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Bible Study Resource 4a. A Survey of English Bible Translations The books referred to for this section were: (1) F F Bruce, History of the Bible in English, 3d ed (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978); Philip W Comfort, The Complete Guide to Bible Versions (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1991); Jack P Lewis, The English Bible from KJV to NIV: A History and Evaluation, 2d ed (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991); and Laurence M Vance, A Brief History of English Bible Translations (Pensacola: Vance Publications, 1993). In this study, we will attempt to familiarise ourselves with the major English Bible translations that have been produced. The KJV is really the watershed translation. As such we will divide our discussion on the English Bibles into 2 main periods: pre-KJV and post-KJV. There is significant difference between the versions that come before and those that come after the KJV. 1b. Pre-KJV Versions 1c. Wycliffe”s Translation 1d. John Wycliffe (c 1330-1384) was the most famous Oxford theologian of the 14th century. 2d. He was called "The morning star of the Reformation" for his attacks against the heresies of the Roman Catholic Church. The RCC has kept the people in spiritual darkness and bondage by keeping the Bible away from them. 3d. He was the first to translate the whole Bible into English. He did this to rescue the people from the tyranny of the Church of Rome. The translation was done not from the Hebrew and Greek, but from the Latin Bible—Jerome”s Vulgate. 4d. A group of pastors known as the Lollards used Wycliffe”s translation to read and preach the Word to the common folk. 2c. Tyndale”s Translation 1e. William Tyndale (1494-1536) studied the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures when he was at Oxford University. 2e. He completed translating the NT in 1525. 15,000 copies were printed and distributed in England. 3e. The Church of England then under the Roman Catholic Church refused to allow the people to read the English NT. For translating the Scriptures, the Church branded Tyndale a criminal. A warrant was issued for his arrest. 4e. In prison, he wrote this letter to the Marquis of Bergen, "I believe, right worshipful, that you are not unaware of what may have been determined concerning me. Wherefore I beg your lordship, and that by the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here through the winter, you will request the commissary to have the kindness to send me, from the goods of mine which he has, a warmer cap; for I suffer greatly from cold in the head, am afflicted by a perpetual catarrh, which is much increased in this cell; a warmer coat also, for this which I have is very thin; a piece of cloth too to patch my leggings. My overcoat is worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woollen shirt, if he will be good enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thicker cloth to put on above; he has also warmer night caps. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark. But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the commissary that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in that study. In return may you obtain what you most desire, provided that it be consistent with the salvation of you rsoul. But if any other decision has been taken concerning me, to be carried out before winter, I will be patient, abiding the will of God, to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ, whose spirit (I pray) may ever direct your heart. Amen." 5e. Tyndale was later condemned to death. He was strangled and burnt at the stake. His dying words were: "Lord, open the King of England”s eyes." 3c. Coverdale”s Translation 1d. Myles Coverdale (1488-1569) was a graduate of Cambridge University who became an Augustinian priest. 2d. Influenced by the Reformation movement, he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. From England, he fled to the Continent where he found Tyndale and there helped Tyndale with his translation work. 3d. Coverdale continued Tyndale”s work and completed translating the Old Testament. The whole Coverdale Bible was completed in 1537. 4d. By that time, the King of England had already broken all ties with Rome, and was eager to see an English Bible. Coverdale”s Bible received the king”s approval. Tyndale”s prayer was answered; the Lord had opened the eyes of the king of England. 4c. The Great Bible 1d. In 1537, another Bible was published in England called the Matthew”s Bible. It was the work of Thomas Matthew (1500-55) who was a friend of Tyndale. 2d. Thomas Matthew was not a translator but an editor of the Bible. He combined the Tyndale and Coverdale translations to form a complete Bible. 3d. Published in 1538, it received the king”s authorisation for public use. 4d. It is called the Great Bible for its size and cost. 5d. The Great Bible was later revised in 1568 and became known as the Bishop”s Bible. 5c. The Geneva Bible 1d. The persecution of the reformers by the Roman Catholic Church led many of them to seek refuge in Geneva. It was in the great city that William Whittingham (1524-79)—Calvin”s brother-in-law, and Knox”s successor as pastor of the English Church in Geneva—translated the NT in what was to become the Geneva Bible. 2d. Whittingham used the Textus Receptus (Stephanus” edition), and next to Tyndale became the version that had the most influence on the KJV. 3d. The study notes of the Geneva Bible was both Calvinistic and anti-Catholic. 4d. It became very popular with the people because it was inexpensive and handy. 