When was the first English translation completed?
Chronological List of Major English Bible Translations
Chronological List of Major English Bible Translations
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English Translations before 1611
- Thread starter Salty
- Start date
Middle English John Wycliffe. 1st version extremely literal. 2nd version revised less literal. Translated from the Latin Vulgate. I believe Hebrew and Greek were not known well in England then. William Tyndale was the first to translate from the Greek and Hebrew.
Last edited:
[From Harvard Divinity School Library an easy-read summary of the Geneva Bible]
During the religious persecutions of Queen Mary's reign, English Puritans sought refuge in Geneva, Switzerland, and wanted to produce an annotated Bible for the use of their families while in exile. In 1557, William Whittingham completed a New Testament, which included copious notes in the margins. It used Roman type instead of the traditional "Black Letter" for the first time in English Scriptures. Also for the first time, it had numbered verse divisions, following earlier French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew editions.
With this Testament off the press in Geneva, Whittingham, aided by Anthony Gilby and Thomas Sampson (all trained at Cambridge or Oxford), plunged into producing a similar text of the whole Bible, continuing the translation tradition begun by William Tyndale in 1525. They used the "Great Bible" translated by Miles Coverdale in 1539 as a point of departure. Corrections were based on improved Latin and Greek texts; elaborate notes covered historical or geographical explanations as well as moral lessons. Financed by the English congregation at Geneva, the Bible was first printed by Rowland Hall of Geneva in 1560. Royal permission was obtained from Queen Elizabeth for its printing in England. In the eighty-four years of its publication, some 140 editions of the Geneva Bible or New Testament were produced.
For three generations, this Bible held sway in the homes of the English people. While Great Bibles and Bishops' Bibles were read out in the churches, Geneva Bibles were read by the firesides, well before and after the King James version was issued. The Geneva Bible was the Bible of William Shakespeare, John Bunyan, and Oliver Cromwell. This is the version that Pilgrims and Puritans brought with them to America.
During the religious persecutions of Queen Mary's reign, English Puritans sought refuge in Geneva, Switzerland, and wanted to produce an annotated Bible for the use of their families while in exile. In 1557, William Whittingham completed a New Testament, which included copious notes in the margins. It used Roman type instead of the traditional "Black Letter" for the first time in English Scriptures. Also for the first time, it had numbered verse divisions, following earlier French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew editions.
With this Testament off the press in Geneva, Whittingham, aided by Anthony Gilby and Thomas Sampson (all trained at Cambridge or Oxford), plunged into producing a similar text of the whole Bible, continuing the translation tradition begun by William Tyndale in 1525. They used the "Great Bible" translated by Miles Coverdale in 1539 as a point of departure. Corrections were based on improved Latin and Greek texts; elaborate notes covered historical or geographical explanations as well as moral lessons. Financed by the English congregation at Geneva, the Bible was first printed by Rowland Hall of Geneva in 1560. Royal permission was obtained from Queen Elizabeth for its printing in England. In the eighty-four years of its publication, some 140 editions of the Geneva Bible or New Testament were produced.
For three generations, this Bible held sway in the homes of the English people. While Great Bibles and Bishops' Bibles were read out in the churches, Geneva Bibles were read by the firesides, well before and after the King James version was issued. The Geneva Bible was the Bible of William Shakespeare, John Bunyan, and Oliver Cromwell. This is the version that Pilgrims and Puritans brought with them to America.
Dr Bob - seems I had read somewhere that - the Pilgrims and Puritans preferred the Great and/or Bishops Bible over that new King James translation
Are you aware of that?
That would be the Geneva Bible.
What Dr Cassidy posted was the following:
Dr Cassidy Oct 30 2010
The first known bible in English was the Lindisfarne Gospels dating to about 700 A.D. These were in Latin with an Anglo-Saxon interlinear translation added about 950 A.D.
In about 1000 A.D., Aelfric translated a condensed version of the first seven books of the Old Testament. However, due to the Norman invasion in 1066, French became the dominant language of England, and the Anglo-Saxon tongue became obsolete.
In the fourteenth century, English was again dominant, and by the fifteenth century French had almost disappeared.
In about 1300 the Ormulum appeared, translated by Orm, an Augustinian monk. This work was originally the Gospels, but later Genesis and Exodus were translated into English.
About the same time, Richard Rolle translated the Psalms into Early Middle English, of which 170 manuscripts still survive.
John Wycliffe (1330-1384) was the first known translator of the entire Bible into English.
Unquote
Lindisfarne Gospel is interesting.
Eliyahu
Dr Cassidy Oct 30 2010
The first known bible in English was the Lindisfarne Gospels dating to about 700 A.D. These were in Latin with an Anglo-Saxon interlinear translation added about 950 A.D.
In about 1000 A.D., Aelfric translated a condensed version of the first seven books of the Old Testament. However, due to the Norman invasion in 1066, French became the dominant language of England, and the Anglo-Saxon tongue became obsolete.
In the fourteenth century, English was again dominant, and by the fifteenth century French had almost disappeared.
In about 1300 the Ormulum appeared, translated by Orm, an Augustinian monk. This work was originally the Gospels, but later Genesis and Exodus were translated into English.
