been lost.
The Vulgate (400 AD)
— A Roman Catholic scholar in
Bethlehem
by the name of Jerome translated the entire
Bible into Latin. This Bible became the
standard in the Catholic church for well
over 1,000 years.
The Codex Alexandrinus (425 AD)
— This Bible is another Greek translation.
Currently housed in the
British
Museum
, it is complete except for 40 leaves.
Early English Versions
All of the earliest attempts at translating
the Bible into English were fragmented. For
example, Bishop Aldhelm of Sherbourne
translated the Psalms into Old English
around 709. Venerable Bede, a monk at
Jarrow. translated a portion of the Gospel
of John. By 900 AD all of the Gospels and
most of the Old Testament had been
translated into Old English.
John Wycliffe (1380)
— John Wydiffe was the first to plan a
complete English translation of the Bible
from the Latin. His translation was based on
the Latin Vugate. He completed the New
Testament prior to his death, and his
friends completed the work after his death.
PRINTING PRESS INVENTED — 1450
William Tyndale (1525-1530) — Driven from
England
by perseaition, William Tyndale, shared
WydLffe's desire
to produce a Bible that the common
English-speaking person could understand.
Using the Latin Vulgate and other ancient
sources, Tyndale was able to translate the
New Testament and Pentateuch before he was
martyred.
Miles Coverdale (1535)
— A friend of Tyndale's, Coverdale was able
to publish a complete Bible. It is generally
believed Coverdale used Tyndale's work in
producing his New Testament. This Bible was
done to honor King Henry the VIII.
Matthews Bible (1537)
— Despite the name, it is widely accepted
that a friend of Tyndale, John Rogus, did
most of the work on this Bible. Based
largely on Tyndale's previous work, it also
contains evidences of Coverdale's work as
well. This might well be considered an
updated Tyndale Bible.
The Great Bible (1539) — This Bible
takes its name from its great physical size.
Based on the Tyndale, Coverdale, and
Matthews Bibles, it was used mainly in
churches. Often chained to a reading desk in
a church, people would come to listen as a
minister read from the Great Bible.
The
Geneva
Bible (1560) — Produced in
Geneva
by scholars who had fled persecution in
England
under Queen Mary, this Bible was based not
only on the Great Bible, but also on the
other English translations of that day.
Though very scholarly, it was a popular
Bible because of its small size.
The Bishops Bible (1568)
— This was a revision of the Great Bible and
Geneva Bible done under the direction of the
Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of
Elizabeth
.
Douay-Rheims Bible (1582-1610)
— The New Testament was published in
Rheims
in 1582 and the Old Testament in
Douay in 1610. A revision of the
Latin Vulgate, this has become the generally
accepted English Version for the Roman
Catholic Church
King James Version, KJV (1611)
— The most popular translation ever
produced, this Bible was done during the
reign and at the urging of King James the I
of
England. 47 scholars, divided
into 6 groups, worked on this translation.
Based largely on the Bishop's Bible, many
Hebrew and Creek texts were also studied as
well as all the other available English
translations, to insure the best results. By
choosing men of many different theological
and educational backgrounds, it was hoped
individual prejudices of the translators
could be minimized. Printed in a handy size
and in dear type, the KJV was supposed to
please clergy and congregation alike.
Despite initial resistance, the KJV became
and still is the largest selling translation
of the Bible.
Revised Version (1881-1884) — Designed
to be a revision of the KJV, the Revised
Version, had the advantage of being able to
access some of the ancient manuscripts.
Although this revision was sponsored by the
Church of England, many American scholars
were invited to participate.
New English Versions
(1901 to Present)
American Standard Version, ASV (1901) —
this revision of the Revised Version
incorporates many of the readings first
suggested by the American members of the
Revision committee of 1881-1885.
Complete Bible: An American
Translation (1939) — Often referred to as
the Goodspeed version, this translation was
done by Edgar J. Goodspeed and J.M. Powis
Smith. Using as many ancient texts as
possible, Smith and Goodspeed produced a
very readable and yet accurate translation.
Also included in this
Revised Standard Version, RSV (1952)
— The National Council of Churches of Christ
procured the copyright to the 1901 ASV Bible
in the 1920’s. Work began on a revision to
the ASV but was abandoned in favor of an
entirely new translation. Since many more
Hebrew and Greek manuscripts were available
to these scholars than were available in
1901, the RSV is considered to be much more
accurate. A very readable translation, the
RSV is used in many Protestant denominations
today. The revision committee continues to
meet at regular intervals and in 1971 a new
release was made of the RSV. This has been
dubbed the RSV II edition.
New Testament in Modern English (1958)
— First published in 1958 and revised in
1973, this translation done by British
writer J.B. Phillips is one of the best
readings of the New Testament. It is
published today by MacMillan Publishers of
New York-
Berkley Version (1959)
— This modem English version was done under
the direction of Dr. Gerrit Verkuyl. Dr.
Verkuyl translated the New Testament from
the Greek, himself. The Old Testament was
translated by a committee of 20 scholars
with Dr. Verkuyl overseeing the project.
Although this was a very good translation,
it never has been widely accepted or used.
Amplified Bible (1965)
— This Modern English Version was sponsored
by the non-profit Lockman Foundation of
California
. Committees of Hebrew and Greek scholars
tried to pay particular attention to the
true translation of key words in the ancient
texts. By bracketing explanatory words or
phrases directly in the text, they
eliminated the need to look elsewhere on the
page for the other helps. A very popular
Bible, the bracketing poses a problem for
simple reading of the text. Currently this
Bible is available in either KJV or in a
parallel with other translations and is
published by Zondervan Corporation of
Grand Rapids ,
Michigan
.
