History of English Scripture Translation

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And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
Luke 24:32 KJV

  • Original Writings
  • Early Copies
  • Early Translations
  • Old English Translations
  • Middle English Translations
  • Protestant Reformation
  • Modern Translations

    Introduction to Translation

    Much of what we know about the origins of life, our relationship with the Creator, what is happening in the world today, and the promises of what will come in the future are contained within the Scriptures. Therefore, it becomes important that we are able to understand clearly what was being written under the Inspiration of the Almighty. Since most people do not read or understand the languages originially used in writing the Scriptures, translation of the Scriptures into other languages has become a major issue.

    The core concern of this issue is that the translation of the Scripture be done accurately, precisely, and without changing or adding to the meaning. There are many things to consider when making or choosing a translation. Among these is the choice of text or texts from which a translation is to be made. This can have a major impact on on our doctrines and understanding of Scripture since different source texts sometimes state different things. Modern Bibles will often contain a center column reference or footnotes that explain when different texts state something that is different than the translation that is made. This becomes particularly appearant when making translations from other translations.

    In an effort to help understand the different translations available to us today, here is a brief history of English Scripture Translation:

    Original Writings

    Hebrew Old Testament

    The Old Testament writings were made in the Hebrew language on scrolls. The ealiest of these date back to the time of Moses (about 3500 years ago) and the most recent come from the time of Malachi (about 2400 years ago). The scrolls were primarily made of animal skin though in later times papyrus was coming into common use.
    The Hebrew canon had 24 books which are the same as the 39 books of the Greek Old Testament. The difference in number is accounted for by Samuel, kings, and Chronicles each having one book instead of two and also Ezra, Nehemiah, and the twelve minor prophets were all one book. One of the tests used in canonization was whether the book was quoted in the New Testament. Most of the Old Testament books are quoted in the New Testament. The Apocryphal books are seldom quoted and are not used in an authoritative way.
    Some passages in the books of Daniel, Ezra, and Jeremiah appear to be originally in Aramaic.

    Apocryphal Inter-testamental

    What is included in the Apobryphal books will vary between denominations. Generally speaking, though, it refers to about 14 books that were written from 400 BC to 0 BC which covers the time between Malachi and Matthew. The inspiration of these writings by the Almighty has been in question since early on in the canonization of the modern Bible, hence Protestantism removed them in the 1880's while Catholicism retained 12 of them. As this was the time of the Hellenist Empire, they were appearantly written in Greek.

    Greek New Testament

    The New Testament writings were made in the 1st century AD. The existing copies are written in Greek though some books may have had a Hebrew origin. These were made on papyrus and were often bound together much like modern day books. Such a book from this time is called a codex. The three oldest known codices date back to approximately the early 4th century AD.
    The New Testament canon was not made by ecclesiastical pronouncement so much as it grew by the needs of the church. By the end of the second century, the four gospels were in official use and no others. The book of Acts and Pauls epistles were accepted early on also. Other books were debated and many lists were made suggesting which should be included in the canon. The Council of Laodicea listed the new testament as we know it today except it was missing Revelation. The Council of Carthage listed the 27 books as we know them today.

    Latin

    None of the original writings were made in Latin. Yet for approximately 1,000 years the Scriptures were only produced in the Latin language and any translation efforts made during this time or shortly thereafter we done from the Latin text.

    Early Copies

    Dead Sea Scrolls

    The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 in the caves next to the Dead Sea in Israel. These are the oldest known Hebrew manuscripts coming from the first century BC. These are from the Qumran library and likely were the work of the Essene Sect. Although mostly fragmented, the texts show the careful way the text was transmitted through the centuries.

    Papyri

    Although parchment copies began to exist in the early AD's, papyrus Scrolls continued to be used for a few centuries more. The Bodmer Papyri came near the end of the second cenutury AD and the Chester Beatty Papyri came in the early or mid third century AD.

    Codex

    In the second century AD, Christians began using the codex (book) form. This would save considerable space and would fit into one volume rather than in many scrolls. The earliest known codices of Scripture came soon after. The Codex Sinaiticus contains the entire New Testament and the Codex Vaticanus goes through Hebrews 9:13. Both came in the fourth century AD. The codex Alexandrinus followed in the fifth century AD.

