Short History of the Bible in English up to the Translation of the Authorized (King James) Bible

by Russell Morton

Dr. Russell Morton (Th.D., Lutheran School of Theology) is Professional Fellow of New Testament at ATS.

The Authorized or King James Bible

In 1611 one could scarcely imagine that a Bible translation, organized in some haste, dependent on earlier translations, and commissioned by a king of questionable piety would become the gold standard by which future English translations would be judged, for both its eloquence and usefulness to the church. The Authorized, or King James Bible, which was never officially authorized, nor did King James 1 of England participate in the translation, has not only been the source of comfort and inspiration to countless Protestant English-speaking Christians, but also stands with Chaucer and Shakespeare as one of the pillars of English prose and poetry. How did this begin? The Authorized Version was not the first translation of the Bible into English. Neither is it necessarily the most accurate translation, for that distinction belongs to Tyndale and the translators of the Geneva Bible. What it did do was combine both the scholarship of the previous century with a sense of language that enabled the 1611 translation to attain its singular influence in the English-speaking world.

Prehistory

The King James Bible was not the first translation of Scripture into English. Even in the early Middle Ages, portions of Scripture were translated into the vernacular, such as the translation of Psalms into Anglo Saxon, attributed to Alfred the Great of Wessex (871–899).[1] These early translations of portions of scripture, such as Psalms or the Gospels, prepared the way for the more ambitious project of translating the whole scripture into English during the turbulent 14th century.[2] This was the period both of the Hundred Years War with France (1339–1453), the Avignon Papacy (1308–1378), when the popes lived in Avignon in southern France rather than in Rome, and the Great Schism of 1379–1414, when rival popes at Rome and Avignon claimed obedience of Western Europe’s Christian population.

Wycliffite Bible (1380–84?, Later version 1388?)

In this environment, it is no wonder that many would call for reform both of church and the incipient state. One product of the reforming impulse would be translations of the Bible into the vernacular. What is remarkable is that in the last quarter of the 14th century the task of translating the Bible in England was undertaken by a circle of Oxford scholars associated with the person of John Wycliffe (or Wyclif, d1384). In his own lifetime, Wycliffe was less associated with Bible translation than with political and ecclesiastical theory. His insistence that clergy live a simple, godly life, attracted the attention of notable supporters, including the man who served as his patron, John of Gaunt (d. 1399), whose motives in supporting Wycliffe were mixed to say the least.[3]

Wycliffe was an Oxford don rather than a popular preacher. Yet, he was undoubtedly sympathetic to the goals of popular lay preachers, known as Lollards, who flourished in the area around Oxford even after Wycliffe’s views were suppressed at the university in 1382. They agreed with Wycliffe that the duty of all Christians to was know the scriptures and that it was the primary duty of both priests and laity to preach the Gospel.[4] Although often called Wycliffe’s translation, it is likely that Wycliffe translated only the Gospels, while the remainder of the Bible was rendered into English by Wycliffe’s disciples, particularly Nicholas Hereford and John Purvey.[5] There are two evidences for this conclusion. First, work of translation began in earnest only in 1382, by which time Wycliffe was old and ailing. Second, is the fact that two major versions of the Wycliffite translation exist, exhibiting major variations with one another with the latter dating to 1388, four years after Wycliffe’s death.[6]

Part of the problem in ascribing responsibility for the translation is that the work was of necessity anonymous. Unlike earlier translations into the vernacular, the Wycliffe, or Lollard Bible produced an enormous hostility. In late fourteenth century England the church hierarchy believed that Scripture “was given only to, and could only be understood by, either the extremely learned … or the clergy.”[7] The result was that in 1408 Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury convened a convocation at Oxford passed thirteen constitutions against Lollardy. The seventh forbade both the possession of an English translation, as well as anyone embarking upon the task of translating Scripture into English.[8] Despite this decision, the spirit of Lollardy would continue to be felt in England until the Reformation, and the Wycliffite Bible, or portions thereof, continued to circulate, as attested by the large number of surviving manuscripts of scripture portions distributed across a large geographical area of the United Kingdom.[9] Debate continues as to the influence of the Wycliffe translation, particularly in its later version, on subsequent translators. Definite similarities of phrases can be found in a comparison of Wycliffe and Tyndale.[10] As David Danielle observes, “No educated and religiously alert young man brought up in ‘God’s Gloucesterschire’ in the late fourteenth and early sixteenth centuries could fail to have heard, and most likely read, a Wyclif Bible.”[11] There are several examples of a Wycliffite turn of expression that would come to be considered characteristic of the King James Bible, such as: “blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Mt. 5:5); “salt of the earth” (Mt. 5:13) “Enter thou into the joy of thy master (Mt. 25:21).[12] Even more striking is the translation of Romans 8:31–34 (in modernized spelling):

What then shall we say to these things? If God for us, who is against us? The which also [i.e., he who also] spared not his own son, but for us all betook him, how also gave he not to us all things with him? Who shall accuse against the chosen men of God? It is God that justifieth, who is it that condemneth? It is Jesus Christ that was dead, yea, the which rose again, the which is on the right half [i.e., hand] of God, and that which prayeth for us.[13]

In addition, the Lollard Bible’s translated the phrase rendered by other translations “Holy Spirit” as Holy Ghost (or, hooli goost, Mt. 28:20, Wycliffe). This tradition would also be followed by the translators of the King James Bible.