5d. The King James Version eventually replaced the Geneva Bible. 2b. Post-KJV Versions The KJV was the undisputed Bible of the English world since 1611. But a turning point came in the late 19th century. It was a period of time when theological liberalism was at its height. Not only were the fundamentals of the Christian Faith being attacked, but the Word of God itself was being altered by men such as Tischendorf, Westcott, and Hort. In 1881 Westcott and Hort produced their edition of the Greek NT. This Greek edition differed greatly from the Greek text underlying the KJV. It was based on corrupted and unreliable manuscripts, namely, the Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus as exposed by Dean Burgon. A multitude of English versions based on the Westcott and Hort text soon followed. Notwithstanding, the KJV still remained the most widely used English Bible. Many of these new versions have died a natural death (according to Rev Timothy Tow: a "diseased death"), but the KJV has stood the test of time and continues to be top on the bestseller”s list (some reports say that the KJV now occupies 2nd spot behind the NIV). 1c. Revised Version 1d. The RV of 1885 (NT: 1881) was the first version that sought to "correct" the KJV. This was so desired because of the emergence of the new critical text of Westcott and Hort which differed significantly from the Textus Receptus underlying the KJV. The WH Text differed from the TR in 5,788 places. 2d. Among those invited to produce the RV were apostates and heretics. Egs: 1e. Westcott and Hort themselves. 2e. John Henry Newman—#1 Roman Catholic theologian in the English-speaking world at that time. 3e. G Vance Smith—a Unitarian (ie one who denies the doctrine of the Trinity). 3d. The errors of the WH Text from which the RV was translated were ably exposed by Dean J W Burgon in his book—The Revision Revised (1883). Eg, in the WH Text, Luke 23:34: "And Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" is absent; and a marginal note says, "some ancient authorities omit." Burgon, in holy indignation, wrote against this blatant attack on God”s Word, "These twelve precious words . . . Drs. Westcott and Hort enclose within double brackets in token of the ‘moral certainty” they entertain that the words are spurious. And yet these words are found in every known uncial and in every known cursive Copy, except four; besides being found in every ancient Version: and, what,—(we ask the question with sincere simplicity),—what amount of evidence is calculated to inspire undoubting confidence in any existing Reading, if not such a concurrence of Authorities as this? . . . We forbear to insist upon the probabilities of the case. The Divine power and sweetness of the incident shall not be enlarged upon. We introduce no considerations resulting from Internal Evidence. True, that ‘few verses of the Gospels bear in themselves a sure witness to the Truth of what they record, than this.” (It is the admission of the very man [ie Dr Hort] who has nevertheless dared to brand it with suspicion.) But we reject his loathsome patronage with indignation. ‘Internal evidence,”—Transcriptional Probablity”,--and all such ‘chaff and draff,” with which he fills his pages ad nauseam, and mystifies nobody but himself,—shall be allowed no place in the present discussion" (Revision Revised, 82-3). 4d. Other missing verses were John 5:3f, Acts 8:37, and 1 John 5:7. Many readers of the RV were greatly disturbed by the excision of the Trinitarian verse from the Bible. They felt that the doctrine of the Trinity had been undermined. It is no wonder that the RV never caught on, and not surprisingly since gone out of print. 2c. American Standard Version 1d. The ASV of 1901 was a revision or the American edition of the RV. 2d. One helpful feature about the ASV is in its paragraph divisions. 3d. As with the RV, it did not measure up to the standard set by the KJV, and is cast aside. 3c. Revised Standard Version 1d. The RSV (1952) is a revision of the ASV. 2d. An ecumenical Bible translated by 32 scholars (this includes a Jewish rabbi) from various modernistic denominations belonging to the National Council of Churches. Read "Rome and the RSV" by Dr Hugh Farrell (Trinitarian Bible Society). 3d. Testimony: When I was baptised in a Lutheran Church on Dec 25, ”74, I was given a Bible with my name embossed on it. It was the RSV. Did this Bible nourish my hungry soul? No it did not for after 2 years I backslided from the Lord. I have no doubt that it was partly due to spiritual malnutrition. 4d. In the original edition, John 7:53-8:11 on the woman taken in adultery was taken out from the main text and placed on the margin. The last 12 verses of Mark were excised entirely. Today we have them back in the rightful places. Why? 5d. The RSV of course did not sit very well with the fundamentalists. The "virgin" of Isa 7:14 was made "a young woman." This is a blatant attack on the Virgin Birth of Christ. For a defence, see my paper, "The Sign of the Virgin Birth," The Burning Bush 1 (1995): 5-33. 6d. Bruce Metzger and company produced a revision of the RSV called New RSV (1989). In support of the feminist movement, it has replaced generic masculine nouns/pronouns with gender-inclusive terms. 4c. New English Bible 1d. The NEB (1970) was a British work published by the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses. 2d. The translation committee consisted of those from UK Protestant Churches, viz the Church of England, Church of Scotland, the Churches of Wales and Ireland, the Methodist, Baptist, and Congregational churches, and the Society of Friends. 