Translating the Bible into English

The story of the translation of the Bible into English is long and complex. The chart of the English Bible helps to sort through many of the difficulties in understanding this history. It is important to remember, though, that each of these English Bible translations set out to make versions of the Bible that were reliable and understandable to various audiences.

One of the most important Bible translators was the Englishman William Tyndale (1484-1536), often called "The Father of the English Bible." Tyndale wanted to make the Scriptures understandable to all people. But due to the political and religious tensions that existed throughout Europe during the Reformation (14th–17th centuries), he was unable to get permission to do his translation in England. So he went to Germany, where he published his New Testament in February 1526. Though he experienced a great deal of opposition, he continued his work of translating the Old Testament from Hebrew, and he published the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy) in 1530. In 1536, Tyndale was found guilty of heresy, and in October of that same year, he was strangled and burned at the stake.

William Tyndale's English New Testament (1526) was translated directly from Greek sources and not from the Latin version that was read in the churches of his day. By the time he was burned at the stake on charges of heresy in 1536, he had also translated almost half of the Old Testament. 

 

Tyndale's work and influence can still be seen in what is surely the most significant English Bible translation ever done, the King James Version of the Bible, published in 1611. The King James Version (also called the Authorized Version) was prepared at the request of King James I of England at a time when several sectarian versions of the English Bible were in use (most notably the Geneva Bible, favored by Puritans, and the Bishops' and Great Bibles used by the official Church of England; see the chart). Although there was resistance to the King James Version at first (since many people felt a loyalty to their own sectarian translations), it eventually won wide acceptance and became the standard English version of the Bible in the English-speaking world for three centuries. The style of the King James Version is at times unfamiliar to us today because of its very literal dependence on Hebrew and Greek sources (clearly, a "formal" equivalence approach). Still it remains one of the most widely-used English translations of the Bible today.