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We used to be missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators. It was always amazing to me that not only do we have gazillions of translations (it seems) in English, but that people are so apathetic about reading even one of them. We know that millions of people don't even have one verse of Scripture in their own language whereas we have no excuse for not reading what is available.
I'm going to keep a running list of Bible translations in English....can anyone start me off?
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995 AD: Anglo-Saxon (Early Roots of English Language) Translations of The New Testament Produced.
1384 AD: Wycliffe is the First Person to Produce a (Hand-Written) manuscript Copy of the Complete Bible; All 80 Books.
1455 AD: Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press; Books May Now be mass-Produced Instead of Individually Hand-Written. The First Book Ever Printed is Gutenberg's Bible in Latin.
1526 AD: William Tyndale's New Testament; The First New Testament printed in the English Language.
1535 AD: Myles Coverdale's Bible; The First Complete Bible printed in the English Language (80 Books: O.T. & N.T. & Apocrypha).
1537 AD: Tyndale-Matthews Bible; The Second Complete Bible printed in English. Done by John "Thomas Matthew" Rogers (80 Books).
1539 AD: The "Great Bible" Printed; The First English Language Bible Authorized for Public Use (80 Books).
1560 AD: The Geneva Bible Printed; The First English Language Bible to add Numbered Verses to Each Chapter (80 Books).
1568 AD: The Bishops Bible Printed; The Bible of which the King James was a Revision (80 Books).
1609 AD: The Douay Old Testament is added to the Rheims New Testament (of 1582) Making the First Complete English Catholic Bible; Translated from the Latin Vulgate (80 Books).
1611 AD: The King James Bible Printed; Originally with All 80 Books. The Apocrypha was Officially Removed in 1885 Leaving Only 66 Books.
1782 AD: Robert Aitken's Bible; The First English Language Bible (KJV) Printed in America.
1791 AD: Isaac Collins and Isaiah Thomas Respectively Produce the First Family Bible and First Illustrated Bible Printed in America. Both were King James Versions, with All 80 Books.
1808 AD: Jane Aitken's Bible (Daughter of Robert Aitken); The First Bible to be Printed by a Woman.
1833 AD: Noah Webster's Bible; After Producing his Famous Dictionary, Webster Printed his Own Revision of the King James Bible.
1841 AD: English Hexapla New Testament; an Early Textual Comparison showing the Greek and 6 Famous English Translations in Parallel Columns.
1846 AD: The Illuminated Bible; The Most Lavishly Illustrated Bible printed in America. A King James Version, with All 80 Books.
1885 AD: The "English Revised Version" Bible; The First Major English Revision of the KJV.
1901 AD: The "American Standard Version"; The First Major American Revision of the KJV.
1971 AD: The "New American Standard Bible" (NASB) is Published as a "Modern and Accurate Word for Word English Translation" of the Bible.
1973 AD: The "New International Version" (NIV) is Published as a "Modern and Accurate Phrase for Phrase English Translation" of the Bible.
1982 AD: The "New King James Version" (NKJV) is Published as a "Modern English Version Maintaining the Original Style of the King James."
2002 AD: The English Standard Version (ESV) is Published as a translation to bridge the gap between the accuracy of the NASB and the readability of the NIV.
There are many others such as paraprase and a bunch of others self published etc.
The present official Canon appeared for the first time in print in the Festal Epistle of Athanasius (A.D. 367). Pope Damascus I, at the Council of Rome in 382, stated the canon of Scripture, and listed the exact same books that that we have today.
In the Synod of Hippo (A.D. 393) this same Canon was officially stated and adopted for all the Church. This was the entire Church - East and West - there was not yet any split or schism in the heart of Christ yet. All of Christianity had one Holy Book. And it was this scripture that it maintained, whole, and unblemished, until the 16th century.
However, it is evident that the initial canon in the 4th century found many opponents in Africa, since it took three ratifying councils there at brief intervals - Hippo in A.D. 393, and Carthage in AD 397 and then again in A.D. 419 - to reiterate the official catalogs. This canon was once again ratified by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; and then again confirmed and ratified by the Council of Florence in 1442. But if was first officially declared, for all time, as the official canon of the entire Church at the Synod of Hippo in 393 AD, and has never changed.
Ironically, it was not the deuterocanonical books that were the stumbling point, initially, but apparently the NT Scripture of the Book of Hebrews. Once this agreement on Canon was reached in it's final version, all major Christian churches used the same Canon. Basically, the Canon proclaimed in AD 367 by Athanasius is the same exact version of the Bible that the Catholic Church uses today. Remember, at the time there WAS only ONE Church, and this was the Bible that all Christians used.
