74-589: Wycliffe Global Alliance is an alliance of organizations that have the objective of translating the Bible into every language. The organisation is named after John Wycliffe , who was responsible for the first complete English translation of the whole Bible into Middle English . Wycliffe is most often associated with the Protestant section of Christianity . There are currently over 100 Wycliffe member organisations from over 60 countries. Wycliffe Global Alliance
148-650: A Georgian alphabet was likely still motivated by Christians who wished to translate holy scriptures. In the 6th century, the Bible was translated into Old Nubian . By the end of the eighth century, Church of the East monasteries (so-called Nestorians ) had translated the New Testament and Psalms (at least, the portions needed for liturgical use) from Syriac to Sogdian , the lingua franca in Central Asia of
222-636: A Gospel of St Matthew in Hebrew letters. Jerome also reports in his preface to St Matthew that it was originally composed "in Hebrew letters in Judea" not in Greek and that he saw and copied one from the Nazarene sect. The exact provenance, authorship, source languages and collation of the four Gospels is unknown but subject to much academic speculation and disputed methods . Some of the first translations of
296-566: A Koine Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures in several stages (completing the task by 132 BC). The Talmud ascribes the translation effort to Ptolemy II Philadelphus (r. 285–246 BC), who allegedly hired 72 Jewish scholars for the purpose, for which reason the translation is commonly known as the Septuagint (from the Latin septuaginta , "seventy"), a name which it gained in "the time of Augustine of Hippo " (354–430 AD). The Septuagint (LXX),
370-800: A West Saxon dialect of Old English. Produced in approximately 990, they are the first translation of all four gospels into English without the Latin text. In the 11th century, Abbot Ælfric translated much of the Old Testament into Old English. The Old English Hexateuch is an illuminated manuscript of the first six books of the Old Testament (the Hexateuch ). There are no known complete translations ( pandects ) from early in this period, when Middle English emerged after Anglo-Norman replaced Old English (Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Danish) as
444-608: A basis for translation, as some of the alternate sources do not include phrases (or sometimes entire verses) which are found only in the Textus Receptus. Some say the alternate sources were poorly representative of the texts used in their time, whereas others claim the Textus Receptus includes passages that were added to the alternate texts improperly. These controversial passages are not the basis for disputed issues of doctrine: they tend to be additional stories or snippets of phrases. Many modern English translations, such as
518-529: A new " doing business as " name, Wycliffe Global Alliance. Wycliffe bases its philosophy on Townsend's Protestantism which regards the intercultural and multilinguistic spread of Christianity as a divine command. The organization adheres to the principle of sola scriptura and regards Biblical texts as the authoritative and infallible word of God. Wycliffe states its focus is participating with and encouraging Christian churches to minister to minority languages, so that every language community can have access to
592-864: A revision of earlier Latin translations, was dominant in Western Christianity during the Middle Ages . The Latin-speaking western church led by the Pope did not translate the Scriptures or liturgy into languages of recently converted peoples such as the Irish, Franks or Norsemen. By contrast, the Eastern Orthodox Church, centred in Constantinople, did, in some cases, translate the Scriptures and liturgy, most successfully in
666-636: A ruler in England, had a number of passages of the Bible circulated in the vernacular in around 900. These included passages from the Ten Commandments and the Pentateuch , which he prefixed to a code of laws he promulgated around this time. In approximately 990, a full and freestanding version of the four Gospels in idiomatic Old English appeared, in the West Saxon dialect ; these are called
740-585: A scholarly view of the New Testament text by conforming to the Nestle-Aland 27th edition and extensively annotating the translation to fully explain different textual sources and possible alternative translations. A Comparative Psalter ( ISBN 0-19-529760-1 ) edited by John Kohlenberger presents a comparative diglot translation of the Psalms of the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint, using
814-625: A small number of Greek texts, or on Latin translations, modern English translations of the Bible are based on a wider variety of manuscripts in the original languages, mostly Greek and Hebrew. The translators put much scholarly effort into cross-checking the various sources such as the Septuagint , Textus Receptus , and Masoretic Text . Relatively recent discoveries such as the Dead Sea scrolls provide additional reference information. Some controversy has existed over which texts should be used as
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#1732772742401888-499: A word or phrase admits of more than one meaning the Amplified Bible presents all the possible interpretations, allowing the reader to choose one. For example, the first two verses of the Amplified Bible read: In the beginning God (Elohim) created [by forming from nothing] the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void or a waste and emptiness, and darkness was upon the face of the deep [primeval ocean that covered