Tyndale’s New Testament 1526, 1534

After Wycliffe, there would not be any major attempt at translating the Bible into English until the Protestant Reformation in Germany would inspire another Oxford educated Englishman, William Tyndale (d. 1536), to become perhaps the greatest single individual translator of the English Bible.[14] Tyndale was a superb linguist, possessing knowledge of at least seven languages besides English, including Latin, Hebrew Greek, German, French, Italian and Spanish.[15] For a brief while, Tyndale served as schoolmaster to the family of Sir John Walsh in Gloucestershire, until conflict over his radical ideas in sympathy with Luther and continental reformers enabled local clergy to conspire to have him dismissed from his post.[16] Tyndale found himself in London later that year. It was here he realized that while the Bible was being translated into the vernacular languages of Continental Europe, England alone would lack a translation into its native tongue. As Tyndale himself wrote:

Which thing only moved me to translate the New Testament. Because I perceived by experience how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue.[17]

Around 1523, Tyndale approached Cuthebret Tunstall, Bishop of London and a well known classical scholar. Tunstall was noted for, among other things, having assisted in the editing of the second edition of Erasmus’ New Testament.[18] Yet, if Tyndale expected to find in Tunstall a fellow spirit, these hopes were soon dashed. Tunstall was well aware of Tyndale’s radical religious and political ideas, and that there was no room in the Bishop’s house for Tyndale to translate the New Testament. Tyndale remained in London for about a year, preaching at Saint Dunstans-in-the-West in Fleet Street, where he made important connections with Humphrey Monmouth, a cloth merchant with Protestant sympathies.[19]

With the support and backing of Monmouth and other London merchants, Tyndale was able to leave England for the continent to engage in the work of translation, as recorded by John Foxe in Actes and Monuments (1583)

And therefore finding no place for his purpose within the realme, and hauing some ayde and prouision by Gods prouidence ministered vnto hym by Humphrey Mummouth … and certain other good men, hee tooke hys leaue of the realme, and departed into Germanie. Where the good man being inflamed with a tender care and zeale of his country refused no trauell nor diligence howe by all meanes possible to reduce his brethren and countreymen of England to the same tast and vnderstandyng of Gods holy word and veritie, which the Lord had endued him withal.[20] By 1525, Tyndale is recorded as living in Cologne.

Assisted by William Roye, Tyndale began translating and printing in Cologne, until the authorities caught wind of his activities and sought to close down the printing press and confiscate the printed sheets of the book. Fleeing to Worms, Tyndale completed the first edition of his English language New Testament in 1526. This translation was the first translation of the New Testament from Greek. Tyndale was also assisted in the task by reference to Luther’s German New Testament, and the end product bears a definitely “Lutheran stamp.”[21] Few examples of this New Testament survive. Upon being shipped to England, Cuthbert Tunstall, bishop of London bought up as many copies as possible and had them burned.[22] By purchasing the books rather than confiscating, however, Tunstall did Tyndale a service, for the purchase of these New Testaments financed Tyndale’s second edition.

In 1534, the second edition of Tyndale’s New Testament appeared, printed at Antwerp. In the intervening years, Tyndale also gained knowledge of Hebrew. We do not know where and when he learned the language. With the exception of Robert Wakefield at Cambridge, there were few Hebrew scholars in England, and the situation would not change until the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.[23] He would have had more opportunity to study the language on the continent, where, unlike England, large Jewish communities existed.[24] Tyndale translated the Pentateuch by 1530, and before his death completed a translation of Joshua through 2 Chronicles and Jonah. Tyndale’s version of Genesis through 2 Chronicles later would be incorporated into Matthews Bible of 1537. Thus, he was working on both his revision of the New Testament and translation of the Old Testament virtually simultaneously. Published clandestinely on the continent, these books were printed in small formats to be smuggled into the England, for on June 22, 1530, Henry VIII issued a decree prohibiting the use of Bible translations.[25] Despite this opposition, and living in exile, Tyndale continued to translate the whole Bible into English.

He was, however, never to finish the translation of the Old Testament. Despite the attraction of a vital printing trade, life in Antwerp could be dangerous for one of Protestant convictions, for the city was a stronghold of Catholic sentiment. Antwerp was under the authority of Emperor Charles V, a monarch committed to stamp out heresy. On May 21, 1535, Tyndale was betrayed by Henry Phillips, arrested, and held in prison. On August 10, 1536 Tyndale was degraded from the priesthood. He was later “handed over to the secular arm” and executed by strangling. His body was then publicly burned at the stake. Tyndale’s execution was reported back to Henry VII on October 6, 1536, although it likely occurred a few weeks earlier. His last words are said to have been “Lord, Open the King of England’s eyes.”[26] The following year Tyndale’s prayer would be answered. In 1537 two English language translations of not only the New Testament, but of the whole Bible, were licensed for printing in England and placed in the churches of England for public reading.