Jerusalem
Bible
(1966) — Basically a Roman Catholic
translation, this Bible was originally a
multi-volume translation done in French at
the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique in
Jerusalem
. Using all available sources including the
Dead Sea Scrolls, this translation also
included extensive scholarly notes. In the
English translation, the original documents
were again used with references made to the
original French translation. The Jerusalem
Bible also includes the Apocrypha. Although
the notes are strongly Roman Catholic, the
translation itself is relatively
non-sectarian. The Jerusalem Bible is
published by Doubleday Publishers of Garden
City,
New York
.
New Testament: A New Translation (1968-1969)
— Translated by William Barclay in
England
, this translation is neither technical nor
difficult. The problem with this Bible is
the extensive intrusion of Mr. Barclay's own
personal views in the text. To properly use
this translation, another Bible should be
available for comparison.
New English Bible,
NEB
(1970) — A committee of scholars from
the leading denominations of
England,
Scotland,
Wales, and
Ireland, cooperating with the
Universities of
and Oxford, was to
produce a new translation from the Hebrew
and Greek. This Bible was to be used as an
authoritative version along side the KJV.
Due to the
NEB
's rather free use of the English language,
many verses of scripture become almost
paraphrases rather than translations. The
Apocrypha is included in the NEB. Since the
NEB often uses unfamiliar
British expressions, this Bible has not
received wide acceptance in America.
The NEB is jointly
published by Cambridge
and Oxford
University
presses.
New American Bible, NAB (1970) — This
Roman Catholic translation originally came
directly from the Latin Vulgate. The
Catholic Biblical Association of America
compared this translation to the Hebrew and
Greek manuscripts then available. The 3
volumes Old Testament and single volume New
Testament were then combined into a single
volume. Although some Protestant translators
helped on this project, this is still
basically a Roman Catholic Bible.
New American Standard, NAS (1971)
— The Lockman Foundation of
La Habra ,
California
(see Amplified Bible) set out to produce the
"most technicallyaccurate translation of the
Bible possible." Partially because of their
dissatisfaction with the RSV's revision of
the 1901 American Standard Version, the
Lockman Foundation chose to use the best
Greek and Hebrew texts available to revise
to ASV, though many conservative scholars
consider this to be the most accurate
translation available, because of the NAS's
desire for technical accuracy it is not the
most readable of the modern translations.
Living Bible, LNB (1974)
— This is the work of one man, Kenneth N.
Taylor. Not a translation in the true sense,
Mr. Taylor set out to produce a paraphrase
of the ASV Bible using the words and terms
his children could readily understand- After
founding Tyndale House Publishing, Mr.
Taylor then expanded the availability of the
LNB to include study Bibles and cassettes.
The current Bible entitled "The Book" is
essentially the LNB version.
Today's English Version, TEV (1976)
— Often referred to as the "Good News
Bible", this was a project sponsored by the
American Bible Society to produce a Bible in
English for people whose primary language is
not English. Mr. Robert G. Bratcher did the
work on the New Testament, and it was
published in 1966. The Society then
continued the work to include the Old
Testament.
Although particular attention was directed
toward accuracy, the translators sometimes
sacrificed this accuracy for readability.
Due to the TEV's very up-to-date language
and in many cases some modern pop art
illustrations; it has become a popular
edition for teenagers.
New International Version, NIV (1978)
— The New York Bible Society sponsored this
translation of the Bible. A committee was
formed to search world-wide for Bible
scholars from colleges, universities, and
seminaries that would represent varied
backgrounds and denominations. Each book of
the Bible was assigned to a different team
of scholars, who then used the best
available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts
to do the actual translation. Additional
committees checked and re-checked the
translations for accuracy as well as
understandability. This combination of
accuracy and readability has propelled the
NTV to the number 2 spot in Bible sales
behind the KJV Zondervan Publishing of
Grand Rapids ,
Michigan
, owns the rights to the NIV Bible.
New King James Version, NKJV (1982)
— Thomas Nelson Bible Publishers and the
International Trust for Bible Studies
co-sponsored this update of the 1611 KJV
Bible. 119 scholars worked on this project
to make the KJV version more accurate and
readable and yet maintain the grace and
beauty of the original KJV test. Generally,
the translators used the best available
texts in their work, but rather than
assuming the oldest was the most accurate,
they chose to use the texts found most often
in the ancient writings.
United States
.
Revised English Bible, REB (1989) —
Under the auspices of the Universities of
Oxford and
Cambridge
, a committee of leading Bible scholars
revised and updated the New English Bible.
This was the first major revision of the New
English Bible since its release in 1970.
Particular attention was paid to archaic
words, phrases, and sentence structure. This
reexamination was done by referring to the
most current manuscripts, commentaries, and
exegesis.
The REB provides the reader with fluent, yet
dignified English while still maintaining
the full intent of the original texts.
New Revised Standard Version, 1991
(NRSV) — This Bible is due to be released in
late 1990 and will culminate 15 years of
work by a special committee of scholars.
This committee was under the sponsorship of
the Division of Education and Ministry of
the National Council of Churches. The
original Revised Standard Version and the
New Revised Standard Version can trace their
roots to the King James Version. While
maintaining the tradition of the KJV, the
New Revised Standard Version aimed for
accuracy rather than simply paraphrasing. It
can then be considered a literal
translation.
The revision committee
was chaired by Professor Bruce Metzger of
the Princeton Theological Seminary. Mr.
Metzger's instructions were "introduce only
changes as were warranted on the basis of
accuracy, clarity, euphony, and current
English language usage."
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