History Of The English Bible

History Of The English Bible
How We Got The Bible History Of The English Bible MMCC Coastal Region By Ariel S. Lastrado (certain slides adapted from ‘The Bible in the Making’ by Rolan Monje)

Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Ps
Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Ps. 119:89 NIV

First Instance of God’s Word:
The Ten Commandments 1,400 BC and 1,500 BC Almost 3,500 years ago. Written in Hebrew the language of Old Covenant believers.

What is the Bible? The Bible is the record of God’s revealed word to mankind. It is called “Bible” from “Ta Biblia” (meaning “The Books”)

How were the words given?
“inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16) “men carried along by the Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21) With guidance, compiled by: dictation of words from God God-given visions oral tradition written records

On what materials were Bible words written?
Stone/Pottery

Vellum/Parchment

Papyrus P52 (John 18:31-32

Papyrus Scroll, then Codex

Codex (Sinaiticus & Leningrad Codices)

Greek Codices of the Bible NAME, ABBREVIATION & CODEX No. APPROX. DATE CITY, LIBRARY, INVENTORY No. Sinaiticus À 01 4th cent. London British Museum Add Alexandrianus A 02 5th cent. London British Museum Royal 1 D. VIII Vaticanus B 03 Rome Vatican Library Gr. 1209 Ephraemi C 04 Paris, France Bibliothèque Nationale Gr. 9

Stone/Pottery Vellum/Parchment Papyrus Papyrus Scroll, then Codex Sheets of plant pulp Paper Now, computers, PDAs, etc. originals copies

Priests, then Scribes How were words written? Teachers, Expositors
Masoretic Jews intense dedication fear of God attention to detail destruction of faulty/old copies methods of checking accuracy

Every word is important
Matt 5:18 shows the power of the Bible: I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. - Jesus

How did God protect the Bible
The Making of the Septuagint Alexander the Great – Conquest dissemination of the Greek language

The Making of the Septuagint Alexandria, one city named after ATG

The Making of the Septuagint ATG dies, Ptolomies took over Egypt 70 elders sent from Jerusalem

The Making of the Septuagint Soter, cultural devt Philadelphus Demetrius Need for a Greek OT

The Making of the Septuagint Alexander the Great Ptolomies Alexandrian Library Philadelphus (Ptolomy) Greek prominence Septuagint (LXX) Greek translation of the Old Testament

Development of printing press Development of writing History of Press Guttenberg

Development of printing press Reformation Religious sponsors Bible translators

Dead Sea Scrolls Copying of Bible challenged Discovery of Scrolls

Dead Sea Scrolls Discovery of Scrolls

How did we get the Bible in English?

Pentateuch: Earliest scripture is generally considered to be the “Pentateuch” First five books of the Moses: Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy

Pentateuch: The OT scriptures were written in ancient Hebrew
Written in scrolls made of animal skin, usually sheep, but sometimes deer or cow. Animals considered “unclean” by the Jews, such as pigs, were of course, never used to make scrolls.

Torah: When the entire Pentateuch is present on a scroll, it is called a “Torah”. An entire Torah Scroll, if completely unraveled, is over 150 feet long! As most sheep are only about two to three feet long, it took an entire flock of sheep to make just one Torah scroll. The Jewish scribes who painstakingly produced each scroll were perfectionists.

Completion of OT: Approx 500 BC, the 39 Books that make up the Old Testament were completed Preserved in Hebrew on scrolls. Few centuries before Christ, the Jewish historical books known as the “Apocrypha” were completed They were recorded in Greek rather than Hebrew. By the end of the First Century AD, the New Testament had been completed. It was preserved in Greek on Papyrus

Codex: Groupings of papyrus were called a “codex”
The oldest copies of the NT exist today: Codex Alexandrius Codex Sinaiticus Codex Vaticanus They date back to approximately the 300’s AD. In 315 AD Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identified the 27 Books which we recognize today as the canon of NT scripture.