The impact of the Tyndale New Testament, as well as his partial translations of the Old Testament, cannot be overestimated. “In his Bible translations, Tyndale’s conscious use of everyday words, without inversions, in a neutral word-order, and his wonderful ear for rhythmic patterns gave to English not only a Bible language, but a new prose.”[27] Furthermore, his linguistic skill and intuitive understanding of the biblical languages, his ability to express the true meaning into English idiom has been virtually unmatched by any other single translator.[28] Nearly a century later, the translators of the King James Bible would return to Tyndale’s work, utilizing it as a guide to their own translation. As S. L. Greenslade has said, “Tyndale made the spoken English of his day a fit vehicle for the communication of Holy Scripture and determined the fundamental character of most of the subsequent versions.”[29]

Coverdale Bible (1535)

Miles Coverdale (1488–1568) was a friend and associate of William Tyndale, whose translation was the first full printed Bible in English.[30] He had worked with Tyndale in Hamburg, and followed him to Antwerp. Printed in Gothic type, Coverdale’s Bible is an impressive folio. Coverdale likely converted to Protestantism before 1527, the year he is thought to have met with Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII”s first minister. From 1528–1535 he was in exile on the continent, during which time he met with Tyndale in Antwerp. The full extent of Coverdale’s service to Tyndale is not known, but it must have been limited. Coverdale knew neither Hebrew nor Greek, and he did not translate scripture from the original languages.[31] Rather, the Coverdale translated from Latin and German translations, and incorporated Tyndale’s New Testament and Pentateuch. He did not use Tyndale’s Joshua-2Chronicles.[32] The place of printing of the first Coverdale Bible is not mentioned. While Marburg or Cologne in Germany have been suggested, more recent evidence suggests that it was likely printed in Antwerp.[33] The work was completed on Oct. 4, 1535.

Coverdale’s greatest contribution was his sense of language. He had exquisite taste in words, and coined terms still used today, such as “loving kindness” and “tender mercies.” His sense of the parallelism of the Psalms, although not based on the Hebrew, was unrivaled for its time, and his Psalter was “to leave to posterity a permanent memorial of his genius in that most musical version of the Psalter which passed into the Book of Common Prayer.”[34]

Although not originally licensed by the king, the Coverdale Bible was allowed to be distributed in England. This is due both to the shifting political sands of sixteenth century England as well as Coverdale’s savvy. As early as 1527, Coverdale made the acquaintance of Thomas Cromwell, and made a positive impression upon the King Henry VIII’s first minister.[35] Likewise, although he utilized Tyndale’s work, he was wise enough to alter some of Tyndale’s more objectionable language. Anne Bolyne was also in Henry VIII’s favor at the time, and her support of reform undoubtedly aided the cause of the Coverdale Bible.[36] Indeed, Anne is said to have supported the placing of a copy of the English Bible in every church in England, and this Bible was Coverdale’s.[37] Coverdale’s Bible also has the distinction of being the first Bible licensed to be printed in England, likely under the influence of Thomas Cromwell.[38]

Matthews Bible (1537)

Whatever its virtues and vices, the production of the Coverdale Bible was inadequate to meet the needs of England. Thomas Cromwell wished to place a Bible in each of England’s 9,000 parish churches. There were not enough Coverdales to meet the challenge.[39] It was in this atmosphere that another translation came to the fore, the Matthews translation of 1537. It was the first complete English Bible to have a distinctly Protestant emphasis. It was also the first English Bible to incorporate Tyndale’s translation of Joshua-2 Chronicles. Finally, in something of an irony, it is also the one English Bible that bears the name of a pseudonymous translator. Although the translator was named as “Thomas Matthews,” he was, in fact, Tyndale’s close associate, John Rogers (d.1554).

Like Coverdale’s Bible, the Matthews Bible was licensed to be placed in churches. Nevertheless, its place of publication and printer are not listed on the title-page of the first printing. It simply states that it was published in the year 1537 “Set forth with the Kinges most gracious licēce”[40] These precautions were taken for good reason. Although Cromwell authorized its licensing, this translation Bible was, in fact, quite a dangerous book. Rogers was Tyndale’s close friend and associate. Unlike Coverdale, who mollified some of the offensive language, Rogers retained Tyndale’s material virtually unchanged. For those books Tyndale did not live to complete, Rogers translated from the versions of French and German Protestants.[41] He also added marginal notes of a distinctly Protestant flavor also derived from French and German reformers.

As with Coverdale, the Matthews Bible was compiled with some haste, dependent primarily upon the work of Tyndale. Tyndale’s New Testament, Pentateuch and historical books (Joshua-2 Chronicles) were used, virtually unaltered. Where Tyndale’s translations were lacking, Rogers used and altered Coverdale. Coverdale’s Apocrypha did not include the Prayer of Manasseh, which Rogers translated for his Bible. Rogers also corrected translations of Isaiah and the first six chapters of Job.[42]

The Matthews Bible would have enormous impact. “This version, which welds together the best work of Tyndale and Coverdale, is generally considered to be the real primary version of our English Bible.”[43] Rogers remained on the continent until 1547, but returned to England after Edward VI ascended the throne. Upon Edward’s death in 1553, his Catholic sister, Mary Tudor, became queen and in that year Rogers was arrested. In 1554, he became the first of the Protestants executed for heresy under Queen Mary.[44] Nevertheless, his work lived on, for his Bible would become the basis for the next major English translation, the “Great Bible.”

