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Period: 20 to
History of Bibles We Have Now
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315
Athanasius
- Lived about 296-373. He was the 20th bishop of Alexandria. He was the first person to identify the same 27 books of the New Testament that we use today. He is thought of as being the one who helped shape the New Testament as we have it.
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Period: 350 to 399
Vulgate Manuscripts
These manuscripts became the late-fourth century Latin translation of the Bible and was the Catholic Church's official promoted Latin version of the Bible. -
Aug 22, 1382
John Wycliffe
- lived about 1330-1384. He is known as a theologian, Biblical translator, and reformer. He was also an advocate of the full translation of the Bible into vernacular, a native language of a population of people, which was English. The New Testament was translated fully in 1382. He is said to have said, "Englishmen learn Christ's law best in English. Moses heard God's law in his own tongue; so did Christ's apostles."
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Aug 22, 1455
Johannes Gutenberg
- Lived around 1398-1468. He was the man who introduced printing to Europe. This had great impact in the Reformation. In 1455, a Bible was printed.
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Aug 22, 1516
Erasmus
- Lived around 1466-1536. Moved very much by the corruptness of the Latin Vulgate, he wanted to get back to the accurate Hebrew and Greek to translate them faithfully to the languages of the common people. Created a 1516 parallel New Testament Greek-Latin translation that helped show the inaccuracy of the Latin Vulgate.
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Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther
Lived around 1483-1546. He is known as a theologian, reformer, and one that has changed Christianity. He rejected the Catholic Church's teachings. He nailed his 95 Theses on the university's chapel door in Germany. This gave a truth that the pope did not have exclusive access to the Bible. He also desired to change the Bible into the language of the people so they could read, German. -
Aug 23, 1526
William Tyndale
First English Translation -
Aug 22, 1535
Miles Coverdale
Lived around 1488-1569. In 1535, the complete translation of the Bible in English was made by his assistance, known as the "Great Bible". This helped bring more knowledge of the Bible to people. -
Aug 22, 1539
"The Great Bible”
- 1539. With pages 11 inches wide by 16 ½ inches long, this was the first translation of the whole Bible into English. It is England's first official printing of the Bible. However, it was chained into the church, so people still were not able to have their personal copy of the Bible.
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Aug 22, 1560
The Geneva Bible
- 1560. The church in Geneva, Switzerland, was sympathetic to the reformer refugees that were getting away from the toil they were finding in England, and Miles Coverdale, John Foxe, John Sampson, and William Whittingham gathered there to produce a Bible that would educate their families while they were in exile. It was the first Bible to add numbered verses to the chapters, which made it easier to reference specific passages.
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Aug 22, 1568
The Bishop's Bible
- 1568. A revision of the "Great Bible" and known to be the "rough draft" of the King James Version.
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The Douay Old Testament
- 1609. Translated at the church of Rome using corrupted Latin Vulgate. Used by Catholics today.
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The King James Bible
- Not only the inspired Word of God, but also the preserved Word of God. This version of the Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the church of England that begun in 1604 and ended in 1611. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. This translation was done by 47 scholars, all members of the church of England. The Old Testament was translated from Hebrew and Aramaic. The New Testament was translated from Greek.
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Robert Aitken's Bible
- 1782. Robert Aitken was a Philadelphia printer; first person to publish an English Language Bible. The Congress of Confederation reviewed, approved, and authorized the Aitken Bible. Bibles were scarce around this time period, but they were in high demand so Robert Aitken took action to get more Bibles out. First English Bible to be printed in America.
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The Family Bible
- 1791. The definition of The Family Bible is “a Bible designed to be used at family prayers, typically one with space on its flyleaves for recording important family events”. This is a Bible that is handed down each generation with information including births, deaths, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, letters, newspaper cuttings and photographs. Issac Collins published 5000 copies of a quarto edition family bible consisting of 925 pages. First illustrated Bible printed in America.
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Jefferson Bible
- 1820. “... a book constructed by Thomas Jefferson by cutting and pasting with a razor and glue a lot of sections from the New Testament as extractions of the doctrine of Jesus”.
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Noah Webster's Bible
- 1833. This focuses mainly on replacing archaic, or old words that aren’t said anymore, and correcting the grammatical errors.
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The Illuminated Bible
- 1846. Contains the Old and New Testaments, translated from the original tongues. Over 1600 illustrations.
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Robert Young's Literal Translation
- 1862. An English translation by Robert Young. Young used the present tense in many places in which other translations use the past tense, mostly in narratives.
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The English Revision Bible
- 1885. A late 19th-century British revision of the King James Version. The Revised Version is out of copyright worldwide, it is widely available online and in digital formats, but it is much less popular than the KJV or the ASV.
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The American Standard Version
- 1901. Also known has ASV. Used by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Page headings and foot notes.
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The Revised Standard Version
- 1952. An English language translation of the Bible published in several parts during the mid-20th century; a revision of the American Standard Version.
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The New International Version
- 1978. The most widely read Bible translation in contemporary English. The NIV began in 1956 with the formation of a small committee to study the value of producing a translation in the common language of the American people.