In about the 4th Century CE, as the Greek language began to die out as the trade language of the Western Empire, it became evident that there was a need for translation of the Christian Scriptures into Latin, which, as you may remember, was at that time the tongue of the common people of the West. The scholar Jerome undertook the task. Jerome used the best texts he could find (including Hebrew when available), and produced the so-called "Vulgate" (Common Language) Bible. Again, these included the Deuterocanonical books, and this Bible was considered the authoritative translation for centuries. The best known English Catholic version of the Bible, the Douay-Rheims (1582-1609/10), and its revision by Bishop Challoner (1750) were based on the Latin Vulgate.
When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, it was the entire Catholic Bible that he translated. In fact, the composer Brahms set some of Luther's deuterocanonical texts to music in his "Vier Ernste Gesange." Some folks are aware that Luther placed the deuterocanonical books at the end of his Bible, with comments. Luther, however, only later removed the deuterocanonicals from the Old Testament, and put them in an appendix without page numbers - along with Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation. Initially, he simply transcribed what was accepted by all Christians of the time as the entire Bible. Later, he acted on his own initiative to remove books he felt were "improper". Other Protestants reacted strongly to Luther's presumption, and replaced the books that Luther rearranged back into the New Testament but felt comfortable with his desecration of the Old Testament, because those were the "Jewish books" - and they felt his logic of following the guidelines of the Jewish elders at Jamnia, made some sort of sense - so they left out the deuterocanonicals from the Old Testament. Today, many Protestants have the completely mistaken impression that Catholics added books to the Bible, when you can see, it was the other way around, Protestants removed them!
Luther was opposed to the OT Deuterocanonical books on the grounds that the Jewish council of Jamnia rejected them. This was considered a "legitimate" argument by the early Reformers, despite centuries of acceptance by the early Christian Church, until 1947, when the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. When those writings were finally translated, it was found found that they contain writings, in Hebrew, from every Old Testament book (except Esther), including all of the Deuterocanonical books. The Dead Sea scrolls date back to before the time of Christ. This adds to the evidence against the popular argument that the Catholics "added" the Deuterocanonical books to the Bible during the Reformation. While the Dead Sea scrolls are not considered to add anything to canonical scripture, they do help to verify the authenticity of Deuterocanonical books and the validity of their rightful place in the Bible. In addition, scripture scholars have no doubt at all that the early Christians accepted the Deuterocanonical books as part of its Canon of Sacred Scriptures. For instance, Origen (d. 245) stated that these books were considered inspired scripture, and affirmed the use of these books among Christians.
The Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant violation of the Bible by deleting the deuterocanonical books, declared an official listing of each individual book, but it certainly did not add those books to the canon. Those who state that there was no official canon until Trent misunderstand. Trent was reiterating the canon for all time. They were amongst the very first accepted books of the Bible. They had been accepted as canon for centuries. And in fact, Martin Luther and the other Reformers accepted the presence of those books for decades before the Council of Trent, but then deleted them, when they left the Church, on their own initiative.
The apparent reason for the dropping of the deuterocanonical texts is that they support certain Catholic doctrines rejected by the Reformers. For instance, in 2 Maccabees 12:41-45 there is a reference to praying for the dead, a Catholic practice rejected by Luther. Because Luther rejected that practice, it was necessary to deny the authority of the Books of the Maccabees, and he also attempted to delete Hebrews as well, because there are references to that text. The reason for Luther's treatment of James had to do with the "faith vs. works" issue.
Nor is it at all true, as some mistakenly think, that the Catholic Church was opposed to the printing and distribution of Bible translations in "native" languages. Part of the problem was that Bibles were not widely circulated. They were written by hand, and very, very expensive. Many of the common folk couldn't read, either. Bibles, and books in general did not become widely used by the general population until after the invention of the printing press.
John Wycliffe with his 1382 version of the Bible was not the first person to give English speaking people the Bible in their own tongue, as a popular misguided myth would have it. We have copies of the work of Caedmon from the 7th century, and that of the Venerable Bede, Eadhelm, Guthlac, and Egbert from the 8th (all in Saxon, the prevalent language at that time). From the 9th and 10th centuries come the translations of King Alfred the Great and Aelfric, Archbishop of Canterbury. Early English versions include that of Orm around 1150, the Salus Animae (1250), and the translations of William Shoreham, Richard Rolle (d.1349), and John Trevisa (c.1360).
