Erasmus gave to the world his first edition of the entire New Testament (N.T.), in 1515, and with several reprints from reprinted in 1519-1537. Then there was the Complutensian Polyglott which bears the date 1514, yet was not allowed to be sold until 1522 before Erasmus had printed three of his editions of the N.T.
Paper was now in common use in the 13th, or early 14th century, yet the cost of Bibles placed them out of the reach of the middle, and lower classes, although these classes of people were for the most part unlearned, or ignorant. The art of printing came in the 15th century, and the establishment of the Reformation throughout Europe in the following century, brought to pass the circulation of the Bible. At that time there were about 500 dialects spoken in any part of the world, and of these 100 languages were distinct. Upwards of 150 of these dialects had the Bible had been translated, either wholly or in part, and some 60 were in the languages of Asia. These Bibles were written in either Latin, or in the vernacular languages of all the countries in which Christianity had been propagated, and both are made either by persons in communion with the church of Rome or by Protestants.
The following table exhibits at one view the chief translations which have been made, together with the years of their appearance and their authors. Concerning the German Bible, it was written by Martin Luther; the N.T. published in 1522, the O.T. published in 1534.
Bibles in various languages. I will list only a few of the major languages in.
English 1526 and 1535. By Tindal and Coverdale.
Swedish, 1534 1541. By Olaus petri.
Danish, 1524 1550. By Palladius and others.
Spanish. 1556 1569. Cassiodorus de Reyna.
Russian 1519 1581. Welsh 1567 1588 By Unknown.
Polish 1585 1596. Several authors.
Hebrew in 1599. No O.T. By Elias Hutter.
Italian 1769 1776. By Antonio Martini.
After the year 1000, for several centuries the Scriptures appear to have been buried in oblivion, the general reading being prohibited by papal See, meaning the Catholic church.”
Than we have John Wickliffe, who, about the year 1380, translated the entire Bible from the Latin Vulgate into the English language as then spoken, he was not sufficiently acquainted with the Hebrew and Greek to translate from the originals. The N.T. of Wickliffe was published in folio in 1731. At this time there were no printing presses thus transcripts were obtained with difficulty, and copies were rare, and expensive. This Bible infuriated many and was outlawed in the House of Lords in 1390 for the purpose of suppressing it.
For the first printed English translation of the Scriptures (1526) we are indebted to William Tindal, who having formed the design of translating the N.T. from the original Greek into English moved to Antwerp in Flanders. With the assistance of John Fry, or Fryth, who was burnt at the stake on the charge of heresy in Smithfield, in 1552, and a friar called William Roye, who also suffered death on the same account in Portugal.
Tindal finished his work, and in 1526 it was printed either at Antwerp or Hamburg in 8 volume’s and without either a date, name, references in the margin, or table at the end. Many copies of this translation found their way into England; and to prevent their dispersion among the people, they enforced in all Catholic dioceses against reading these Bibles. Bishop Tonstal of London, purchased all the remaining copies of this edition; also all which he could collect from private parties and burned them at St. Paul’s cross.
The irony of it all, with the money Bishop Tonstal spent buying up all of Tindal’s books, this actually help to support the publishing of the Tindal Bible.
The common people had now formed a very unfavorable opinion of those who had ordered the word of God to be burned, and concluded that there must have been an obvious repugnance between the N.T. and the doctrines of those who treated it with such indignity. In other words, what was the Roman Catholic Church trying to hide? Many of Tindal’s supported were also murdered by the Roman Catholic authority.
In 1530 a royal proclamation was issued, by the advice of the prelates and clerks, and of the universities, for totally suppressing the translation of the Scripture, supposed to have been corrupted by Tindal. Also a proclamation was set forth, that it was not necessary to have the Scriptures in the English language, and in the hands of the common people; that the distribution of them, as to allowing or denying it, depended on the discretion of their superiors; and that, considering the malignity of the time, and English translation of the Bible would rather increase the errors, than to benefit anyone.
In 1536 Tindal was strangled at Vilefort, near Brussels, the place of his imprisonment, after which his body was reduced to ashes. His last known words were,
“Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
This prayer was heard by the Lord; and in 1600 the work of the K.J.B. began. Papal power was abolished in England and the King’s supremacy was settled by parliament in 1534.
In 1539 and English rendering came out called the “Great Bible.” Than in 1568 was published the Bishop’s Bible.” And of course came the last of these called the Authorized Version, or the King James Bible.”
Phil Laspino www.seekfirstwisdom.com