A Smorgasbord of Translations F O O T ================================
- H O L D
A Smorgasbord of Translations!
The Bible is really a library of books written by at least 39 different authors spanning a period of about 1500 years.
Amazingly it fits together well to give a true picture of God.
Furthermore it has been preserved for many centuries, translated into different languages and passed on from one generation of Christians to another.
ANCIENT SCROLLS
All the Old Testament was written before Jesus was born and the books collected together from very ancient accounts.
Scrolls, containing fragments of most Old Testament books, were discovered in the Dead Sea area in 1947. They probably date from the last few centuries BC and the earlier part of the first century AD, and are the oldest manuscripts available.
Nearly all the Old Testament books are mentioned in the New Testament. All the New Testament books were written in the first century AD; copies on papyrus were circulated to the churches.
COPIES FOR THE CHURCHES
The earliest almost-complete manuscripts of the Gospels discovered so far date from the third century AD. But there are also fragments from the early part of the second century. All these were found in Egypt.
Constantine, a Roman emperor, became a Christian in AD 312 and commanded that many copies of the Bible should be written on parchment. This meant that more churches could have a copy of the Bible.
From the ninth century thousands of manuscripts have survived written in Greek, Latin, Syriac and other languages.
At first every manuscript was copied out by hand: then came the printing revolution and the Bible was far more readily available. From the Reformation, many people could read it for themselves for the first time.
BIBLE MILESTONES
1488 First printed Hebrew Old Testament 1516 First printed Greek New Testament 1526 New Testament first translated into English by William Tyndale 1535 The whole Bible translated into English by Coverdale 1611 King James Version
Some modern translations
1946 and 1952 Revised Standard Version 1958 and 1964 Amplified Bible 1961 and 1970 New English Bible 1966 and 1976 Todays English Version: Good News Bible 1966 Jerusalem Bible 1978 New International Version
CHOICES TODAY
Today’s Christians have a wonderful range of modern translations, editions and helps available. Some people however find this Bible smorgasbord bewildering.
A very helpful and inexpensive guide to the various translations has been prepared by the Translation Consultant for The Bible Society in Australia
- the Rev. Euan Fry. Titled ‘Which Bible Translation for Me?’, it is available from The Bible Society and other Christian Bookstores.