    Early Translations

    Greek Septuagint

    The Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Old Testament made about 250 BC during the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt. He hired large group of Jews fluent in both Hebrew and Koine Greek to produce the translation. Different sources suggest between 15 and 72 translaters, but the name septuagint itself suggests 70. This is the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into another language. This became a wide spread version that would be used by Greek speaking Jews and Early Christians. It was the basis for the Old Latin translations. It is still used by the Eastern Orthodox. The oldest known copies come from the fourth century AD and are the oldest surviving, nearly complete manuscripts. Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls tend to agree with the Septuagint text rather than the Masoretic Text.

    Various Languages

    The Christian church spread through the world, even into place where Greek was not spoken. Because of this, translations were made into Latin, Syriac, Egyptian, and many other languages. In fact, by the end of the fifth century AD, the Scriptures were translated into over 500 languages.

    Latin Vulgate

    Jerome started translating from earlier latin versions of the Scriptures, however he finally went bak to the Greek in the New Testament and Hebrew text preferred to Septuagint in the Old testament when he could. Jerome translated the new testament from Greek into Latin around 382 Ad. The Council of Trent made the Latin Vulgate (vulgate means vulgar or common) the official Roman Catholic Bible. In 405 AD the Apocryphal (ecclesiastical) books were distinguished from the canonical books. By 600 AD, the only church was the Roman Catholic Church and the Scriptures were restricted to one language, the Latin Vulgate, under the threat of execution. At this time only the priests were allowed to understand Latin which gave the church ultimate power.

    Hebrew Masoretic Text

    The Masorites existed from about 600 - 950 AD. They standardized the Hebrew text and added accents and vowel points. The surviving copies are from the ninth century texts. The Masoretic Text is approved for use in Judaism and is also commonly used in Protestant Bibles. It is similar to the second century text but has differences when compared to versions of the Septuagint.

    Aleppo Codex

    From approximately the tenth century. It is, perhaps, the first complete copy of the Masoretic Text in one manuscript.

    Old English Translations : - 1100 AD

    Standardized Text

    A standardized text was created by the fifth century AD but it shows strong signs of editing.

    Venerable Bede

    The Venerable Bede was a historian and a scholar who wrote in seventh century Anglo-Saxon. He was concerned for the less educated clergy being ready for service. He concentrated on the book of John and also some other parts of Scripture. No copies have survived.

    Aldhelm

    Aldhelm (AD 640–709), likewise, translated the complete Book of Psalms and large portions of other scriptures into Old English.

    Elfric

    In the 11th century, Abbot Ælfric translated much of the Old Testament into Old English.

    Glossed Manuscripts

    The glossed manuscripts were languages written between the lines of Latin. This was typical of the ninth and tenth centuries. One such example is the Lindisfarne Gospels in a British museum.

    Wessex Gospels

    Around 990 AD, a complete version of the four gospels was written in idiomatic Old English in the West Saxon dialect.

    Middle English Translations : 1100 - 1550 AD

    John Wycliffe

    John Wycliffe was an Oxford professor and theologian known for his opposition to the teachings of the organized church. He produced two translations with the first being a literal translation and the second containing the meaning of the sentence. These were both hand written and translated from the Latin Vulgate which was the only source available. This is the first complete Scripture translation in English. He suffered persecuation as a heretic. In 1408 the constitutions of Oxford included prhibition of Scripture translation without the approval of church authorities.

    Johann Gutenberg

    Developed the moveable type printing press in the 1450's. His first book was a Latin bible. By 1488 there were also Hebrew editions. The success of the Reformation would depend upon this.

    Erasmus

    In 1516, Erasmus produced a parallel Scripture in two languages. The first language was Greek and the second language was a new latin translation which is the first non-latin vulgate produced in over a millennium. This book was produced on the printing press and made from a half-dozen partial old Greek new testament manuscripts.

    William Tyndale

    William Tyndale produced an English new testament translated from the Hebrew and Greek (he went to Martin Luther to use the Greek text of Erasmus). This was the first english new testament ever printed. These were smuggled into Britain and were burned as soon as Bishops could confiscate them. Yet a copy was in the bedroom of King Henry VIII. He was put to death by burning at the stake in 1536. It has been suggested that the church declared it contained thousands of errors, but burned them because they could find no errors at all.