Other languages are also represented in the list of "vernacular" Catholic Bibles. We can find a translation of the Bible from 1290, written in French, a translation into Dutch (about 1270), and a translation into German (about 1350). Between 1466 and the onset of the Protestant Reformation in 1517, at least fourteen editions appeared in High German, and five in Low German. From 1450 to 1550, for example, there appeared (with express permission from Rome) more than 40 Italian editions or translations of the Bible and eighteen French editions, as well as others in Bohemian, Belgian, Russian, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, and Hungarian. Spain published editions in Spanish starting in 1478.
It is important to remember, that ALL of these vernacular Bibles were "Catholic" Bibles. Remember, the Reformation had not yet occurred. The key issue for the Catholic Church was NOT translating the Bible into vernacular languages, as some say, but simply insuring that the translations were accurate translations.
The King James version was written much later than any these, in 1611. So, as you can see, it is most assuredly not the first Bible written in English. And sad to say, no matter how accurate or inaccurate it is, by translation - and there are scholars that claim it is seriously flawed in it's translation, while many consider it the "purest" version - be that as it may, it is still missing those aforementioned books, and is therefore, incomplete.
You know, I must have been asleep when I started the thread. I didn't explain my intention well enough. But thanks you guys for the great research you did.
What I actually wanted was a list of any version of the Bible in English with its own particular flavor. For example, the NIV Adventure Bible.
There are tons of specialized versions in English and I just wanted to list how many different ones there are. I think it's a worthwhile exercise especially when you consider, as I stated previously, some folks around the world don't have even just one verse.
Now, that I've started us off, who can add to it? And it would be great if many of you added one per person instead of just a few doing all the work? Is that OK?
A great Bible that is a difficult read in some parts but is correctly translated from the GREEK AND HEBREW (not the Latin) is Young's Literal.
All translations that come from St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate are inherently incorrect. The translation was made with a political agenda in mind, fueled by personal opinion.<---------------That's a period right there. (to steal from Alpha )
Abbreviated Bible - TAB - 1971, eliminates duplications, includes the Apocrypha
American Standard Version - ASV - 1901, a.k.a. Standard American Edition, Revised Version, the American version of the Holy Bible, Revised Version
American Translation (Beck) - AAT - 1976
American Translation (Smith-Goodspeed) - SGAT - 1931
Amplified Bible - AB - 1965, includes explanation of words within text
Aramaic Bible (Targums) - ABT - 1987, originally translated from the Hebrew into the Aramaic
Aramaic New Covenant - ANCJ - 1996, a translation and transliteration of the New Covenant
Authentic New Testament - ANT - 1958
Barclay New Testament - BNT - 1969
Basic Bible - TBB - 1950, based upon a vocabulary of 850 words
Bible Designed to Be Read as Literature - BDRL - 1930, stresses literary qualities of the Bible, includes the Apocrypha
Bible Reader - TBR - 1969, an interfaith version, includes the Apocrypha
Cassirer New Testament - CNT - 1989
Centenary Translation of the New Testament - CTNT - 1924, one of the few versions translated solely by a woman
Common English New Testament - CENT - 1865
Complete Jewish Bible - CJB - 1989, a Messianic Jewish translation
Concordant Literal New Testament - CLNT - 1926
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Translation - CCDT - 1953, includes the Apocrypha
Contemporary English Version - CEV - 1992, includes Psalms and Proverbs
Coptic Version of the New Testament - CVNT - 1898, based on translations from northern Egypt
Cotton Patch Version - CPV - 1968, based on American ideas and Southern US culture, only contains Paul's writings
Coverdale Bible - TCB - 1540, includes the Apocrypha
Darby Holy Bible - DHB - 1923
Dartmouth Bible - TDB - 1961, an abridgment of the King James Version, includes the Apocrypha
De Nyew Testament in Gullah - NTG - 2005
Dead Sea Scrolls Bible - DSSB - 1997, translated from Dead Sea Scrolls documents, includes the Apocrypha
Documents of the New Testament - DNT - 1934
Douay-Rheims Bible - DRB - 1899
Emphasized Bible - EBR - 1959, contains signs of emphasis for reading
Emphatic Diaglott - EDW - 1942
English Standard Version - ESV - 2001, a revision of the Revised Standard Version
English Version for the Deaf - EVD - 1989, a.k.a. Easy-to-Read Version, designed to meet the special needs of the deaf