NT Papyri 3rd cent. 6th cent. 6th–7th cent.
Papyrus No. & Papyrus Collection Approx. Date Contents (books & chapters only) Text Family City, Museum, and Inventory No. P1 P.Oxy. 2 3rd cent. Matt 1 Alexandrian Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Univ. of Penn. Museum #E2746 P2 6th cent. John 12 mixed Florence, Italy Museo Archeologico #7134 P3 6th–7th cent. Luke 7, 10 Vienna, Austria Österreichische Nationalbibliothek #G2323 P4 Luke 1-6 Paris, France Bibliothèque Nationale #Gr. 1120

First Translation: Greek to Latin Jerome – Early church fathers This translation became known as the “Latin Vulgate”, (“Vulgate” meaning “vulgar” or “common”).

Apocrypha: 1880’s removed from Protestant Bible Roman Catholic kept 12 of the 14 Protestants removed all of them. Jewish historical writings which accompanied the Old Testament.

Roman Catholic: 500 AD Bible translated into over 500 languages. 600 AD, restricted to 1 language: the Latin Vulgate! Catholic Church of Rome

Roman Catholic: Those in possession of non-Latin scriptures would be executed! Only the priests were educated to understand Latin Nobody could question their “Biblical” teachings 1,000 year rule (400 AD to 1,400 AD) known as the “Dark and Middle Ages”.

Pope Leo X: Selling of indulgences Purgatory
Church: ”As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the troubled soul from Purgatory springs!” Leo:“The fable of Christ has been quite profitable to us!”

Dark & Middle Ages: 563 AD Columba started a Bible College.
For the next 700 years, this was the source of much of the non-Catholic, evangelical Bible teaching through those centuries of the Dark and Middle Ages. “Culdees”, which means “certain stranger”. Remnant of the true Christian faith was kept alive by these men during the many centuries that led up to the Protestant Reformation.

John Wycliffe ( )

John Wycliffe: 1385, lead the world out of the Dark Ages.
Called “Morning Star of the Reformation”. That Protestant Reformation: Get the Word of God back into the hands of the masses in their own native language.

John Wycliffe: Oxford professor, scholar, and theologian
Very first translation of the scriptures into the English language. It is a beautiful hand-written manuscript. Opposed organized church teachings

John Wycliffe Hand-written Manuscript: John 1:1

John Wycliffe: Produced dozens manuscript copies
Translated out of the Latin Vulgate The Pope was so infuriated by his teachings and his translation of the Bible into English, that 44 years after Wycliffe had died, he ordered the bones to be dug-up, crushed, and scattered in the river!

John Hus Wycliffe’s followers Oppose the tyranny of the Roman church
Burned at the stake in 1415, with Wycliffe’s manuscript Bibles used as kindling for the fire. The last words of John Hus were that, “in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.”

Johann Gutenberg 1450’s Invented the printing press
The first book to ever be printed was a Latin language Bible, printed in Mainz, Germany.

Thomas Linacre 1490’s Oxford professor, and the personal physician to King Henry the 7th and 8th, “Either this (the original Greek) is not the Gospel… or we are not Christians.” The Latin was corrupted that it no longer even preserved the message of the Gospel Church still threatened to kill anyone who read the scripture in any language other than Latin… though Latin was not an original language.

John Colet 1496 Oxford professor and the son of the Mayor of London
Started reading the NT in Greek Translate in English for his students at Oxford, and later for the public at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London. 6 months 20,000 attends

Erasmus 1516 Correct the corrupt Latin Vulgate
He published a Greek-Latin Parallel New Testament. Focused attention on just how corrupt and inaccurate the Latin Vulgate had become, and how important it was to go back and use the original Greek NT & original Hebrew (OT)

William Tyndale Captain of the Army of Reformers, and was their spiritual leader. Holds the distinction of being the first man to ever print the New Testament in the English language. True scholar and a genius Fluent in 8 languages

William Tyndale the Tyndale New Testament became the first printed edition of the scripture in the English language. 1530 Subsequent printings were often elaborately illustrated. Confiscated and burned by Bishop Copies ended up in the bedroom of King Henry VIII.