962-524: Is also a member of the Forum of Bible Agencies International . As of September 2023, translations of either portions of the Bible, the New Testament , or the whole Bible exist in over 3,658 of the 7,394 languages used on Earth , including 386 sign languages. Wycliffe Bible Translators USA was founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend . When other Wycliffe organisations were founded around
1036-660: Is concluded that this was printed in Antwerp and the colophon gives the date as 4 October 1535. This first edition was adapted by Coverdale for his first "authorised version", known as the Great Bible , of 1539. Other early printed versions were the Geneva Bible published by Sir Rowland Hill in 1560. This version is notable for being the first Bible divided into verses and which negated the Divine Right of Kings;
1110-502: Is often reflected in non-Jewish translations. For example, Jewish translations translate עלמה ‘almâh in Isaiah 7:14 as young woman , while many Christian translations render the word as virgin . While modern biblical scholarship is similar for both Christians and Jews, there are distinctive features of Jewish translations, even those created by academic scholars. These include the avoidance of Christological interpretations, adherence to
1184-613: The Wessex Gospels . Around the same time, a compilation now called the Old English Hexateuch appeared with the first six (or, in one version, seven) books of the Old Testament. The arrival of the mendicant preaching orders in the 12th century saw individual books being translated with commentary, in Italian dialects. Typically the Psalms were among the first books to be translated, being prayers: for example,
1258-829: The Bishop's Bible (1568), which was an attempt by Elizabeth I to create a new authorised version; and the Authorized King James Version of 1611. The first complete Catholic Bible in English was the Douay–Rheims Bible , of which the New Testament portion was published in Rheims in 1582 and the Old Testament somewhat later in Douay in Gallicant Flanders . The Old Testament was completed by
1332-586: The Byzantine text-type , and the Western text-type . Most variants among the manuscripts are minor, such as alternative spelling, alternative word order, the presence or absence of an optional definite article ("the"), and so on. Occasionally, a major variant happens when a portion of a text was missing or for other reasons. Examples of major variants are the endings of Mark , the Pericope Adulteræ ,
1406-746: The Cathar and Waldensian heresies, in South France and Catalonia. This demonstrates that such translations existed: there is evidence of some vernacular translations being permitted while others were being scrutinized. A group of Middle English Bible translations were created: including the Wycliffean Bibles (1383, 1393) and the Paues New Testament, based on the Vulgate. New unauthorized translations were banned in England by
1480-679: The Comma Johanneum , and the Western version of Acts . The discovery of older manuscripts which belong to the Alexandrian text-type, including the 4th-century Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus , led scholars to revise their view about the original Greek text. Karl Lachmann based his critical edition of 1831 on manuscripts dating from the 4th century and earlier, to argue that the Textus Receptus must be corrected according to these earlier texts. Early manuscripts of
1554-568: The Council of Laodicea in 363 (both lacked the Book of Revelation ), and later established by Athanasius of Alexandria in 367 (with Revelation added). Jerome's Vulgate Latin translation dates to between AD 382 and 405. Latin translations predating Jerome are collectively known as Vetus Latina texts. Jerome began by revising these earlier Latin translations, but ended by going back to the original Greek, bypassing all translations, and going back to
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#17327727424011628-632: The Gospel of John into Old English by the Venerable Bede , which is said to have been prepared shortly before his death around the year 735. An Old High German version of the gospel of Matthew dates to 748. Charlemagne in c. 800 charged Alcuin with a revision of the Latin Vulgate. The translation into Old Church Slavonic was started in 863 by Cyril and Methodius . Alfred the Great ,
1702-475: The Lollards . Theologian John Wycliffe (c. 1320s–1384) is popularly credited with translating what is now known as Wycliffe's Bible, though it is not clear how much of the translation he himself did. Released in 1382, this was the first known complete translation of the Bible into English. This translation came out in two different versions. The earlier version ("EV") is characterised by a strong adherence to
1776-530: The Masoretic Text (at least in the main body of the text, as in the new Jewish Publication Society (JPS) translation) and greater use of classical Jewish exegesis. Some translations prefer names transliterated from the Hebrew, though the majority of Jewish translations use the Anglicized forms of biblical names. The first English Jewish translation of the Bible into English was by Isaac Leeser in
1850-674: The Masoretic text , but also take into account possible variants from all available ancient versions. The Christian New Testament was written in Koine Greek, and nearly all modern translations are to some extent based upon the Greek text. Origen 's Hexapla ( c. 235 ) placed side by side six versions of the Old Testament: the Hebrew consonantal text, the Hebrew text transliterated into Greek letters (the Secunda ),