The “Great Bible” (1539)

The Great Bible was a translation that arose out of necessity. There were not enough Coverdale or Matthews Bibles to supply the parish churches of England. Also, neither of these two translations were deemed suitable for the life of the church. The Coverdale Bible did not have the support of scholars, because it was not based on the original languages. The Matthews Bible offended the sensibilities of the conservative elements of the English church because of its notes and radical translations derived from Tyndale. A new translation was demanded. To meet this challenge, Thomas Cromwell, with the support of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, commissioned Miles Coverdale to revise the Matthews Bible.[45]

Because the “Great Bible” was not intended for the public at large, but was issued for the pulpits of English churches, certain standards were established for its first printing. First, it was to be large, hence the title “Great Bible.” Its size would facilitate public reading. It was also to be printed on the best paper and by the finest printers. The first edition, therefore, was to be printed not in England, but in Paris by Francois Regnault, whose skill as a printer was far superior to anything found in England at the time. It was to be distributed by Grafton and Whitechurch, the printers of Matthews Bible. At the end 1538, however, the French authorities suppressed the work and confiscated some of the sheets. A number of sheets were saved, however, and with presses, type and skilled workers, were transported back to England, where the work was completed and the first edition of the Great Bible appeared in 1539.[46]

The Great Bible was intended to be a modest revision of the text of Matthews Bible. It was also to be printed without notes. Coverdale’s revisions of the Old Testament were accomplished utilizing Sebastian Munster’s Latin translation, which included Hebrew Text and notes.[47] In 1541 Royal proclamation authorized that the Great Bible was to be placed in the parish churches of England. Royal proclamation also noted that the public reading was to be clear and devoid of personal interpretation.[48] Thus, the Great Bible is, in fact, the only English translation ever to receive royal authorization. It continued to exercise influence over the life of the English church even after being superseded by later translations, for it was Coverdale’s translation of the Psalms that provided the Psalter for the Book of Common Prayer.

One of the unique problems of the Great Bible is determining its editions. The Bible was printed in seven editions of between 1539 and 1541. It was also published in various parts, Pentateuch, historical books, prophets, etc. The result was that binders often combined parts from different editions. Second, while the title page may be to a later edition, the text may be from the first. The reason is that the first edition of the Great Bible possessed an elaborate engraved title page by the famous artist Hans Holbein, with Henry VIII handing Bibles to Thomas Cromwell, the king’s Vicar General, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.[49] They distribute the Bible to the people. After Cromwell’s fall and execution in 1540, a new title page was commissioned, with Cromwell missing. The title page of earlier editions was often replaced with a cancel.[50] Also, from the second edition on, the Great Bible contained a preface from Thomas Cranmer. After Cranmer’s execution under Mary Tudor, these were also sometimes excised.

Geneva Bible (1560, revised 1599)

Mary Tudor reigned from 1553 to 1558. As the daughter of Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and as one raised in the Spanish court, she was zealous to eradicate heresy from her dominion. Thus, she instituted a policy of reversing the gains made by the Reformation in England, particularly under her predecessor and half-brother Edward VI. Although the reading of the English Bible continued, numbers of zealous Protestants, including numerous scholars, fled England, with a significant number making the pilgrimage to Calvin’s Geneva. It was here that the Geneva Bible was translated and published. Often called the “Breeches Bible” because of its translation of Gen. 3:7 (“they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves breeches”), the Geneva Bible has gained certain fame for its textual notes. Although these notes were to cause great offense to James I, they primarily provided the reader with great assistance in understanding the unique features of biblical language, particularly in the Old Testament.[51] Indeed, they primarily provided a running commentary on the Bible, and are not particularly sectarian or tendentious.[52]

The New Testament of the Geneva Bible appeared in 1557. The entire Bible was completed in 1560. Although Mary had died by 1560, the Geneva Bible was not permitted to be printed in England until after Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, died in 1575. In the meantime it was printed in Geneva by at least two English printers, Rolland Hall and William Whittingham, the latter being also one of the translators of the New Testament.[53] The Geneva Bible “became at once the Bible of the English People. It remained so, through 140 editions—editions, not simple reprinting, before 1644.”[54]

The Geneva Bible represented a number of “firsts”. It was the first English Bible in which the entire Old Testament was translated directly from the Hebrew.[55] Also, because it was originally printed in Geneva, it is the first English Bible printed in a Roman, type font.[56] It was also the first English Bible to use verse divisions. It exerted influence outside of England as the Bible of the Scots Reformation after 1560. It was also the Bible of Shakespeare and the Bible the Pilgrims carried to America.[57] This translation was also to exert tremendous influence on the translation of the King James Bible fifty years after its first appearance.

Bishops’ Bible (1568)

In an effort to enforce conformity of worship in England, Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, approached William Cecil, Secretary to Queen Elizabeth, about commissioning a new Bible translation. The goal was to provide a uniform translation for the English people, and to escape the “folly” of multiple translations, particularly the now popular Geneva Bible. The goal was to provide something better than the Geneva Bible. The translators were all bishops. “Officially, the work was done episcopally. It was also done quickly. Sadly, it was not done well.”[58] One problem with entrusting translation to ecclesiastical authorities is that the skills of a bishop are not those of a translator. In short, their knowledge of Hebrew and Greek was inadequate to the task. The result was a reliance upon the Latin translations to revise the Geneva Bible’s better renderings from the Hebrew and Greek. The product was a Latinizing, barely readable translation. Its language was too exalted for the masses, who continued to favor the Geneva Bible, as did many of the clergy in their preaching. Also, both because of the haste in which the project was undertaken, and the reliance on Latin sources, numerous mistakes were introduced into the translation. Ultimately, the Bishops Bible is important not for its success, but for its failure. Because it failed to fulfill its task, less than fifty years later a new translation, originally commissioned to correct its mistakes and shortcomings, was commissioned: the King James Bible.

