TRANSLATIONSOFTHEBIBLE
Reprinted courtesy of Professor Adam Potkay, College of William and MaryTranslations of the Bible have been based mainly on the Hebrew and Greek manu-
scripts, and on two early translations:SEPTUAGINT: A translation of the Hebrew Bible (the “Old Testament”) into Greek; it
was made for the Jews of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. This Greek version was,
according to tradition, based on the work of seventy scholars, and is therefore known as
the Septuagint, from a Latin word meaning “seventy.”
VULGATE: St. Jerome’s translation of the Bible into Latin for the common people (in
Latin, the Vulgus) of the Roman world, @ AD 400.Major English Translations:
WYCLIFFITEBIBLE: Manuscript translation done by the followers of John Wycliffe in the
1380s; he saw the Bible as the sole rule of faith and practice for all, and was therefore
opposed by the English church, which emphasized both scripture and tradition.
—about 1450: Invention of printing from movable type
TYNDALEBIBLE: William Tyndale, living in Germany, translated the New Testament
into English in 1526; in 1536 the Inquisition burned him at the stake as a heretic.
—1522-1534: Martin Luther produces, in German, the first western European Bible
based on the original Hebrew and Greek, rather than on the Latin Vulgate.
—1534: Parliament under Henry VIII separates English Church from the Church of Rome.
COVERDALEBIBLE: First printed English Bible, 1535. Miles Coverdale used Tyndale’s
translation of the New Testament and the portions of the Old Testament that Tyndale had
translated; Coverdale himself translated the rest of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha.
—1552-1558: Reign of Henry’s daughter Mary (“Bloody Mary”), who attempted to revive
Roman Catholicism in England.
GENEVABIBLE: Done in 1560 by English Protestant scholars (including Coverdale)
who had gone to the continent to escape Queen Mary’s persecutions. This is the
Bible Shakespeare knew. Its margins are filled with Calvinist theology (and damna-
tions of other sects). Known also as the “BREECHES BIBLE,” from Gen. 3:7: “They
sewed fig leaves together and made themselves breeches.”
BISHOP’s BIBLE: Published in 1568, during Queen Elizabeth’s reign; indebted to
Tyndale/Coverdale.
DOUAI-RHEIMS: Translation of the Vulgate done by English Catholics in France; they
completed the New Testament in 1582 and the Old Testament in 1609. This translation
is marked by its Latinate style and diction.
KINGJAMESVERSION: Published in 1611. King James (r. 1603-1625) assembled 47
scholars; they worked with Biblical texts in the original languages, as well as with the
Tyndale and Coverdale versions. Their translation included the Apocrypha, which was omit-
ted in England beginning in 1826.LECTURE EIGHT