A LIST OF ENGLISH BIBLES



LECTURE #1

A LIST OF ENGLISH BIBLES

BEFORE

THE AUTHORIZED VERSION

OF THE KING JAMES BIBLE (1611)

A brief history of the English Bibles will help to understand the purifying process that the Bible went through before the King James Bible of 1611 came out.

I. WYCLIFFE’S ENGLISH VERSION (1380-1382)

1. John Wycliffe, “The Morningstar of the Reformation” was born c. 1320 in Yorkshire, England.

2. The first completed English Bible was produced by Wycliffe.

3. In 1377 Wycliffe sent a statement listing 19 heresies of the Church of Rome to the Pope. The Pope countered by issuing 5 Bulls against Wycliffe.

He was protected from harm by the voice of the people and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster.

4. The New Testament was translated in 1380.

5. The Old Testament was translated in 1382.

6. He died in 1385.

II. WILLIAM TYNDALES’ ENGLISH VERSION (1525-1536)

1. Born in Gloucestershire, England.

2. He said “I defy the Pope and all his laws; if God spares my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou doest.

3. William produced the first printed English Bible (though incomplete)

4. 1525 the New Testament was translated.

5. 1530- began translating the Old Testament.

6. 1536- translated from Joshua to 2 Chronicles In his prison cell.

7. He could never finish the Old Testament due to persecution and a martyrs’ death.

8. 1536 (Oct. 6) Tyndale was tied to a stake, strangled to death, then burnt.

His last words, prayed out loud, were, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

III. THE COVERDALE BIBLE (1535)

1. Miles Coverdale (1488-1569).

2. He produced the first complete printed English Bible.

3. 1535 published his first edition of the Bible in English.

4. It was basically a revision of Tyndale’s work being compared with other German and Latin versions.

5. It had separated the apocrypha from the canonical Books.

6. In 1553 he was imprisoned, then banished during the reign of Catholic “bloody” Queen Mary.”

7. In 1559 he returned to England, and died in London in 1569.

IV. THE MATTHEW’S BIBLE (1537)

1. It is the completed Tyndale Version.

2. The work was done by John Rogers (1550-1555).

3. He was a friend and assistant of William Tyndale.

4. He had received handwritten manuscripts from Tyndale shortly before his death.

5. He first published his translation in 1537.

6. Rogers became the first martyr under the reign of Mary.

V. THE GREAT BIBLE (1539)

1. England was passing through a period of great upheaval. The English Reformation was both religious and political, and three major parties sought control-the Papists, the Episcopalians, and the Puritans (Presbyterians).

2. Miles Coverdale did this work.

3. It is called the “Great Bible” because of its large size (40 centimeters high by 30 cent. wide).

4. It was published in 1539, just three years after Tyndale’s dying prayer.

5. It is the first English Bible to place the Books in their present order.

6. It was the first English Bible to be authorized for public use.

7. It was chained to the reading benches in the church.

VI. GENEVA BIBLE (1557-1560)

1. During the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary (1553-58) many English Protestants fled or were exiled to Europe.

2. 1557 the New Testament was published. It was a revision of Tyndale’s work.

3. 1560 the Old Testament was published.

4. It was the first English Bible to use verse divisions.

5. It was the first to use italics for words supplied by the translators.

6. It was the first English bible to remove the apocrypha.

7. This Bible is sometimes called the third revision of Tyndale’s Bible.

VII. THE BISHOP’S BIBLE (1568)

1. In 1563, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker, initiated a revision of the Great Bible.

2. The popularity of the Geneva Bible concerned the English Episcopalian clergy, who saw themselves losing their authority over the people.

3. It was a revision of the Great Bible. The Geneva Bible had a Puritan flavor, the Bishop’s Bible was Episcopalian.

4. In 1568 it was published.

5. Sometimes referred to the fourth revision of Tyndale’s Bible.

VIII. THE AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE KING JAMES BIBLE 1611

The King James Bible is widely available.  It has been the base text for translations in many languages.   According to Winston Churchill it has been translated into 760 languages (Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples, one volume edition, p. 160).

The Greek and Hebrew languages are not necessary to translation the Bible into a foreign tongue seeing that God preserved His word, word-perfect in the Authorized Version.

WHY DOES THE HOLY BIBLE (AV 1611) HAVE AUTHORITY WORLD WIDE?

Answer: The word of God says, “WHERE THE WORD OF A KING IS, THERE IS POWER: AND WHO MAY SAY UNTO HIM, WHAT DOEST THOU”

(Ecclesiastes 8:4)

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