Translating the King James Bible[59]

There are several misapprehensions about the Authorized, or, King James Bible. First, contrary to popular thought, it was not the first translation in English, but was, rather, the culmination of a process that began with Tyndale, if not Wycliffe. Second, it was never received royal authorization. Finally, King James did not translate it. Rather, it was the work of six committees, called companies, of translators operating from Westminster, in London, Cambridge, and Oxford. It is, if anything, the triumph of a work, put together by committee.

The King James Bible arose, in part, because King James I (1603–1625) detested the notes of the Geneva Bible, which he saw as seditious. For example, in the 1587 edition of the Geneva Bible, the notes on Exodus 1:17–21, commenting on the Hebrew midwives disobedience to Pharaoh by saying that Hebrew women had their children before a midwife could assist them states, “Their disobedience was lawfull, but their dissembling was euil.”[60] This observation may seem rather tame by the standards of the 21st century, but to James I it was nothing less than seditious, for the midwives were disobeying the orders of their ruler.[61] Such willful disobedience was not acceptable to one who, like James, was utterly committed to the doctrine of the divine right of kings. The Geneva Bible also on occasion translated the Hebrew and Greek terms rendered “kings” in the King James as “tyrant,” as in Isaiah 13:11b: “and I wil cause the arrogancie of the proud to cease, and will cast downe the pride of tyrants.”[62] In January, 1604, at Hampton Court, the king met with eighteen bishops and four representatives of the puritan party. The purpose of the meeting was to suppress puritanism. The meeting, as a whole was a failure, but on its last day, January 16, John Reynolds, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, proposed a new Bible translation.[63] This translation was not intended to be original, but a revision of the Bishops Bible of 1568.[64]

Under the impetus of Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London, translation committees were formed by June 30, 1604.[65] There were to be six companies whose membership would total fifty-four scholars. Two companies were located at Westminster, two were at Cambridge, and two were at Oxford.[66] The task of translating was divided among the companies. The first Westminster Company was responsible for Genesis through 2 Kings. The first Cambridge Company was entrusted with 1 Chronicles through the Song of Songs. The first Oxford Company translated the prophets. The second Cambridge Company handled the Apocrypha. The second Oxford Company translated the Gospels, Acts and Revelation. Finally, the Second Westminster Company was responsible for the New Testament letters.[67] When the companies had finished their work, two representatives of each were to meet for final revisions. The final group of twelve met in 1610 in Stationer’s Hall in London to decide the final language of the new Bible.[68]

The companies were given very specific instructions, including:

1. The Ordinary Bible read in the Church commonly called the Bishopps Bible to be followed, and as little altered as the Truth of the Originall will permit.
2. The names of the Profyts and the holie Wryters with the other Names in the text to be retayned, as near as may be, according as they are vulgarly used.
3. The ould ecclesiasticall words to be kept viz. as the word Churche not to be translated Congretation &c.
4. When a word hath divers Significatons, that to be kept which hath ben most commonly used by the most of the ancient Fathers being agreeable to the proprietie of ye place and the anologie of fayth.
5. The Division of the Chapters to be altered either not at all, or as little as may be if necessity soe require.
6. Noe marginal notes att all to be affixed, but only for ye explanation of ye Hebrew or Greeke Words which cannot without some circumlocution soe briefly and fitly be expressed in ye Text.
7. Such quotations of places to be marginally sett downe, as shall serve for fit reference of one Scriputure to an other.
8. Every particular man of each company to take ye same chapter or chapters, and having translated or amended them severally by himselfe where he thinks good, all to meete together, confer what they have done, and agree for their Parts what shall stand.
9. As one company hath dispatched any one booke in this manner they shall send it to the rest to be considered of seriously and judiciously: for His Majestie is verie carefull at this point.
10. If any Company, upon ye review of ye books so sent, really doubt, or differ uppon any place, to send them word thereof, note the place, and withal send their reasons to which they consent not, the difference to be compounded at ye generall meetinge, which is to be of the chiefe persons of each company at ye end of the work.
11. When any place of speciall obscurity is doubted of, letters to be directed by authority to any learned man in the land for his iudgments of such a place.[69]

The translators were to be conservative in their work. The new Bible was not to be a new translation as much as revision. Ecclesiastical language, the language of the Church of England, was to be retained, for the new translation was to solidify not only the church, but also the kingdom as well. Finally, marginal notes, those comments which James I found so offensive, were specifically prohibited.

It is ironic that the King James Bible was to be a revision of the Bishops Bible, perhaps the least satisfactory of the sixteenth century Bible translations. All the translators knew such to be the case. In fact, the Bishops Bible was consulted only sparingly, accounting for only some nine percent of the wording of the King James Bible.[70] In addition to the Bishops Bible, the translators were to consult the other major sixteenth century translation: Tyndale, Coverdale, and Matthews to guide them as they translated the original text. As a result, the language was archaic even in 1611. Finally, because they were self consciously working on a revision, the translators worked from the manuscript tradition represented by Erasmus’s 1516 New Testament and the Complutensian Polyglot (1522). They did not utilize better manuscripts, such as Codex Beza, which influenced the translation of the Geneva Bible. Yet, despite its weaknesses, it can be said that the King James Bible represents the culmination of some eighty years of biblical scholarship in England.[71]

What the scholars achieved, despite their restrictions, was a translation that was not only useful, but also eloquent. They were expected to produce a Bible that would read and sound well. In this task, the commission succeeded beyond expectation. It is only fitting, for the King James Bible was produced in the England of Marlowe and Shakespeare. The translators had a wondrous sense of language, which leaps from the page. The result was not merely a functional translation, but one of the great monuments of the English language.

