Vulgate (382-405)
By Pope Damasus’ discretion, Jerome made a new translation of the Tanakh into Latin that was based from the original Hebrew text. For the revision of the New Testament, Jerome used the original Greek text. Saint Jerome started his work in 383 and finally completed it 22 years later. Once the new version was published, it was widely adopted and eventually overshadowed Vetus Latina. By 13th century, it took the name of Vulgata (Latin). Vulgate is closely translated to “vernacular”. This was because Latin served as a vernacular language of international communication across medieval Europe. During the 16th century, the Catholic Church officially promulgated the Vulgate as the Bible’s Latin version and became the source
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This caused for a need of an English version of the scriptures. In 640 AD to 735 AD, Aldheim was credited for translating the whole Bible into English. On the other hand, Bede was unable to finish translating the whole Bible into English due to his death on 735 AD. The translations of the English versions were based on the translations of the Latin Vulgate rather than the translations of the original scriptures which were written in Hebrew and Greek.
Wycliffe (1380) The Wycliffe Bible came about because John Wycliffe believed that everyone is directly accountable to God. With this, each man should know the Law of God and this is through the help of the Bible (Bruce, 1984). The Wycliffe Bible had two versions- one in 1382 and the other in 1395 which was done by Wycliffe’s assistant, John Purvey.
Many have criticized the first version of the translation because of it being translated too literal. The Latin Vulgate, rather than the original Aramaic and Hebrew Scriptures, was used as the basis for this translation. The scriptures were translated word per word, without any alteration in the flow of the sentence and the placement of words. Sentences were unedited literal translations even though the translated version did not make any sense when it was translated to English from
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However, because the ban of reading the Bible was still in effect, he realized that it was not wise of him to make a new translation in England. No one in England also knew or understood Hebrew. This prompted him to travel to Germany and was introduced to rabbis and learned the language of the Old Testament. During his stay there, he has translated the majority of the Bible into English. He stayed in Germany, fearing of his fate in England (Wallace, 2001).
The same way as Wycliffe, he had this passion to get the message of God come across to lay folks, and that he accomplished. He consulted the original copies- Hebrew and Greek- and from there stated his translation, first of its kind. By 1525, he had completely finished translating the New Testament. Printing began in Cologne wherein this version was the first English version after the invention of printing. However, the project was ceased by the authorities. He escaped to Worm and reproduced and sold 6,000 copies in 1526. Three copies of the first edition still exist although only one is completely
The Holy Bible Containing the Old Testament and the New. Cambridge: Printed by John Field ..., 1668. Print.
The King James Version of the Bible as set forth in 1611. Bible Truth Publishers, Addison, Illinois. 1983.
The most highly referenced and revered as sacred are The King James Version, considered a masterpiece of English literature, The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, The Aprocrypha, the books believed left out of some bibles, The Vulgate, the Latin Bible used for centuries by the Roman Catholic religion, and The Septuagint, the first ancient Greek translation of the Tanakh (Geisler and Nix 15, McCallum 4). The Bible is considered a sacred text by three major world religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Many believers consider it to be the literal truth. Others treat it with great respect, but believe that it was written by human beings and, thus is often contradictory in its tenets.
King James I was crowned and went on a journey to create a new English translation” (“Roots Of The King James Bible”). “The ground rules for the Bible were set by 1604: such as no contentious notes in the margins; no language inaccessible to common people; a true and accurate text, driven by an unforgivingly exacting level of scholarship” (“The Bible of King James.(cover story)”). “When creating the King James Bible, the translators had fifteen rules which they had to follow” (“The Making of the King James Bible--New Testament”). “The first rule the scholars’ were to follow was that they had to follow along with the Bishops’ Bible” (“The Making of the King James Bible--New Testament”). The only thing about the scholars’ following along with the Bishops’ Bible was that there were so many different versions that no one knows which was used. “The first publication of the King James Bible was riddled with mistakes and received some negative criticism” (“The King James Bible: A Short History From Tyndale/ Shaping The Bible In The Reformation”). “The phrases were not always called majestic, but they were indeed frowned upon by many of an 18th century writer” (“The King James Bible At 401”). Even though the bible received many negative comments from people after the Bible was first made it has turned out to have a great impact on many writers and
become known as "The Father of the English Bible." Without Tyndale and his translation of the
The first of these was the KJV, initially created in 1611. Since the KJV is the earliest translation, it is commonly known as the most accurat...
of the Bible became the basis for which Martin Luther translated the Bible into German because he
...version was completed by his followers in 1388. After Wycliffe translated the Bible into English, each copy took ten months to write by hand (Wycliffe).
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957.
In 1532, King Henry VIII declared that the English church was independent of the Pope. This became known as the Reformation. His heirs introduced further religious reforms leading up the Separatists’ movement. Another issue leading to Puritans leaving was that the pilgrim Separatists used a bible called the “Geneva” Bible. The Official Church of England had strong disagreements with the Geneva Bible and King James authorized a new translation to be created. The first “King James” Bible was printed in 1611.
The Holy Bible Containing the Old Testament and the New. Cambridge: Printed by John Field ..., 1668. Print.
The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769; King James Bible Online, 2015. Web. 28 June 2015.
His translation opened the flood gates of biblical knowledge for all generations to come (Daniell 279). Tyndale made it possible for men and women to read and understand God’s Word in their own homes. Readers of his translation were “brought to the light of the Gospel” and empowered to stand up for their faith (Daniell 196). Some even gave their life standing up for Christianity (Daniell 196). Tyndale’s Bible did not only influence the people of his time; it continues to influence the people of today. Tyndale’s Bible became the basis for all English Bibles (Scott). It is estimated that around 80% of the King James Bible is Tyndale’s (“William Tyndale – Translator of the first English New Testament.”) This means the Bible of today is a result of Tyndale’s work as a
The Holy Bible: giant print ; containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the original tongues ; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His Majesty's special command, authorized King James version ; words of Chri. Giant print reference ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 1994.
Indeed, John Wycliffe is accepted as the first English speaking person who translated the Bible into English, but there were a lot of different partial English translations of the biblical writings. Wycliffe is the first man who translated the whole book into English. The first efforts began with the Venerable Bede, who began a translation from original into Old English, which is also called as Anglo-Saxon. Likewise, Aldhelm translated the Psalms into English in the 8th century. Only in the 11th century a whole translation of the Old Testament was obtained in English.