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Chapter XLIII

TYNDALE'S VERSION

  1. Date.--New Testament, 1525; Pentateuch, 1530; Jonah,
    1531; all revised, 1534.   The first printed English Bible, incomplete.

  2. From Wycliffe to Tyndale.--A Period of 100 years...
    1. The Invention of Printing.--
    2. The Capture of Constantinople by the Moh_mm_dan Turks
      (1453).      --This momentous event drove out many Greek and Chris-
      tian scholars who, gathering up their Greek manuscripts of the Scrip-
      tures and the classics, fled for refuge into Italy, and various countries
      of Europe.   ....   The first printed Hebrew Bible appeared in 1488.   Great
      times were these, ....
    3. Erasmus' Greek Testament.--The first printed Greek New
      Testament was published by Erasmus in 1516       (see 544).   He was en-
      couraged in this work by Pop. L. X.   ....
    4. A Series of Remarkable Discoveries, which....

  3. The Translator.--William Tyndale (or Tindale) was prob-
    ably born in Gloucestershire, England, "about the borders of Wales,"
    about 1484.   ...

  4. At London.--He needed the...
  5. On the Continent.--
  6. At Worms.--a German city, ...
  7. Reception in England.--Early in 1526 Tyndale's New Tes-
    tament began to pour into England, ...
  8. At Marburg.--
  9. At Antwerp.--
  10. Wanderings.--1531
  11. Seizure.--
  12. Trial.--
  13. Execution.--

  14. The Translation.--Tyndale was a well-trained man, said
    to be     "so skilled in seven languages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian,
    Spanish, English, and Dutch, that whichever he might be speaking,
    you would think it to be his native tongue."

Chapter XLIV

BETWEEN TYNDALE AND THE DOUAI

THE COVERDALE BIBLE
  1. Date.--1535; revised, 1537.   The first complete printed
    English Bible.   ....   The New Testament was revised in 1538,
    with the Latin Vulgate in parallel columns.

  2. The Translator.--Myles Coverdale [L] was born in 1488, prob-
    ably in Yorkshire.   He was connected with the monastery of the Au-
    gustinian     Friars at Cambridge.   He was converted to Protestantism,
    and began....   Cromwell
    was his patron, he escaped severe persecution.   In 1528 he was
    preaching in Suffolk against the mass, compulsory confession, and
    the worship of images    .   In the same year he went to the Continent,
    and...

  3. The Translation.--Between 1525 and 1536 no less than
    50,000 Tyndale New Testaments had been sold in England    , in spite
    of the fact that they had been denounced, proscribed, and condemned
    to the flames by the King and the bishops.   In 1530 the demand for
    an English Bible was receiving official recognition, and it was under-
    stood that the King was promising that, when quieter times should
    return he would cause the....
  1. Sources.--Like....   Not being familiar
    with the original languages, he did the best he could and translated
    from the German and Latin.   He mentions five sources, which probably
    were: (1) The Swiss-German (Zurich) Bible by Zwingli and Judah
    (1529), (2) Luther's German Bible (1522), (3) The Latin Vulgate,
    (4) Pagninus' Latin Bible (1528), (5) Either Tyndale's or some ad-
    ditional Latin or German version.

  2. Character.--Coverdale was not so much a translator as a
    careful editor and compiler.   He knew how to select, ....

    THE MATTHEW'S BIBLE
  3. Date.--1537.

  4. Compiler.--John Rogers [L] took his B. A. degree at Cam-
    bridge in 1525.   About 1534 he left England and became chaplain at
    the English Merchants' House at Antwerp, where Tyndale was then
    living.   They became friends, and before Tyndale was martyred he
    appointed Rogers his literary executor, and left to him his unfinished
    manuscript of Joshua to 2 Chronicles.       In 1547 he returned to Eng-
    land, and was the first victim of martyrdom in the reign of Bloody
    Mary (1555).
  1. Contents.--..., Rogers desired a version which would contain all the work of
    his friend Tyndale, translated from the original.   His was a composite
    work, containing Tyndale's translation from Genesis to 2 Chronicles    ,
    Coverdale's from Ezra to Malachi and the Apocrypha, and Tyndale's
    New Testament.       All was slightly revised, with a few changes, and was
    furnished with introductions, summaries of chapters, and some con-
    troversial marginal notes.   It is known as the first revision of the
    Tyndale Bible    .

  2. Name.--Rogers knew that if the name "William Tyndale,"
    or that of his associate, should appear with the title, it would hinder
    the sale of the book.   He therefore used the name "Thomas Matthew,"
    and the volume was known as the "Matthew's Bible."       It is not known
    whether this was a pseudonym for John Rogers, or whether it was
    the name of a helper, or that of some merchant who backed the work
    financially.