English Version of the Polyglott Bible - EVPB - 1858, the English portion of an early Bible having translations into several languages
Geneva Bible - TGB - 1560, the popular version just prior to the translation of the King James Version, includes the Apocrypha
Godbey Translation of the New Testament - GTNT - 1905
God's Word - GW - 1995, a.k.a Today's Bible Translation
Holy Bible in Modern English - HBME - 1900
Holy Bible, Revised Version - HBRV - 1885, an official revision of the King James Version which was not accepted at the time
Holy Scriptures (Harkavy) - HSH - 1951
Holy Scriptures (Leeser) - HSL - 1905
Holy Scriptures (Menorah) - HSM - 1973, a.k.a. Jewish Family Bible
Inclusive Version - AIV - 1995, stresses equality of the sexes and physically handicapped, includes Psalms
Inspired Version - IV - 1867, a revision of the King James Version
Interlinear Bible (Green) - IB - 1976, side-by-side Hebrew/Greek and English
International Standard Version - ISV - 1998
Jerusalem Bible (Catholic) - TJB - 1966, includes the Apocrypha
Jerusalem Bible (Koren) - JBK - 1962, side-by-side Hebrew and English
Jewish Bible for Family Reading - JBFR - 1957, includes the Apocrypha
John Wesley New Testament - JWNT - 1755, a correction of the King James Version
King James Version - KJV - 1611, a.k.a. Authorized Version, originally included the Apocrypha
Kleist-Lilly New Testament - KLNT - 1956
Knox Translation - KTC - 1956, includes the Apocrypha
Lamsa Bible - LBP - 1957, based on Pe****ta manuscripts
Lattimore New Testament - LNT - 1962, a literal translation
Letchworth Version in Modern English - LVME - 1948
Living Bible - LB - 1971, a paraphrase version
McCord's New Testament Translation of the Everlasting Gospel - MCT - 1989
Message - TM - 1993, a.k.a. New Testament in Contemporary English, a translation in the street language of the day, includes Psalms and Proverbs
Modern Reader's Bible - MRB - 1923, stresses literary qualities, includes the Apocrypha
Modern Speech New Testament - MSNT - 1902, an attempt to present the Bible in effective, intelligible English
Moffatt New Translation - MNT - 1922
New American Bible - NAB - 1987, includes the Apocrypha
New American Standard Version - NAS - 1977
New Berkeley Version in Modern English - NBV - 1967
New Century Version - NCV - 1987
New English Bible - NEB - 1970, includes the Apocrypha
New Evangelical Translation - NET - 1992, a translation aimed at missionary activity
New International Version - NIV - 1978
New Jerusalem Bible - NJB - 1985, includes the Apocrypha
New JPS Version - NJPS - 1988
New King James Version - NKJ - 1990
New Life Version - NLV - 1969, a translation designed to be useful wherever English is used as a second language
New Living Translation - NLT - 1996, a dynamic-equivalence translation
New Millenium Bible - NMB - 1999, a contemporary English translation
New Revised Standard Version - NRS - 1989, the authorized revision of the Revised Standard Version
New Testament in Plain English - WPE - 1963, a version using common words only
New Testament: An Understandable Version - NTUV - 1995, a limited edition version
New Translation (Jewish) - NTJ - 1917
New World Translation - NWT - 1984
Noli New Testament - NNT - 1961, the first and only book of its kind by an Eastern Orthodox translator at the time of its publication
Norlie's Simplified New Testament - NSNT - 1961, includes Psalms
Original New Testament - ONT - 1985, described by publisher as a radical translation and reinterpretation
Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha - OJBC - 1996, an Orthodox version containing Rabbinic Hebrew terms
People's New Covenant - PNC - 1925, a version translated from the meta-physical standpoint
Phillips Revised Student Edition - PRS - 1972
Recovery Version - RcV - 1991, a reference version containing extensive notes
Reese Chronological Bible - RCB - 1980, an arrangement of the King James Version in chronological order
Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible - SNB - 1976, a version whose concern is the true name and titles of the creator and his son
Restored New Testament - PRNT - 1914, a version giving an interpretation according to ancient philosophy and psychology
Revised English Bible - REB - 1989, a revision of the New English Bible
Revised Standard Version - RSV - 1952, a revision of the American Standard Version
Riverside New Testament - RNT - 1923, written in the living English language of the time of the translation
Sacred Scriptures, Bethel Edition - SSBE - 1981, the sacred name and the sacred titles and the name of Yahshua restored to the text of the Bible
Scholars Version - SV - 1993, a.k.a. Five Gospels; contains evaluations of academics of what are, might be, and are not, the words of Jesus; contains the four gospels and the Gospel of Thomas
Scriptures (ISR) - SISR - 1998, traditional names replaced by Hebraic ones and words with pagan sources replaced