1924-897: The New International Version , contain limited text notes indicating where differences occur in original sources. A somewhat greater number of textual differences are noted in the New King James Bible , indicating hundreds of New Testament differences between the Nestle-Aland , the Textus Receptus , and the Hodges edition of the Majority Text . The differences in the Old Testament are less well documented, but they do contain some references to differences between consonantal interpretations in
1998-522: The Pauline epistles and other New Testament writings show no punctuation whatsoever. The punctuation was added later by other editors, according to their own understanding of the text. There is also a long-standing tradition owing to Papias of Hierapolis (c.125) that the Gospel of Matthew was originally in Hebrew. Eusebius (c.300) reports that Pantaenus went to India (c. 200) and found them using
2072-587: The Torah and other portions in an ongoing project by Everett Fox , and the ArtScroll Tanakh. Modern translations take different approaches to the rendering of the original languages of approaches. The approaches can usually be considered to be somewhere on a scale between the two extremes: Some translations have been motivated by a strong theological distinctive. In the Sacred Name Bibles
2146-712: The Torah began during the Babylonian exile , when Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Jews. With most people speaking only Aramaic and not understanding Hebrew, the Targums were created to allow the common person to understand the Torah as it was read in ancient synagogues . By the 3rd century BC, Alexandria had become the center of Hellenistic Judaism , and during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC translators compiled in Egypt
2220-492: The biblical languages of Hebrew , Aramaic , and Greek . As of September 2023 all of the Bible has been translated into 736 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,658 languages, and smaller portions of the Bible have been translated into 1,264 other languages according to Wycliffe Global Alliance . Thus, at least some portions of the Bible have been translated into 3,658 languages. The Old Testament, written in Hebrew (with some sections in
2294-586: The earliest Polish translation from 1280. There are numerous manuscripts of the Psalms in Catalan from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, translated from the Vulgate, Occitan, French and Hebrew, with a New Testament and full bible translation made in the 1300s. Parts of an Old Testament in Old Spanish from the late 1300s still exist. Monks completed a translation into Franco-Provençal (Arpitan) c.1170-85, commissioned by Peter Waldo . The complete Bible
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2368-417: The printing press – this enabled the distribution of several thousand copies of his New Testament translation throughout England. Tyndale did not complete his Old Testament translation. The first printed English translation of the whole Bible was produced by Miles Coverdale in 1535, using Tyndale's work together with his own translations from the Latin Vulgate or German text. After much scholarly debate it
2442-603: The 10th century an Old English translation of the Gospels was made in the Lindisfarne Gospels : a word-for-word gloss inserted between the lines of the Latin text by Aldred , Provost of Chester-le-Street . This is the oldest extant translation of the Gospels into an English language . The Wessex Gospels (also known as the West-Saxon Gospels ) are a full translation of the four gospels into
2516-590: The 19th century. The JPS produced two of the most popular Jewish translations, namely the JPS The Holy Scriptures of 1917 and the NJPS Tanakh (first printed in a single volume in 1985, second edition in 1999). Since the 1980s there have been multiple efforts among Orthodox publishers to produce translations that are not only Jewish, but also adhere to Orthodox norms. Among these are The Living Torah and Nach by Aryeh Kaplan and others,
2590-567: The 5th century, Mesrob Mashtots translated the Bible using the Armenian alphabet invented by him. Also dating from the same period is the first Georgian translation. The creation of the Georgian scripts , like the Armenian alphabet, was also attributed to Mashtots by the scholar Koryun in the 5th century. This claim has been disputed by modern Georgian scholars, although the creation of
2664-401: The Bible were first translated from the Latin Vulgate by a few monks and scholars. Such translations were generally in the form of prose or as interlinear glosses (literal translations above the Latin words). Very few complete translations existed during that time. Most of the books of the Bible existed separately and were read as individual texts. Translations of the Bible often included
2738-404: The Bible. Jewish English Bible translations are modern English Bible translations that include the books of the Hebrew Bible ( Tanakh ) according to the Masoretic Text , and according to the traditional division and order of Torah , Nevi'im , and Ketuvim . Jewish translations often also reflect traditional Jewish interpretations of the Bible, as opposed to the Christian understanding that