3d. Most of the verses relegated to the margin in the WH text are also found only in the margin of the NEB. There are thus missing verse numbers. 4d. The NEB denies that Gen 3:15 (NEB: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your brood and hers. They shall strike at your head, and you shall strike at their heel.") is the first gospel divinely predictive of the virgin-born Messiah. Look at the NEB”s corruption of Gen 3:15: 1e. "thy seed and her seed" is changed to "your brood and hers." 2e. The singular "it" (he) is changed to "they;" and "his" is changed to "their." 3e. Why? There can be no other reason but to deny that Gen 3:15 is Messianic, divinely predictive of the Lord Jesus Christ. 5d. It also attacked the prophecy of the virgin birth in Isa 7:14 following the steps of the RSV. The NEB translates the word "virgin" as "a young woman is with child." 5c. Today”s English Version / Good News for Modern Man 1d. The NT of the TEV (1966) was translated by Robert Bratcher, and published by the American Bible Society. The complete Bible came out in 1976 and was renamed the Good News Bible. 2d. This version attacks the blood of Christ. In 10 places the word "blood" has been replaced by the word "death" (Acts 20:28, Rom 3:25, 5:9, Eph 1:7, 2:13, Col 1:14, 20, 1 Pet 1:19, Rev 1:5, 5:9). The Greek ai|ma (haima) means "blood" not "death." If Jesus” death was a bloodless one, it would have been in vain, for "without shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb 9:22 cf 1 Pet 1:19). 3d. It employs the dynamic equivalence method of translation. Dr Tan Wai Choon criticised the TEV: "a translation of this type is not really a translation at all but a paraphrase and commentary. Very little of the TEV (i.e. the Good News Bible) is literal. Almost every verse has been injected with the opinion of the translator as to what he thinks the Greek text means, rather than what it says. . . . Aside from its basic failure to provide a literal translation, it is simply not accurate" ("What”s Wrong with the Good News Bible?" FEBC Press, nd, np). The sound criticism above applies equally to the NIV which adopts the same erroneous method of translating Scripture. It is unfortunate that Dr Tan in the same article promoted the NIV. In so doing, he contradicted himself. 6c. Living Bible 1d. The Living Bible (1971) was translated by Kenneth Taylor. It is not based on the original languages, but on a paraphrasing of the ASV. 2d. According to Taylor, paraphrasing is "to say something in different words than the author used. It is a restatement of the author”s thoughts, using different words than he did." This is a most unacceptable method of translating the Scriptures. It is deceptive to name it the "Living Bible." It is neither "Bible" nor "Living." Such a paraphrase should be called "The Deadly Bible." I heard a Bible professor at an ETS (Evangelical Theological Society) meeting say that if he wanted to find out what the Scripture does not mean, he would consult the Living Bible. 3d. Consider the vulgar and inappropriate language used: Gen 13:17, God tells Abraham to "hike in all directions;" 1 Sam 20:30, Saul reviling Jonathan, "You son of a bitch!;" 2 Sam 13:11, "Come to bed with me, my darling;" Isa 41:24, "Anyone who chooses you needs to have his head examined;" Zech 8:9, Jehovah says, "Get on with the job and finish it;" Matt 11:19, "You complain that I hang around with the worst sort of sinners;" Mark 2:16, "How can He stand it, to eat with such scum;" John 9:34, "You illegitimate bastard;" John 11:49, "You stupid idiots;" Acts 4:36, "Barny the Preacher." 4d. The Living Bible has sold at least 40 million copies. In 1996 they released the New Living Translation which is not much of an improvement from the old one. See David Cloud, "The New Living Translation: A Weak Rendering of a Corrupt Text," O Timothy 13 (1996): 1-11. 7c. The New American Standard Bible 1d. The NASB (1971) is another revision of the ASV, prepared by 32 scholars who believed in the inspiration of the Bible, and published by the Lockman Foundation. 2d. It is a literal translation of the Scriptures which sought to be "as close as possible to the actual wording and grammatical structure of the original writers." 3d. Although it has adopted a correct translational methodology, it failed in using a correct text. Dr Frank Logsdon who was one of the NASB translators, and who wrote the preface, later renounced the version he helped produce. He renounced all attachment to the NASB because it was based on the Westcott and Hort text. One may ask, "Well, didn”t he know it in the first place?" Logsdon testified, "Well up to that time I thought the Westcott and Hort was the text. You were intelligent if you believed the Westcott and Hort. Some of the finest people in the world believe in that Greek text, the finest leaders that we have today. You”d be surprised; if I told you you wouldn”t believe it. They haven”t gone into it just as I hadn”t gone into it; [they”re] just taking it for granted. . . . But I finally got to the place where I said, . . . ‘I”m in trouble, I can”t refute these arguments; it”s wrong; it”s terribly wrong; it”s frightfully wrong; and what am I going to do about it? . . . I must under God renounce every attachment to the New American Standard”" (See "From the NASV to the KJV," by S Franklin Logsdon. For a list of words/verses omitted in the NASB, see D K Madden, A Critical Examination of the New American Standard Bible [Australia: Privately printed, 1981].) 8c. New International Version (1978)
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