About the same time, Richard Rolle translated the Psalms into Early Middle English, of which 170 manuscripts still survive.
John Wycliffe (1330-1384) was the first known translator of the entire Bible into English.
Unquote
Lindisfarne Gospel is interesting.
Eliyahu
Bible Information - Textus Receptus Bibles
Wessex Gospels c.1175
The Wessex Gospels (also known as the West-Saxon Gospels) are a full translation of the four gospels of the Christian Bible into a West Saxon dialect of Old English. Designated Royal MS 1 A XIV, it is historically important.
1:2 swa awritan ys on þas witegen bæch ysaiam. Nu ich asænde minne ængel be-foran þinre ansiëne. Se ge-gærewed þinne weig be-foren þe.
1:3 clepiende stefne on þam westene. ge-gærewied drihtnes weig. doð rihte his syðas.
1:4 Iohannes wæs on wæstene fulgende & bodiende. deadbote fulluht on senne for-gyfenysse.
1:5 & to hym ferde eal iudëëisce rice. & ealle ierosolima-ware. & wæren fram him ge-fullode on Iordanes flode. heore synna andettenne.
1:6 And Iohannes wæs ge-scryd mid olfendes hære. & fellen gyrdel wæs embe his lendene. & garstapen & wude hunig he æt.
1:7 & he bodede & cwæð. strengre kymð æfter me. Þas ne æm ich wurðe þt ic his scone þwange bugende un-cnette.
1:8 Ich fullige eow on wætere. he eow fulleð on halgen gaste
Wessex Gospels c.1175 Textus Receptus Bibles
Wessex Gospels c.1175
The Wessex Gospels (also known as the West-Saxon Gospels) are a full translation of the four gospels of the Christian Bible into a West Saxon dialect of Old English. Designated Royal MS 1 A XIV, it is historically important.
- The Wessex Gospels are the oldest translations into English from Greek and not Latin.[Not true, the Anglo-Saxon Gospels are from Latin, not Greek]
- Royal MS 1 A XIV is written on parchment and is also known as the Codex Evangeliorum Anglice.
- The title written at the top of the page, ‘Text[us] iv evangelior[um] anglice’, is reproduced in the 14th-century catalogue of the Benedictine Christ Church library, but at the Reformation this book was one of many acquired from religious houses by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1532 to 1534, whose name is written at the top of the page.
- Seven extant copies exist today. The earliest version dates from 990AD.
- Royal MS 1 A XIV was copied directly from MS 441 in the Bodleian library at Oxford. We know this as the same passages have been omitted from both. It has a transmission jump of 185 years.
- MS 441 (990AD) is extant and still resides in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, England. It was given to the library by Baron Hatton in 1671. Paleographical evidence suggests a Canterbury origin. The earliest extant evidence of ownership is through Archbishop Matthew Parker (1504-75).
- MS Corp. Ch Coll Camb 140 (1000AD) is in Corpus Christi College Cambridge.
- Royal MS 1 A XIV (1175AD) is in the British Library and was presented to the British Museum by King George II in 1757 from the Old Royal Library.
- Royal MS 1 A XIV once belonged to the Prince of Wales: Henry Frederick, (1594-1612), eldest child of King James the First
1:2 swa awritan ys on þas witegen bæch ysaiam. Nu ich asænde minne ængel be-foran þinre ansiëne. Se ge-gærewed þinne weig be-foren þe.
1:3 clepiende stefne on þam westene. ge-gærewied drihtnes weig. doð rihte his syðas.
1:4 Iohannes wæs on wæstene fulgende & bodiende. deadbote fulluht on senne for-gyfenysse.
1:5 & to hym ferde eal iudëëisce rice. & ealle ierosolima-ware. & wæren fram him ge-fullode on Iordanes flode. heore synna andettenne.
1:6 And Iohannes wæs ge-scryd mid olfendes hære. & fellen gyrdel wæs embe his lendene. & garstapen & wude hunig he æt.
1:7 & he bodede & cwæð. strengre kymð æfter me. Þas ne æm ich wurðe þt ic his scone þwange bugende un-cnette.
1:8 Ich fullige eow on wætere. he eow fulleð on halgen gaste
Wessex Gospels c.1175 Textus Receptus Bibles
To say Greek was a forgotten language in Western Europe would be going to far, but its use had declined as the Byzantine Empire shrank. It wasn't until the 15th century that Greek began to be widely studied in the West as a result of scholars from Byzantium fleeing the Ottomans. Erasmus' Greek NT and the Complutesnian Polyglot in the early 1500s revolutionized the study of Greek and contributed to the flurry of vernacular translations that followed.
The study of Hebrew also was fairly limited. As with the Greek diaspora of the Byzantine Empire, Jewish immigration to the West was prompted by the disintegration of the empire (from both the Fourth Crusade and the fall of Constantinople in 1453) and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 after the Reconquista. The spread of knowledge of Hebrew was somewhat slower, with strides being made especially in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
They did prefer the Geneva Bible!
Tyndale, Wycliffe, and Geneva most important ones before the Kjv
37818
Well-Known Member
Wycliffe 1382 from the Latin, Tyndale 1534 from the Greek and some of the Hebrew OT, Geneva 1560.