2812-425: The Bible. Wycliffe Global Alliance emphasizes its international nature. It describes itself as "multicultural, multinational, creative and facilitative." Wycliffe Global Alliance has its headquarters in Singapore. The Global Leadership Team is a virtual team and is spread across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Bible translations The Bible has been translated into many languages from
2886-412: The Church of Constantinople. Athanasius ( Apol. Const. 4 ) recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for Constans . Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists , and that Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 , Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus are examples of these Bibles. Together with
2960-408: The Greek translations of Aquila of Sinope and Symmachus the Ebionite , one recension of the Septuagint, and the Greek translation of Theodotion . In addition, he included three anonymous translations of the Psalms (the Quinta , Sexta and Septima ). His eclectic recension of the Septuagint had a significant influence on the Old Testament text in several important manuscripts. In the 2nd century,
3034-453: The Hebrew texts on which the Septuagint was based, many scholars believe that they represent a different textual tradition (" Vorlage ") from the one that became the basis for the Masoretic texts. Christian translations of the Old Testament also tend to be based upon the Hebrew, though some denominations prefer the Septuagint (or may cite variant readings from both). Bible translations incorporating modern textual criticism usually begin with
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3108-488: The Masoretic Text, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Septuagint. Even with these hundreds of differences, however, a more complete listing is beyond the scope of most single-volume Bibles. While most Bible translations are made by committees of scholars in order to avoid bias or idiosyncrasy, translations are sometimes made by individuals. The following, selected translations are largely the work of individual translators: Others, such as N. T. Wright , have translated portions of
3182-524: The Old Testament even though it does not appear in the Greek text. While most translations attempt to synthesize the various texts in the original languages, some translations also translate one specific textual source, generally for scholarly reasons. A single volume example for the Old Testament is The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible ( ISBN 0-06-060064-0 ) by Martin Abegg, Peter Flint and Eugene Ulrich. The Comprehensive New Testament ( ISBN 978-0-9778737-1-5 ) by T. E. Clontz and J. Clontz presents
3256-444: The Old Testament was translated into Syriac translation, and the Gospels in the Diatessaron gospel harmony. The New Testament was translated in the 5th century, now known as the Peshitta. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the New Testament was translated into various Coptic (Egyptian) dialects. The Old Testament was already translated by that stage. In 331, the Emperor Constantine commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for
3330-417: The Peshitta, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles. The Bible was translated into Gothic (an early East Germanic language) in the 4th century by a group of scholars, possibly under the supervision of Ulfilas (Wulfila). The canonical Christian Bible was formally established by Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem in 350 (although it had been generally accepted by the church previously), confirmed by
3404-434: The Revised Standard Version and the New English Translation of the Septuagint. R. A. Knox's Translation of the Vulgate into English is another example of a single source translation. Most translations make the translators' best attempt at a single rendering of the original, relying on footnotes where there might be alternative translations or textual variants. An alternative is taken by the Amplified Bible . In cases where
3478-457: The Septuagint contain several passages and whole books not included in the Masoretic texts of the Tanakh . In some cases these additions were originally composed in Greek, while in other cases they are translations of Hebrew books or of Hebrew variants not present in the Masoretic texts. Recent discoveries have shown that more of the Septuagint additions have a Hebrew origin than previously thought. While there are no complete surviving manuscripts of
3552-399: The Septuagint was widely used by Greek-speaking Jews, and later by Christians. It differs somewhat from the later standardized Hebrew ( Masoretic Text ). This translation was promoted by way of a legend (primarily recorded as the Letter of Aristeas ) that seventy (or in some sources, seventy-two) separate translators all produced identical texts; supposedly proving its accuracy. Versions of
3626-422: The Silk Road, which was an Eastern Iranian language with Chinese loanwords, written in letters and logograms derived from Aramaic script. They may have also translated parts of books into a Chinese . When ancient scribes copied earlier books, they wrote notes on the margins of the page ( marginal glosses ) to correct their text—especially if a scribe accidentally omitted a word or line—and to comment about
3700-496: The South and Eastern regions and evolved influenced by Anglo-Danish invaders/settlers in the North and Eastern Danelaw , to the extent that an Icelandic saga around the year 1000 said the language of England was the same as Norway and Denmark. It largely replaced the Neo-Brittonic languages and residual Anglo-Latin-using pockets. While there were no complete translations of the Bible in the Old English period, there were many translations of large portions during this time. Parts of
3774-433: The aristocratic and secular court languages (1066), with Latin still the religious, diplomatic, scientific and ecclesiastical court language, and with parts of the country still speaking Cornish, and perhaps Cumbric. The Ormulum is in Middle English of the 12th century. Like its Old English precursor from Ælfric , an abbot of Eynsham, it includes very little Biblical text, and focuses more on personal commentary. This style
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#17327727424013848-592: The book of Daniel in the Aramaic language) was translated into Aramaic (the so-called Targums, originally not written down), Greek and Syriac . The New Testament, written in Greek, was first translated into Syriac, Latin and Coptic – all before the time of Emperor Constantine. By the year 500, the Bible had been translated into Ge'ez , Gothic , Armenian and Georgian. By the year 1000, a number of other translations were added (in some cases partial), including Old Nubian, Sogdian, Arabic and Slavonic languages, among others. Jerome 's 4th-century Latin Vulgate version,
3922-510: The case of the Slavonic language of Eastern Europe. Since then, the Bible has been translated into many more languages. English Bible translations have a rich and varied history of more than a millennium. (See List of English Bible translations .) Textual variants in the New Testament include errors, omissions, additions, changes, and alternate translations. In some cases, different translations have been used as evidence for or have been motivated by doctrinal differences. The Hebrew Bible
3996-444: The conviction that God's name be preserved in a Semitic form is followed. The Purified Translation of the Bible promotes the idea that Jesus and early Christians drink grape juice not wine. The Jehovah's Witnesses ' New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures renders the tetragrammaton as Jehovah throughout the Old Testament, and it uses the form Jehovah in the New Testament including — but not limited to — passages quoting
4070-411: The entire Bible in Latin is the Codex Amiatinus , a Latin Vulgate edition produced in 8th-century England at the double monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow . Latin and its early Romance dialects were widely spoken as the primary or secondary language throughout Western Europe, including Britain even in the 700s and 800s. Between the 4th to 6th centuries, the Bible was translated into Ge'ez (Ethiopic). In
4144-523: The greater part of the New." Friar Giovanni da Montecorvino of the large Franciscan mission to Mongol China in the early 1300s translated the Psalms and New Testament into the language of the Tartars : the Uyghur language or perhaps the Mongolian language . A royal Swedish version of 1316 has been lost. The entire Bible was translated into Czech around 1360. The provincial synods of Toulouse (1229) and Tarragona (1234) temporarily outlawed possession of some vernacular renderings, in reaction to
4218-419: The loose paraphrase Speculum Vitae Christi ( The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ ), which had been authorized into English around 1410. A Cornish version may have been made. The Hungarian Hussite Bible appeared in 1416. Individual books continued to be translated: for example the Gospel of John in Slovak (1469). The first 12 books of the Old Testament in Danish (also used for Norwegian)
4292-457: The most popular Jewish version would not compete with rankings of a larger audience. Sales data can be affected by the method of marketing. Some translations are directly marketed to particular denominations or local churches, and many Christian booksellers only offer Protestant Bibles , so books in other biblical canons (such as Catholic and Orthodox Bibles) may not appear as high on the CBA rank. A study published in 2014 by The Center for
4366-442: The original Hebrew wherever he could instead of the Septuagint. There are also several ancient translations, most important of which are in the Syriac dialect of Aramaic (including the Peshitta). The Codex Vaticanus dates to c. 325 –350, and is missing only 21 sentences or paragraphs in various New Testament books: it is one of the four great uncial codices . The earliest surviving complete single-volume manuscript of
4440-425: The period of Early Modern English . This was the first major period of Bible translation into the English language. This period began with the introduction of the Tyndale Bible . The first complete edition of his New Testament was in 1526. William Tyndale used the Greek and Hebrew texts of the New Testament (NT) and Old Testament (OT) in addition to Jerome 's Latin translation. He was the first translator to use
4514-407: The provincial Oxford Synod in 1408 under church law; possession of material that contained Lollard material (such as the so-called General Prologue found in a few Wycliffite Bibles) was also illegal by English state law , in response to Lollard uprisings. Later, many parts of the Bible in Late Middle English were printed by William Caxton in his translation of the Golden Legend (1483), and in
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#17327727424014588-449: The text, since the original text contained only consonants . This sometimes required the selection of an interpretation; since some words differ only in their vowels their meaning can vary in accordance with the vowels chosen. In antiquity, variant Hebrew readings existed, some of which have survived in the Samaritan Pentateuch and other ancient fragments, as well as being attested in ancient versions in other languages. The New Testament