William Tyndale Books and Bibles flowed into England in bales of cotton and sacks of flour. Tyndale’s biggest customer was the King’s men, who would buy up every copy available to burn them… and Tyndale used their money to print even more!

William Tyndale Tyndale was caught
Tyndale was incarcerated for 500 days before he was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. Tyndale’s last words were, "Oh Lord, open the King of England’s eyes". Answered just three years later in 1539, when King Henry VIII finally allowed, and even funded, the printing of an English Bible known as the “Great Bible”.

Martin Luther 1517 Nailed his 95 Thesis
1521 exiled following the Diet of Worms Council A designed to martyr him, translate the NT into German for the first time from the 1516 Greek-Latin New Testament of Erasmus, and publish it in September of 1522. 1530’s publish the entire Bible in German.

Martin Luther 1529 Luther German NT (276 yo)

Martin Luther 1523 Luther German Pentateuch

Myles Coverdale Disciple of Tyndale Carried the project
Finished translating the OT In 1535 he printed the first complete Bible in the English language, making use of Luther's German text and the Latin as sources. Thus, the first complete English Bible was printed on October 4, 1535, and is known as the Coverdale Bible.

John Rogers Print the second complete English Bible in 1537.
The first English Bible translated from the original Biblical languages of Hebrew & Greek Made up of Tyndale's Pentateuch and New Testament ( edition) and Coverdale's Bible and some of Roger's own translation of the text

Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury
hired Myles Coverdale to publish the "Great Bible". It became the first English Bible authorized for public use, as it was distributed to every church, chained to the pulpit, and a reader was even provided so that the illiterate could hear the Word of God in plain English.

King Henry VIII His motives were evil
Request Pope permission to divorce his wife and marry his mistress. The Pope refused. Denounce the Catholic church Taking England out from under Rome’s religious control, and declaring himself as the reigning head of State to also be the new head of the Church.

Queen “bloody” Mary Freedom continues from 1540’s-50’s
After KH8, King Edward VI took the throne Queen Mary was the next obstacle to the printing of the Bible in English. She was possessed in her quest to return England to the Roman Church.

Queen “bloody” Mary 1555, John "Thomas Matthew" Rogers & Thomas Cranmer burned at the stake. Mary went on to burn reformers at the stake by the hundreds for the "crime" of being a Protestant. This era was known as the Marian Exile, and the refugees fled from England with little hope of ever seeing their home or friends again.

John Foxe 1550's, the Church at Geneva, Switzerland, was very sympathetic to the reformer refugees and was one of only a few safe havens for a desperate people. Many of them met in Geneva, led by Myles Coverdale & John Foxe

John Foxe With the protection of the great theologian John Calvin and John Knox, the great Reformer of the Scottish Church. The Church of Geneva determined to produce a Bible that would educate their families while they continued in exile.

Geneva Bible A leaf from one of the earliest printings of the famous Geneva Bible: Printed between the 1560’s and 1644 These leaves are 360 to 444 years old. It was produced more than 50 years before the King James Bible Between 1560 and 1644 at least 144 editions of this Bible were published

Geneva Bible The NT was completed in 1557, and the complete Bible was first published in 1560. It became known as the Geneva Bible. First Bible to add numbered verses to the chapters

Geneva Bible Every chapter has references
Considered the first English "Study Bible". William Shakespeare quotes 100x Became the Bible of choice for over 100 years of English speaking Christians.

Geneva Bible 1611 KJ Bible its translators were influenced by the Geneva Bible The Geneva Bible itself retains over 90% of William Tyndale's original English translation. In fact, remained more popular than the King James Version until decades after its original release in 1611!