    Myles Coverdale

    Myles Coverdale produced the first complete English bible in 1535. He worked from Luther's German text and the Latin as sources. He was hired by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to work for King Henry VIII. This was to be the "Great Bible" that would be the first English Bible authorized for public use. It was to be placed in every church which refers to the Anglican Church of England. He was burned at the stake in 1555 by Queen Mary.

    John Rogers

    John Rogers completed the second complete English Bible in 1537. This used the original Hebrew and Greek as it's sources. A large part of the translation came from Tyndale. He was burned at the stake by Queen Mary in 1555.

    Protestant Reformation : 1550 - 1900 AD

    Protestant Reformation

    A major part of the Protestant Reformation was getting the Scriptures made into the native languages and vernaculars of the common people. This would have the effect of exposing corruption from the church.

    Church of Geneva

    During the reign of Queen Mary, one of the few safe havens for English refugees was in Switzerland. The leaders of the Church of Geneva made the Geneva Bible to educate the families that were in exile. The new testament was completed in 1556 and the entire Bible was finished in 1560. Over ninety percent of it comes from the work of Tyndale. This was the first copy to have numbered verses added to the chapters. It also had so many marginal notes that it is often considered the first english study Bible. This was the most popular Bible for over 100 years and was quoted by Shakespeare over 5,000 times. This was also the first Bible taken to the America's and was the Bible of the Puritans and Pilgrims.

    Douay Rheims Version

    The Roman Catholic Church was unable to stop the spread of the Scriptures in English and, therefore, made it's own version. It was entirely translated from the corrupt and inaccurate Latin Vulgate. The old testament was translated in Douay and the new testament was translated in Rheims. This came out around 1609.

    Great bible

    Was the first "authorized version" issued by the Church of England during the reign of King Henry VIII. A lightly edited translation with Tyndale's New Testament and Pentateuch as the basis.

    King James Version

    King James appointed a committee of scholars to produce the Authorized Version. The protestant clergy wanted a Bible like the Geneva Bible, but without the controvertial marginal notes. The pulpit sized versions were produced in 1611 and then the next year had normal sized books for the people. The text is about 95 percent the same as the Geneva Bible. It was basically unchallenged until 1885. This translation set the Apocrypha apart. It is still commonly called the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom. The New Testament was translated from the Textus Receptus. The Old Testament is translated from the Masoretic Text. King James I's dissatisfaction with the Geneva bible's puritanism led to the creation of the King James Version.

    English Revised Version

    This was England's own replacement for the King James Version. It was produced in the 1880's and was the first Bible to lack the fourteen Apocryphal books. It did gain some popularity.

    Modern Translations : 1900 - 2009 AD

    American Standard Version

    This was mainly a response by the Americans to the English Revised Version. It is nearly identical to the ERV and was produced in 1901.

    New American Standard Version

    This is the 1971 revision of the American Standard Version. It is considered the most accurate word for word translation from the original Greek and Hebrew script into modern English ever produced. It misses out on popularity because it does not read easily in conversational English.

    New International Version

    This version came as a reaction to the difficult to read NASV. This does not use a word for word accuracy and instead uses a phrase for phrase approach. It has become the best selling modern English translation ever.

    New King James Version

    This is an updated version of the King James Version produced in 1973. The original intent was to only change the obscure words and Elizabethan prounouns. However, this was not enough to make a copyrightable version so other changes were made as well.

    English Standard Version

    This is an attempt to have the precision of the NASV with the readability of the NIV and was produced in 2002.

    Modern Jewish Translations

    General

    Jewish translation off the Old Testament usually stay very close to the Masoretic Text. They also use the traditional division and orders of the Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. Jewish interpretations tend to oppose Christian interpretations. Also, they prefer to transliterate names instead of using Anglicised names.

    Isaac Leeser

    Produced teh first English Jewish translation of a Bible.

    Jewish Publication Society

    Produced the JPS The Holy Scriptures of 1917 and the JPS Tanakh in 1985. These have been among the most popular Jewish translations.

    Artscroll Tanakh

    English translation that tries to adhere to Orthodox norms.

    Todd Elder is a believer in Messiah who wants to help people understand Scripture and know the message of Salvation. For more information from the Scripture Translation series, please visit my website http://www.exploringsalvation.info and look under 'Scripture'.
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