Post History

The King James Bible stood the test of time. A translation, originally inspired by a king upset by the notes of the Geneva Bible and meant to be a revision of an inferior work, became a major influence not only in the religious life of the English-speaking world, but also its language. Part of this is due to the eloquence of its wording. Many of our daily phrases, such as “strain at the gnat and swallow the camel” (Mt. 23:24), “Judge not that ye be not judged” (Mt. 7:1), and “widow’s mite” (Mk. 12:42; Lk. 21:2) come directly from the King James Bible.

The endurance of the so called Authorized Version is also seen in the fact that later translations were not understood as entirely new works, but as revisions of the King James Bible. The English Revised Version (1885), American Standard Version (1901); Revised Standard (1954, 1971), and, to a lesser extent, New American Standard Version (1971) were all either consciously revisions of the King James, or in the tradition of the King James. That it endured for over 250 years before a major revision was attempted, despite the discovery of better manuscripts and the recognition of its translation errors, also attests to the endurance of this work.

Yet, even in Bible translations not consciously in the tradition of the King James, such as the New English Bible (1961), Today’s English Version (1979), New Revised Standard Version (1989), and Contemporary English Version (1996), there remains a commitment to put the words of scripture into coherent, comprehensible language that can be understood by average people. This commitment, which began in English with Wycliffe’s followers, culminated in the sixteenth century with Tyndale, and led to the monumental translation of the King James Version in 1611 endures today as translators continue to grasp the challenge of producing a biblical text that is both scholarly, accurate, and also deeply moving to the reader.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Ackroyd, Peter, R., et al. eds. The Cambridge History of the Bible. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963–1970.
• Aland, Kurt and Barbara Aland. The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.
• Alexander, Jonathan J. G. Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
• Butterworth, Charles C. The Literary Lineage of the King James Bible, 1340–1611. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.
• Cockerell, Sydney C. Old Testament Miniatures: A Medieval Picture Book with 283 Paintings From the Creation to the Story of David. New York: G. Braziller, 1969.
• Daiches, David. The King James Version of the English Bible: An Account of the Development of the English Bible of 1611, With Special Reference to the Hebrew Tradition. Hamden, Conn. Archon Books, 1968, c1941.
• D’Ancona, Paolo. The Art of Illumination: An Anthology of Manuscripts from the Sixth to the Sixteenth Century. London: Phaidon, 1969.
• Danielle, David. The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. New Haven London: Yale University Press, 2003.
• ———. William Tyndale: A Biography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.
• Darlow, T. H. and H. F. Moule. Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of Holy Scripture in the Library of British and Foreign Bible Societiey. 1903–1911. Reprint, Cambridge MA: Maurizio Martiono, [1992?].
• Deansesly, Margaret. The Lollard Bible and Other Medieval Biblical Versions. 1920. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1978.
• DeSilva, David A. and Marcus Adams. “Seven Papyrus Fragments of a Greek Manuscript of Exodus.” Vetus Testamentum 56 (2006) 143–70.
• Frerichs, Ernest, ed. The Bible and Bibles in America. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988.
• Fry, Francis and Theodore Fry. The Works of Francis Fry on the Tyndale, Coverdale, Great, Bishop’s and King James Bibles: With a Brief Memoir of the Author by his Son. Classic Reprints no. 33. Pensacola, FL: Vance Publications, 2001.
• Gamble, Harry Y. Books and Readers in the Early Church. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
• Gameson, Richard. The Early Medieval Bible: Its Production, Decoration and Use. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
• Gibson, Margaret T. The Bible in the Latin West. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993.
• Gilmore, Alec. A Dictionary of the English Bible. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000.
• Herbert, Arthur Sumner. Historical Catalogue of Printed Editions of the English Bible: 1525–1961: Revised and Expanded from the Edition of T.H. Darlow and H.F. Moule, 1903. London British & Foreign Bible Society; New York: American Bible Society, 1968.
• Hepner, Mark. “[Bargam New Testament]. Personal correspondence with John Byron, Nov. 4, 2010.
• Hills, Margaret Thorndike. The English Bible In America: A Bibliography of Editions of the Bible & the New Testament Published in America, 1777–1957. New York: American Bible Society, 1961.
• Koenig, Eberhard. The 1462 Fust & Schoeffer Bible: An Essay. Akron: Bruce Ferrini, 1993.
• Lake, Helen and Kirsopp Lake. Codex Sinaiticvs Petropolitanvs et Friderico-Avgvstanv Lipsiensis. The Old Testament Preserved in the Public library of Petrograd, in the Library of the Society of Ancient Literature in Petrograd, and in the Library of the University of Leipzig, now Reproduced in Facsimile from Photographs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922.
• Long, John D. The Bible in English: John Wycliffe and William Tyndale. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1998.
• Longenecker, Stephen L. The Christopher Sauers: Courageous Printers Who Defended Religious Freedom in Early America. Elgin, IL: Brethren Press, 1981.
• MacGregor, Geddes. A Literary History of the Bible: From the Middle Ages to the Present Day. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1968.
• McKerroow, Ronald B. An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students. 1928 Reprint: New Castle. DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1994.
• May, Herbert G. Our English Bible in the Making: Philadelphia: Published for the Cooperative Publishing Association by Westminster Press, 1952.
• Metzger, Bruce M. and Bart D. Ehrman. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
• Moulton, W. F. The History of the English Bible. New York: Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1878.
• Nicolson, Adam. God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. New York: Dav HarperCollins, 2003.
• Norton, David. A Textual History of the King James Bible. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• Pelikan, Jaroslav and Valerie R. Hotchkiss. The Reformation of the Bible and the Bible of the Reformation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.
• Phillips, Harold L. Translators and Translations: A Brief History of the Making of the English Bible. Anderson, IN: Warner Press, 1958.
• Pollard, Alfred W., ed. Records of the English Bible: The Documents Relating to the Translation and Publication of the Bible in English, 1525–1611. 1911. Reprint. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2001.
• Rumball-Petre, Edwin A.R. America’s First Bibles: With a Census of 555 Extant Bibles. Portland, ME: Southworth-Anthoesen Press, 1940,
• Sharpe, John and Kimberly Van Kampen, eds. The Bible as Book: The Manuscript Tradition. London: British Library; New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Books, 1998.
• Shoemaker, Richard. A Checklist for American Imprints for 1820-. New York: Scarecrow Press, 1964–
• Stephen, Leslie, ed. Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith and Elder, 1885–1901.
• Tyndale, William, translator. Tyndale’s Old Testament: Being the Pentateuch of 1530, Joshua to 2 Chronicles of 1537, and Jonah, in a modern-spelling edition and with an introduction by David Danielle. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1992.
• VanderKam, James C. The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.
• Wescott, Brooke Foss. A General View of the History of the English Bible. ed. Rev. by William Aldis Wright. 1903 Reprint. New York: Lemma Publ. Corp., 1972.
• Wright, John, Early Bibles of America 3rd ed. New York: T. Whittaker, 1894.
• Würthwein, Ernst. The Text of the Old Testament. 2nd edition, revised. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Notes

1. Geoffrey Shepherd, “English Versions of the Scriptures Before Wyclif,” in The Cambridge History of the Bible: Vol. 2. The West from the Fathers to the Reformation, ed. G. W. H. Lampe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 362–87.
2. For more on this turbulent age, see, George M. Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wycliffe (London, New York: Longman’s Green and Co., 1946); Nigel Saul, Richard II. Yale English Monarchs (New Haven: Yale, 1997).
3. John of Gaunt’s corruption and greed were well known. It is thought his support for Wycliffe was rooted less in a desire for spiritual renewal than avarice, for one of Wycliffe’s proposed reforms was to divest the church of wealth. Some have supposed that John of Gaunt wished to seize the church’s wealth for himself, which is what Henry VIII and the English nobility did accomplish after the disestablishment of the monasteries in the 16th century. For more on John of Gaunt, see Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wycliffe.
4. Margaret Deansley, The Lollard Bible and Other Medieval Biblical Versions (1920; repr., New York: AMS Press, 1978), 242.
5. Henry Hargreaves, “The Wycliffite Versions”, in The Cambridge History of the Bible: Vol. 2. The West from the Fathers to the Reformation, ed. by G. W. H. Lampe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 387–415; Deansley, The Lollard Bible, 252–67.
6. Hargreaves, “Wycliffite Versions,” 395–407; David Daniell, The Bible in English: Its History and Influence (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2003), 85.
7. Daniell, The Bible in English, 68.
8. B. F, Westcott, A General View of the History of the English Bible. 3rd ed. Rev. by William Aldis Wright (1903; repr., New York: Lemma Publishing Corp., 1972), 17; Deansley, The Lollard Bible, 295. For the text of the prohibition, see Alfred Pollard, ed., Records of the English Bible: The Documents Relating to the Translation and Publication of the Bible in English, (1911, repr., Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2001), 79–81.
9. Hargreaves, “Wycliffite Versions,” 411.
10. Daniell, Bible in English. 85–90.
11. Ibid., 88.
12. Ibid., 85–87.
13. Ibid., 89.
14. Space prohibits a detailed account of Tyndale’s life and work. For one of the better modern biographies, see, David Danielle, William Tyndale: A Biography (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1994).
15. Ibid., 18.
16. Ibid., 84–85.
17. William Tyndale, “W. T. to the Reader,” in Tyndale’s Old Testament: Being the Pentateuch of 1530, Joshua to 2 Chronicles of 1537, and Jonah, modern spelling ed. (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1992), 4.We must remember that with the birth of printing in 1455, there was an explosion of publication of translations of classical works in both original language and the vernacular. In addition, vernacular translations of Scripture were also produced in both Germany and France in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Indeed, some seventeen translations of the Bible in German appeared before Luther’s famous September Bible. Among the most famous of these early German translations was Anton Koberger’s 1483 Biblia Germanica.
18. Daniell, William Tyndale, 84.
19. Daniel, The Bible in English, 142–43.
20. Cited in Pollard, Records of the English Bible, 88–89.
21. See Daniell, William Tyndale, 113–15. For example, Tyndale usually avoided the term “church,” translating the Greek ecclesia with the more generic term “congregation.” What is somewhat remarkable is that despite his conflicts with ecclesiastical authorities he continued to translate the term episcopus as “bishop” in 1 Tim. 3.
22. See the account in Pollard, Records of the English Bible, 150–53. The first edition of Tyndale’s New Testament is extremely rare. Only some three copies exist in libraries worldwide.
23. Daniell, William Tyndale, 291–96.
24. Jews were expelled from England in the late thirteenth century by Edward I, and would not return to England until the Middle of the seventeenth century in the time of Oliver Cromwell.
25. The text of the proclamation is found in Pollard, Records of the English Bible, 163–69.
26. John Foxe, Fox’s Book of Martyrs: A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant Deaths of the Early Christian and Protestant Martyrs, edited by William B Forbush (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954), 184.
27. Daniell, William Tyndale., 116.
28. The one possible exception might by James Moffatt (1870–1944) who also translated both the Old and New Testaments into English. His translations, however, are in places more Scots than English, leading to a certain eccentricity of language. Moffatt’s translations also never caught the popular imagination.