Geneva Bible The Geneva holds the honor of being the first Bible taken to America, and the Bible of the Puritans and Pilgrims. It is truly the “Bible of the Protestant Reformation.” Strangely, the famous Geneva Bible has been out-of-print since 1644

Queen “bloody” Mary With the end of Queen Mary's bloody reign, the reformers could safely return to England. The Anglican Church, now under Queen Elizabeth I, reluctantly tolerated the printing and distribution of Geneva version Bibles in England. The marginal notes, which were vehemently against the institutional Church of the day, did not rest well with the rulers of the day.

Bishops Bible A leaf from the 1568 First Edition of the Bishops Bible.
436 years old. The Church of England throughout history has authorized three versions of the Bible: The first, was the 1539 Great Bible. English Authorized Bibles was the 1568 Bishops Bible. 1611 King James Bible… the only one still actively published today

Bishops Bible Between 15 to16 inches tall by between 10 and 11 inches wide. They were printed on 100% rag cotton linen sheet, not wood-pulp paper like books today, so they remain in excellent condition… even after over 400 years.

King James I Prince James VI of Scotland became King James I of England. Protestant clergy approached the new King in 1604 and announced their desire for a new translation to replace the Bishop's Bible first printed in 1568.

King James I They knew that the Geneva Version had won the hearts of the people because of its excellent scholarship, accuracy, and exhaustive commentary. However, they did not want the controversial marginal notes (proclaiming the Pope an Anti-Christ, etc.)

King James I Translations by 50 scholars
The Tyndale New Testament, The Coverdale Bible, The Matthews Bible, The Great Bible, The Geneva Bible, and even the Rheims New Testament. The great revision of the Bishop's Bible had begun. From 1605 to 1606 the scholars engaged in private research. From 1607 to 1609 the work was assembled.

King James I In 1610 the work went to press
In 1611 the first of the huge (16 inch tall) pulpit folios known today as: “The 1611 King James Bible”

John Bunyan Protestants blame persecution to the Roman Catholic Church
It should be noted that even after England broke from Roman Catholicism in the 1500’s, the Church of England (The Anglican Church) continued to persecute Protestants throughout the 1600’s.

John Bunyan Prison for the crime of preaching the Gospel
Wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. As the Puritans and the Pilgrims fled the religious persecution of England to cross the Atlantic and start a new free nation in America. Took with them their precious Geneva Bible, and rejected the King’s Bible. America was founded upon the Geneva Bible, not the King James Bible.

John Eliot 1663 First printed Bible in America done in the native Algonquin Indian Language 1782 First English language Bible to be printed in America by Robert Aitken was a King James Version KJV only authorized by Congress

Others Jane Aitken Isaac Collins Isaiah Thomas
1880, Daughter of Robert Aitken First woman to ever print a Bible Isaac Collins 1791, improved the quality and size of the typesetting of American Bibles Produced the first “Family Bible” printed in America also KJV Isaiah Thomas 1791 published the first Illustrated Bible printed in America...in the KJV

Noah Webster 1833 After producing his famous Dictionary of the English Language, would produce his own modern translation of the English Bible The public remained too loyal to the King James Version for Webster’s version to have much impact.

Noah Webster 1880’s England’s planned to replace KJ Bible
The English Revised Version(E.R.V.) would become the first English language Bible to gain popular acceptance as a post-King James Version modern-English Bible. The widespread popularity of this modern-English translation brought with it another curious characteristic: the absence of the 14 Apocryphal books.

1880’s Protestant Bible (not just Catholic Bibles) had 80 books, not 66! The inter-testamental books written hundreds of years before Christ called “The Apocrypha” were part of virtually every printing of the Tyndale-Matthews Bible, the Great Bible, the Bishops Bible, the Protestant Geneva Bible, and the King James Bible until their removal in the 1880’s!

1880’s The original 1611 King James contained the Apocrypha, and King James threatened anyone who dared to print the Bible without the Apocrypha with heavy fines and a year in jail. Only for the last 120 years has the Protestant Church rejected these books, and removed them from their Bibles. No widely-accepted reason for the removal of the Apocrypha in the 1880’s has ever been officially issued by a mainline Protestant denomination.

A.S.V. 1901 A.S.V. Americans responded to England’s E.R.V.
Widely-accepted Embraced by churches throughout America for many decades as the leading modern-English version of the Bible

DEAD SEA SCROLLS 1947 Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered
Before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, the oldest surviving Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts dated form the 9th century (A.D.). The Dead Sea Scrolls, which contain about 170 biblical manuscripts, date from the 3rd century B.C. to the 1st century (A.D.).

Jerusalem Bible 1966 This is the first complete English, Catholic Bible translation made from the original languages.

T.N.A.B. 1970 The New American Bible
Was completed primarily by Catholic scholars It is the first American Catholic translation based on the original languages. (Previous translations were based on the Vulgate.)

N.A.S.B. 1971 revised the A.S.V. called New American Standard Version Bible (often referred to as the N.A.S.V. or N.A.S.B. or N.A.S.). considered to be the most accurate word-for-word translation of the original Greek and Hebrew scriptures into the modern English language that has ever been produced.

N.A.S.B. It remains the most popular version among theologians, professors, scholars, and seminary students today. Problem: issue of direct and literal a translation (focused on accuracy) It does not flow as easily in conversational English.

N.I.V. 1973, produced NIV “dynamic equivalent” translation into modern English. The N.I.V. Not for “word-for-word” accuracy For “phrase-for-phrase” accuracy Ease of reading even at a Junior High-School reading level.

N.I.V. It was meant to appeal to a broader (and in some instances less-educated) cross-section of the general public. Critics of the N.I.V. often jokingly refer to it as the “Nearly Inspired Version”, but that has not stopped it from becoming the best-selling modern-English translation of the Bible ever published.

N.K.J.V. 1982 New King James Version produced
Produced by Thomas Nelson Publishers produced Their original intent was to keep the basic wording of the King James to appeal to King James Version loyalists, while only changing the most obscure words and the Elizabethan “thee, thy, thou” pronouns.

N.K.J.V. This was an interesting marketing ploy, however, upon discovering that this was not enough of a change for them to be able to legally copyright the result, they had to make more significant revisions, which defeated their purpose in the first place. It was never taken seriously by scholars, but it has enjoyed some degree of public acceptance, simply because of its clever “New King James Version” marketing name.

N.R.S.V. 1988 New Revised Standard Version
This version insists on gender neutral language Was created by a committee of Protestant and Catholic scholars, which included also one Jewish scholar.

E.S.V. 2002 English Standard Version was produced
Major attempt was made to bridge the gap between the simple readability of the N.I.V., and the extremely precise accuracy of the N.A.S.B. Gaining popularity for its readability and accuracy. The 21st Century will certainly continue to bring new translations of God’s Word in the modern English language.

Perseverance of the Bible
No other book has been so chopped, knived, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified… -Bernard Ramm Yet, consider its duplication... - more manuscript evidence than Plato or Shakespeare - translated in more than 2,200 dialect

The Bible—banned, burned, beloved. More widely read, more frequently attacked than any other book in history. Generations of intellectuals have attempted to discredit it; dictators of every age have outlawed it and executed those who read it. Yet soldiers carry it into battle believing it more powerful than their weapons. Fragments of it smuggled into solitary prison cells have transformed ruthless killers into gentle saints. - Charles Colson

Look at its popularity! UBS sells 110,000 bibles a day Each one on earth could have 5 bibles #1 best seller of all time

No other book has known anything approaching this constant circulation. - Greenslade, Cambridge History of the Bible

Challenge: Let’s praise God that we can have his Word in our hands Love studying God’s Word Live out God’s Word

History Of The English Bible

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