Septuagint - LXX - c. 200 BCE, the earliest version of the Old Testament scriptures, includes the Apocrypha
Shorter Bible - SBK - 1925, eliminates duplications
Spencer New Testament - SCM - 1941
Stone Edition of the Tanach - SET - 1996, side-by-side Hebrew and English
Swann New Testament - SNT - 1947, no chapters, only paragraphs, with verses numbered consecutively from Matthew to Revelation
Today's English New Testament - TENT - 1972
Today's English Version - TEV - 1976, a.k.a. Good News Bible
Twentieth Century New Testament - TCNT - 1904
Unvarnished New Testament - UNT - 1991, the principal sentence elements kept in the original order of the Greek
Versified Rendering of the Complete Gospel Story - VRGS - 1980, the gospel books written in poetic form, contains the four gospels
Westminster Version of the Sacred Scriptures - WVSS - 1929
Wiclif Translation - TWT - 1380, a very early version translated into English
William Tindale Newe Testament - WTNT - 1989, an early version with spelling and punctuation modernized
William Tyndale Translation - WTT - 1530, early English version, includes the Pentateuch
Williams New Testament - WNT - 1937, a translation of the thoughts of the writers with a reproduction of their diction and style
Word Made Fresh - WMF - 1988, a paraphrase with humour and familiar names and places for those who have no desire to read the Bible
Worrell New Testament - WAS - 1904
Wuest Expanded Translation - WET - 1961, intended as a comparison to, or commentary on, the standard translations
Young's Literal Translation, Revised Edition - YLR - 1898, a strictly literal translation
I didn't have time to check all prior posts, but, I think all --or at leasst several-- of these are new to this blog:
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (2013 NWT revision, includes:
main references, two appendix; glossary; outline contents of each book; and more);
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures—With [All] References (1984 NWT revision, with detailed appendix);
The Kingdom *Interlinear* Translation of the Greek Scriptures (NT only, 1969; revised 1985);
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT 1961) earlier published in sections; put together when all done;
The Bible in Living English (By);
Divine Name King James Bible (DNKJB);
The Englishman's Study Bible / Newberry Study Bible;
World English Bible (WEB);
Hebrew Names Version (HNV) of the World English Bible;
World English Bible: Messianic Edition;
The World English Bible British Edition;
The World English Bible British Messianic Edition;
The Bible in Basic English (BBE);
Holman Christian Standard (HCSB);
Lexham English Bible (LEB);
Bible in Worldwide English (1969, NT only);
The DNKJB online is uniquely set up for changing the way it renders the personal name of God according to one's personal preference, either: Jehovah (the default if another is not chosen); Yehowah; Yahweh; or, YHWH.
"The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language" (2002) is an idiomatic paraphrase, takes *great liberties* and seriously lacks the accurate meaning of the Scriptures, throughout. . . .
". . . John Saeed defines an idiom as collocated words that became affixed to each other until metamorphosing into a fossilised term.[7] This collocation of words redefines each component word in the word-group and becomes an idiomatic expression. Idioms usually do not translate well; in some cases, when an idiom is translated directly word-for-word into another language, either its meaning is changed or it is meaningless. . . ." (Wikipedia - Idiom) . . .
The same can be said of putting a work *into* idiomatic form: "its meaning is changed or it is meaningless".
We used to be missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators. It was always amazing to me that not only do we have gazillions of translations (it seems) in English, but that people are so apathetic about reading even one of them. We know that millions of people don't even have one verse of Scripture in their own language whereas we have no excuse for not reading what is available.
I'm going to keep a running list of Bible translations in English....can anyone start me off?
I never met him, but I've been told a former member of my church used to say "You find time to do what's important to you". I've quoted him in sermons on a few occasions. Bottom line is, if church and reading the Bible isn't important to a person...they just aren't going to make a point to do it.
Wow, all those versions - each, no doubt, with many variations from the others.
No wonder when a bunch of Christians from various sects argue over scripture it's like the Tower of Bible Babble.
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I didn't have time to check all prior posts, but, I think all --or at leasst several-- of these are new to this blog:
