Early Translations of the Bible How the Bible Came to Us Early Translations of the Bible

The Septuagint (LXX) The Septuagint was the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It was begun by the third century BC and completed by 132 BC, and was definitely a process over time. It was the Bible of the NT era. While it is not the greatest translation and differs substantially from the MT in places, it is particularly valuable for understanding words that show up in our Greek NT. It also served as the basis for subsequent versions. We will be looking primarily at translations after the apostolic era, but we need to begin with a word about the LXX.

A Quote from Wegner “Wycliffe Bible translators are rendering the Bible into thousands of languages, for history has shown that when persecution and heresy come, those who have the Bible in their own language are better equipped to resist it” (p. 243). The early church realized early on the importance of translating the Bible into other languages, and it has continued to be translated down through the centuries even to our own day. Primary translation – directly from the Greek or Hebrew. Secondary translation – translation of a primary translation (e.g. Old Latin). Tertiary translation – translation of a secondary translation (e.g. Georgian version). First, Versions tell us something of the kind of text before the Massoretes. Second, they can help clarify the Massoretic text. Third, they often serve to substantiate the MT.

Areas of Early Versions Western Christianity spread early into Syria (probably from Jews who took it back there from Pentecost). The Syriac church appears to have taken it as far as China. The Gospel also spread quickly into Egypt from Pentecost, where the native language was Coptic (meaning “Egyptian”), of which there are 6 different dialects in the Nile Valley. (You can read about these in Wegner). Coptic is written in an alphabet derived from Greek, with 7 additional characters from Demotic. The Armenian version was probably translated from both the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta. The Georgian version was translated from either the Syriac or the Armenian versions. After the spread of Islam in the 7th century, translation of the Bible into Arabic was outlawed, but it continued to be translated undercover. Translations into Arabic were probably based on the earlier versions. Book of Acts also records how the gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire, primarily through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. In addition to Greek, Latin emerged as the major language in North Africa, and the Bible was translated into Latin early. By 250 Latin had become the dominant language of Christian writers. The Latin Vulgate would play a dominate role in Western Europe for a 1000 years. It was produced by Jerome during his lifetime (383-405) from the Old Latin Versions. He translated the OT from the original Hebrew texts, being the only person in the Western Church qualified for such a task. The Vulgate became the offical Bible of the Roman Catholic church in 1546. The Vulgate was subsequently translated into other languages at the time of the Reformation. A copy of the Latin Vulgate is the Bible that Wycliffe translated into English in the 14th century. Byzantine Caesarean Alexandrian Coptic

Text Types and Early Versions Written in 1610, the Douay Version is an English translation version of the Latin Vulgate. Until 1940, the Douay was the only authorized Bible for English-speaking Catholics. The Peshitta (“simple”) originally included only 22 NT books, lacking 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation, but these books were added to the Peshitta in 507-508. More than 350 mss exist of the Peshitta. Douai (1610) ERV (1881) ASV (1901) KJV (1611) RSV NASB NIV ESV NKJV

The First Printed Bibles The process of printing was first developed in China with the use of carved wood block images. Moveable type was also later developed in China around 1041, but it was not generally adopted because of the large number of Chinese characters. Gutenberg used moveable type in his printing press. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, in two volumes, was the first book printed on it in 1456. It became known as the Gutenberg Bible. About 46,000 wood blocks were prepared to set the manuscript. The initial run was 120 copies on paper and 30 deluxe copies on parchment. The copies sold well enough that a second edition was prepared in 1457-58. With the invention of printing, books could be printed less expensively and more accurately than ever before. Gutenberg remained in debt for most of his life because of the initial cost of printing.

The First Printed Bibles Within fifty years of the invention of the printing press, printing houses sprang up all over Europe. Editions of the Bible printed during this time include: one hundred editions of the Latin Vulgate; Compultensian Polyglot (1514-22); A massive, four volume work that arranged Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin texts in parallel columns. Erasmus’s Greek New Testament (1516). This one was of a minscule type and took about 200 characters because of the different forms the same letter could take. It was rushed to print and not high in quality. Many other editions of the Greek NT. Only 24 letters in the Greek alphabet. Renaissance and its accompanying enlightenment (14th to 16th centuries) heightened the study of the Bible, but not always for the right reasons. Humanism replaced theology. Compultensian is from the Latin Complutum, which was the place in Spain where the work was compiled.

The First Printed Bibles The fall of Constantinople and subsequent flight of Greek scholars (with mss) to the West gave new impetus to the study of the Greek NT. Luther’s ninety-five theses and the subsequent Reformation increased interest in the Word of God even more. Translations at this point included Italian (1471), French (1487), Spanish (1478), Dutch (1477), and German (1521).

Next Time: The English Bible to 1611