  3. Reception.--This version was probably printed at Antwerp
    and sent over to England in sheets, to be completed by Grafton and
    Whitchurch, London printers.   It contains Tyndale's Introduction
    to Romans, the most ultra-Protestant of all his prologues, and some
    of the notes were very stinging.       Grafton must have known what was
    in it, yet he innocently handed it over to Cranmer, who was looking
    for it.   Cranmer passed it on to Cromwell with the remark that as
    far as he had read he thought it the best translation he had yet seen;
    and he asked that Henry might be persuaded to license its circulation
    "until such time as we...."
  1. The Matthew's Bible is the Tyndale Bible complete, as far
    as his translation went    , supplemented by Coverdale's work.   It is the
    first Tyndale revision, and forms the real basis of all later revisions,
    ....

    THE GREAT BIBLE
  2. Date.--1539.
  3. Purpose.--....   But (1) Coverdale's was inaccurate in places,
    and was not translated from the originals; it was a compilation from
    different sources.   (2) Matthew's Bible, the joint Tyndale-Coverdale
    Bible, might cause trouble to its promoters if the shrewd Bishop Gar-
    diner and his friends should succeed in unmasking Pseudo-Matthew,
    or in persuading the vacillating king to inquire closely into its con-
    troversial prologue and notes.   Cromwell saw these deficiencies and
    dangers, and he again appealed to Coverdale to prepare another Bible
    which would be free from these objections, and take the place of these
    Bibles.   It must contain no notes.
  4. The Translator.--Coverdale (618).
  5. The Translation.--This Bible is based upon the Matthew's
    Bible, and it was revised to bring it into conformity with the Hebrew
    and Latin [Vulgate] text of the Complutensian Polyglot (550, 2).   The Old
    Testament is Matthew's, corrected by the Latin text of Münster
    (1535).       The New Testament is Tyndale's revised by comparison with
    the Latin of Erasmus and the Vulgate.   Through the Vulgate several
    additions were made    , which caused it to be unpopular with the re-
    formers.   ....
  6. The Printing.--England was not yet equipped for such
    beautiful and extensive work as was desired, and permission from the
    French king (Francis I) was secured for the printing to be done in
    Paris, by the famous printer Regnault.   Coverdale and Grafton went
    over to superintend the work.   But the Inquisition was on, and there
    was daily fear.   ...

  1. Name.--It was called the "Great Bible" because it was
    great in size and adornment, the type page being....
    It was also called the "Cranmer Bible" because Cranmer wrote the
    preface to..., the "Cromwell Bible" because Cromwell
    helped in its preparation, and the "Whitchurch Bible" from the name
    of one of the printers.

  2. The First "Authorized" Version.--King Henry accepted
    this Bible, and Cromwell issued a royal proclamation commanding
    that it be read publically in every church in the land, that a copy be
    placed in every church so that all might read it, and that the parson
    "expressly provoke, stir, and exhort every person to read the same."

  3. The Frontispiece.--The engraving by Holbein, as a....

    TAVERNER'S BIBLE
  1. Date.--1539.
  2. The Translator.--Richard Taverner [L] was an Oxford scholar,
    a layman, and a lawyer, and he had a reputation as a Greek scholar.
    He was one of....
  3. The Translation.--This Bible is a slight revision of Mat-
    thew's Bible, with its more violent notes toned down or omitted.   The
    Old Testament is Matthew's revision, with slight changes from the
    Vulgate    .   ...

    THE GENEVA BIBLE

  4. Date.--New Testament, 1557; the whole Bible, 1560.   The
    3rd revision of Tyndale's.

  5. The Historical Situation.--The last years of Henry VIII's
    reign     were stormy ones.   ...
    ...   In 1543 all Tyndale
    Bibles     were prohibited, and all notes and controversial matter in the
    Matthew's Bible were ordered effaced.   In 1546 Henry proscribed ev-
    ery Bible and New Testament except the Great Bible, and the read-
    ing and use of this was confined to the upper classes.   There was an
    extensive burning of Bibles.   ....
  1. Occasion.--The Genevan Bible was one of the results of the
    persecution under "Bloody Mary."   Several of the reformers had fled
    to Geneva, Switzerland, the home of Beza, the Biblical scholar, and of
    Calvin, the theologian.   Geneva was a free city, politically and re-
    ligiously, dominated by Calvinism, the "cradle of the Reformed
    Faith."       ...
    ...   These scholarly exiled reformers, with
    Coverdale, who was then living at Geneva, John Knox, and others
    desired a translation corrected strictly by the Hebrew and Greek, and
    which might be...,
    and might have more of a Protestant flavor.

  1. The Translation.--The New Testament appeared in 1557,
    and was probably the product of one man, William Whittingham, an
    Englishman of great learning, and related to Calvin by marriage.   It
    was a revision of Tyndale's, with an Introduction by Calvin.   It was
    the first to use the division of the text into verses.   The version of the
    entire Bible appeared in 1560, the work of English exiled reformers,
    assisted by Beza, Calvin, and possibly others.   The Old Testament
    was based mainly upon the Great Bible, and the New Testament upon
    Whittingham's.   All were revised from a careful collation of Hebrew
    and Greek originals, with the use of Latin versions, especially Beza's,
    and the standard French and German versions.   It was dedicated to
    Queen Elizabeth "in bold and simple language, without flattery or
    reserve."    1

  2. Reception.--Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) was the daugh-
    ter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.   At her coronation a copy of the
    ...