29. “English Versions of the Bible, 1525–1611,” in The Cambridge History of the Bible: Volume 3 The West from the Reformation to the Present Day, ed. S. L. Greenslade (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963), 145.
30. A.S. Herbert, Historical Catalogue of Printed Editions of the English Bible, 1525–1961: Revised and Expanded from the Edition of T.H. Darlow and H.F. Moule, 1903 (London: British and Foreign Bible Society; New York: American Bible Society, 1968), no. 18.
31. Daniell, The Bible in English, 176–78.
32. Greenslade, “English Versions of the Bible, 148.
33. Herbert, Historical Catalogue, no. 18; Daniell, English Bible, 179–80.
34. Herbert, Historical Catalogue, no. 18.
35. Daniell, The Bible in English, 177.
36. Geddes MacGreggor, A Literary History of the Bible: From the Middle Ages to the Present Day (Nashville: Abingdon, 1968), p. 123
37. Greenslade, “English Versions of the Bible”, 149.
38. This was the second printing by James Nicholson (or Nycholson) of Southwark. In 1537 he printed the first folio English language Bible in England (Herbert, Historical Catalogue, no. 32) and later that year, published a quarto edition, which bore following the imprint the phrase, “Set forth with the Kynges moost gracious licence” (Herbert, Historical Catalogue, no. 33).
39. Daniel, The Bible in English, 195.
40. Herbert, Historical Catalogue, no. 34. The macron over the letter “e” represents the letter “n.” This was in keeping with manuscript practice, which often used this abbreviation for “m’s” and “n’s” in an effort to save paper. For more on the practice of abbreviations in early printing, see Ronald B. McKerrow, An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students (1927; repr., Winchester, [Eng.]: St. Paul’s Bibliographies; New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1994), 319–24.
41. Daniell, The Bible in English, 193–95.
42. Ibid., 196.
43. Herbert, Historical Catalogue, no. 34.
44. Daniel, The Bible in English, 192.
45. Ibid., 200.
46. Ibid.; A.S. Herbert, Historical Catalog, no. 46.
47. Wescott, History of the Bible in English, 181. For a list of the revisions, see ibid., 181–207.
48. For the text of both proclamations, see Pollard, Records of the English Bible, 261–66.
49. Ironically, the book Henry hands to Cromwell and Cranmer bears the Latin title, Verbum Dei, rather than the English title of “Bible.”
50. A cancel is a printed sheet that corrects mistakes. The offending leaf is excised, leaving a stub, to which the new leaf is glued into place.
51. Daniell,, The Bible in English, 297.
52. Ibid., 306.
53. Ibid., 293–94. It should be noted that it was not unusual for printers to also function as translators. Not only did Aldus Manutius, of the famous Aldine Press, produce many translations, so also did the first English printer, William Caxton.
54. Daniell, The Bible in English, 294.
55. Ibid., 297.
56. William Caxton, the first printer in England, learned his trade in Bruges, and utilized a black face or “Gothic” type font standard in northern Europe. This type font was typical of early English printing until it was eventually replaced by the clearer Roman font. Because religious sensibilities tend to be conservative, the black letter type font was standard for Bibles until the printing of the Geneva Bible.
57. MacGreggor, Literary History of the Bible, 145.
58. Daniell, The Bible in English, 341.
59. The story of the translation of the King James Bible has been told numerous times, and need not be repeated here in detail. A good popular discussion is found in Adam Nicolson, God’ Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2003).
60. Geneva Bible, 1587, A Machine- Readable Transcript. Accessed via OhioLINK 9-23-10 at http://ebooks.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ch/view?docId=tei/bible/B07000.xml&chunk.id=d58&toc.id=d57&brand=default.
61. Nicholson, God’s Secretaries, 58–59.
62. Geneva Bible, 1587.
63. Daniell, Bible in English, 432.
64. Nicholson, God’s Secretaries, 73.
65. Daniell, Bible in English, 436.
66. A list of the scholars by companies is found in Nicholson, God’s Secretaries, 251–59.
67. On the division of the labor of the companies, along with examples of their translations, see Olga S. Opfell, The King James Bible Translators (Jefferson, N.C.; London: McFarland, 1982), 27–100.
68. On this meeting, see Ibid., 101–106.
69. From a manuscript in the Cambridge University Library. Cited by Nicholson, God’s Secretaries, 73–82.
70. Nicholson, God’s Secretaries, 73. For another version of the list of rules, see Pollard, Records of the English Bible, 339.
71. Nicholson, God’s Secretaries, 81–82.