4662-409: The text. When later scribes were copying the copy, they were sometimes uncertain if a note was intended to be included as part of the text. See textual criticism . Over time, different regions evolved different versions, each with its own assemblage of omissions, additions, and variants (mostly in orthography ). There are some fragmentary Old English Bible translations , notably a lost translation of
4736-436: The time the New Testament was published but, due to extenuating circumstances and financial issues, it was not published until nearly three decades later, in two editions: the first released in 1609, and the rest of the OT in 1610. In this version, the seven deuterocanonical books are amongst the other books, as in the Latin Vulgate , rather than kept separate in an appendix. While early English Bibles were generally based on
4810-424: The unformed earth]. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters. The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association release monthly and annual statistics regarding the popularity of different Bibles sold by their members in the United States. In 2023, the top 10 best-selling translations were the following: Sales are affected by denomination and religious affiliation. For example,
4884-413: The very first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek , later became the accepted text of the Old Testament in the Christian church and the basis of its canon . Jerome based his Latin Vulgate translation on the Hebrew for those books of the Bible preserved in the Jewish canon (as reflected in the Masoretic text ), and on the Greek text for the deuterocanonical books . The translation now known as
4958-409: The word order of Latin, and is more difficult for native English speakers to comprehend. The later version ("LV") made more concessions to the native grammar of English. Around the same period there were several other translations, which partially survive, such as the Paues Fortheenth Century Middle English New Testament . Early Modern English Bible translations are of between about 1500 and 1800,
5032-449: The world, they initially operated as its divisions in those countries. A new organisation, Wycliffe Bible Translators International, was started in May 1980 to provide this international leadership. In 1991 Wycliffe International was restructured so that the Wycliffe organisations in each country became fully independent, causing Wycliffe International to become an association of organisations. In February 2011, Wycliffe International took on
5106-481: The writer's own commentary on passages in addition to the literal translation. Aldhelm , Bishop of Sherborne and Abbot of Malmesbury (639–709), is thought to have written an Old English translation of the Psalms . Bede ( c. 672–735) produced a translation of the Gospel of John into Old English, which he is said to have prepared shortly before his death. This translation is lost; we know of its existence from Cuthbert of Jarrow's account of Bede's death. In
5180-612: Was adopted by many of the original English translators. For example, the story of the Wedding at Cana is almost 800 lines long, but fewer than 40 lines are in the actual translation of the text. An unusual characteristic is that the translation mimics Latin verse, and so is similar to the better known and appreciated 14th-century English poem Cursor Mundi . Richard Rolle (1290–1349) wrote an English Psalter. Many religious works are attributed to Rolle, but it has been questioned how many are genuinely from his hand. Many of his works were concerned with personal devotion, and some were used by
5254-408: Was made in c. 1480. English Bible translations More than 100 complete translations into English languages have been produced. Translations of Biblical books , especially passages read in the Liturgy can be traced back to the late 7th century, including translations into Old and Middle English . The Old English language started first from the Angle-Jute-Saxon invaders/settlers in
5328-664: Was mainly written in Biblical Hebrew , with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra ) in Biblical Aramaic . From the 6th century to the 10th century AD, Jewish scholars, today known as Masoretes , compared the text of various biblical manuscripts in an effort to create a unified, standardized text. A series of highly similar texts eventually emerged, and any of these texts are known as Masoretic Texts (MT). The Masoretes also added vowel points (called niqqud ) to
5402-524: Was translated into Old French in the late 13th century. Parts of this translation were included in editions of the popular Bible historiale , and there is no evidence of this translation being suppressed by the Church. In England, "about the middle of the fourteenth century — before 1361 — the Anglo-Normans possessed an independent and probably complete translation of the whole of the Old Testament and
5476-609: Was written in Koine Greek reporting speech originally in Aramaic , Greek and Latin (see Language of the New Testament ). The autographs , the Greek manuscripts written by the original authors or collators, have not survived. Scholars surmise the original Greek text from the manuscripts that do survive. The three main textual traditions of the Greek New Testament are sometimes called the Alexandrian text-type ,
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