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A Brief History of Various Translations of the Bible The purpose of this article is not to prove the Bible is the word of God for that has been covered in earlier lessons and articles. Nor is it to answer the question of how the Bible was recorded. But I want to take some time to explain how various translations of the Bible have come into being. Let me first explain the difference between a "manuscript" and a "translation." Those who were inspired wrote what had been revealed to them. This was done in their language. Parts of the Bible were recorded in Hebrew, some in Aramaic, and parts in Greek. Copies were then made of those original writings and distributed to the Jews during the Old Testament or to Christians in the New Testament. By 500 BC the complete Hebrew text of the Old Testament was complete. The problem is that over time some would not be able to read the manuscripts due to not knowing Hebrew or Aramaic or Greek. Therefore, it was necessary to translate those manuscripts into other languages. Around the third century B.C., 70 skilled Jewish linguists went from Jerusalem to Egypt to translate the Hebrew Bible, resulting in the Septuagint Bible, which was completed around 285 B.C. This was done in Koine Greek which was the dominate language of that time. This translation was accepted as being accurate; it was quoted by Jesus and Apostles in the New Testament. The inspired writers of the New Testament again recorded the word of God but it was intended for all mankind. Therefore, those original manuscripts were copied and then translated into other languages. This resulted in four main manuscripts: The Vatican Manuscript which is housed in the Vatican Library in Rome, The Sinaitic Manuscript which is in the British Museum in London, the Alexandrian Manuscript which was made in Alexandria, Egypt and is in the British Museum, and The Ephraem Manuscript which can be found in Paris, France. From these manuscripts different translations appeared. Up to 600 A.D. all Bibles had to be translated in the Latin language. Since most people could not read Latin, the Bible was not commonly read. The first English Bible was translated by John Wycliffe in the 1380's. He used the Latin Vulgate as his only source to create what is called the Wycliffe Bible. Other men saw the need to translate the Bible into the language of the people. Men such as William Tyndale and Myles Cloverdale translated the Bible into the English language in the 1500's. William Tyndale was the English translation of the complete New Testament. Myles Cloverdale was the first complete English translation of the whole Bible and became known as the Cloverdale Bible. Myles Cloverdale was then hired by Thomas Cammer, the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1539 to produce a Bible. The result was called "The Great Bible." The Geneva Bible came from Geneva, Switzerland in 1560 and was called the "Breeches Bible" due to translating the clothing God made for Adam and Eve as "breeches." Printed in 1560, it was the first Bible to have numbered verses. Keep in mind that during this time the printing of the Bible was expensive and often illegal. Therefore, when Bibles wore out there were few if any reprints. In 1568 the "Great Bible" was redone and called the "Bishop’s Bible." At this time the Bishop’s Bible did not catch on with the people partly because of the popularity of the Geneva Bible. It should also be noted that one reason for various translations coming about was the invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg in the 1450's. The very first book printed was the Latin Bible. The printing press meant Bibles could be produced at less cost, which meant the average person could afford to buy one. In 1604 King James set in motion what would become the King James Bible. He set up six committees consisting of 47 scholars in total. They took the earlier translations: The Tyndale New Testament, The Cloverdale Bible, The Great Bible, The Geneva Bible, and the Bishop’s Bible to create a new translation. In 1609 they presented their work to King James and in 1611 the 1st King James translation came out. It did not take long for it to be referred to as the "Authorized Version." Over the years the King James Bible has been edited to reflect changes in sentence structure and word usage. Up to the 1880's the various translations had 80 Books in them due to containing "The Apocrypha." However, after that time "Protestant Bibles" quit containing the Apocrypha. In 1885 the English Revised Version was the first English attempt at modernizing the King James Bible. In 1901 the first American attempt at modernizing the King James Bible was called the American Standard Version. Up to this time these translations were revisions of revisions. They used earlier Bibles to create their new translation and they were based on the Latin Vulgate Bible. However, due to discoveries of manuscripts, later translations were able to use earlier manuscripts to form their translations and either confirm what earlier translations contained or show some passages to have been added later on. Bibles such as New American Standard, English Standard Version, and The New International Version deals differently with verses that are not in some of the earlier manuscripts. The New American Standard often leaves the passage in the text with a footnote saying this verse is not in some earlier manuscripts. Some separate the verses from the text and some just leave them out. Over the last number of years different religious groups have sought to create their own Bible. Some of the newer translations are more like paraphrases and contain gross errors. Some translations interpret verses to teach inherited depravity. The New International Version reads, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the very time my mother conceived me." Obviously the NIV is teaching that David was sinful from the time of conception whereas the verse in other translations teaches that it was the world into which David was born that was sinful. Groups such as the Jehovah Witnesses have the New World Translation where passages are translated so as to teach that Jesus is not equal to the Father. Here is one example from the New World Translation, "In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god" ( John 1.1). Notice the small "g" in the last God. This is because the Jehovah Witnesses teach that Jesus is not God but a god, a created god. This is a false translation based on a bias. Other translations are not trying to accurately translate what the original meaning of the writings are but to teach a particular doctrine. One must be careful in choosing a Bible and use various translations to get an accurate meaning of certain passages. -- Dennis Tucker Source for this article http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/
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