THE BISHOPS' BIBLE
  1. Date.--1568.   ....

  2. Occasion.--The widespread popularity of the Genevan Bible
    was undermining the authority of the Great Bible, and also the power
    of the bishops.   ....   Archbishop
    Parker and the bishops felt that something should be done in Bible
    translations.   In 1564 Parker organized a revision committee contain-
    ing some....

  3. The Translation.--The plan was to follow the Great Bible,
    except where it clearly varied from the Hebrew and Greek, to attend
    well to the Latin versions of Münster (often inaccurate) and Pagni-
    nus    , to avoid bitter notes "in places of controversy," to...

  4. Reception.--The Bishops' Bible was not popular.   ...

Chapter XLV

ROMAN CATHOLIC VERSIONS

THE RHEIMS-DOUAI BIB.

  1. Date.--nt, 1582; ot, 1609-10.
  2. Occasion.--w/ anti-Protestants notes.
  3. The Translators.--In 1568 Wm. Allen under Queen Mary.
    Gregory Martin....
  4. The Translation.--Jerome...Augustine...the [un]Holy Council of Trent; ...
  5. Contents.--Apo.
  6. Value [so-called].--The translation is extremely literal, with a slavish
    adherence to the text of the Vulgate, often using Latinisms...

    REVISIONS
  7. Cha.--in 1750.

  8. The West. Ver. of the Holy Scriptures.--nt in 1935 by some English Jesuits.
    In the nt the text of W&H was used as a basis.

  9. The Spe. N. T.--

  10. Another Revision of the N. T., not yet named,
    ...in Jan., 1941.

Chapter XLVI

THE KING JAMES' VERSION

  1. Date.--1611.   The ... revision of Tyndale.

  2. Queen Elizabeth.--The reign of Elizabeth (1558-1603)

  3. King James.--....   Presbyterian Scotland gave her king,
    James VI, to be also James I of England (1603-25), uniting the two
    realms.   He was a Protestant, ....

  4. Occasion.--In 1604 a conference was called at Hampton
    Court to consider and debate a....

  5. The Translators.--On July 22, 1604, the king announced
    that he had appointed 54 men as translators.   ....

  6. The Process.--six groups

  7. The Sources.-- (1) For the Old Testament, the Massoretic text [was used.]
    (2) For the New Testament, the Textus Receptus Stephen's 3rd ed. (1550),
    Beza's 5th ed. (1598) [were used.]

  8. Value.--This great work was planned in 1604, and prob-
    ably the first three years were spent in preliminary work and private
    study.

  9. Reception and Revision.--....
    (1701) the chronology of Archbishop Ussher was introduced.
    (1762) Dr. Paris w/ the Cambridge ed., 383 new marginal notes.
    (1769) Dr. Blayney w/ the Oxford ed.

Chapter XLVII

THE REVISED VERSIONS [W&H theory]
  1. Two Versions.-- (1) The Eng. Revised, sometimes called the Canterbury Revision
    ..., and (2) The Am. S. Revised Version.

    THE ENGLISH REVISED VERSION
  2. Date.--nt, 1881; ot, 1885; Apo., 1895.
  3. Occasion.--
  4. The Work Started.--It was approaching 1870, and....
  5. The Translators.--The Church of England was to lead in
    the work.   Two English Companies were....
  6. The Process.--
  7. The Sources.--(1) The ot revisers used sub-
    ... and some ear. versions, as the Septuagint and Vul-
    gate    .
  8. Value [so-called].--
  9. Reception.--[W&H]
  10. The Apocrypha.--

    THE AMERICAN STA. REVISED VERSION
  11. Date.--1901.
  12. Occasion.--[W&H]
  13. Changes and Improvements [so-called].--
  14. Reception.--[W&H]
  15. A Revision of the English Bible.--[W&H]
  16. Genuineness, Integrity, Authenticity.--

Chapter XLVIII

PRIVATE AND MODERN-SPEECH VERSIONS
  1. Character.--

  2. Number and Occasion.--

  3. Before 1881.--Several private translations...:
    2. The Eliot Bible.   the NT in 1661, the Bible in 1663.
    17. The Webster Bible.   In 1833
    26. The Murdock New Testament.   1851.   ...from the Syriac Peshito
    Version. (see 443)
    33. The Young Bible.   In 1862

  4. From 1881.--

  5. Immersion Versions.--

    1. The American Bible Union Version.   The American Bible
    Society was organized to serve all denominations, and it was sup-
    ported by all.   ....   the American and
    Foreign Bible Society.

  6. Summary.--

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