Translations Before the King James: - The KJV Translators Speak!

cin.org ^ | 1611 | KJV Translators

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Here is a link to a nicely formated FROM THE TRANSLATORS TO THE READER. It is much easier to read.

http://avbtab.org/av/avPre.htm

And the translators here.

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE
KING JAMES VERSION TRANSLATORS

I. The First Westminister Company—translated the historical books, beginning with Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.

Dr. Lancelot Andrews
Dr. John Overall
Dr. Hadrian Saravia
Dr. Richard Clarke, Dr. John Laifield, Dr. Robert Tighe, Francis Burleigh, Geoffry King, Richard Thompson
Dr. William Bedwell

II. The Cambridge Company—translated Chronicles to the end of the Song of Songs.

Edward Lively, Dr. John Richardson, Dr. Lawrence Chaderton
Francis Dillingham, Dr. Roger Andrews, Thomas Harrison, Dr. Robert Spaulding, Dr. Andrew Bing

III. The Oxford Company—translated beginning of Isaiah to the end of the Old Testament.

Dr. John Harding, Dr. John Reynolds
Dr. Thomas Holland, Dr. Richard Kilby
Dr. Miles Smith, Dr. Richard Brett, Daniel Fairclough

IV. The Second Oxford Company—translated the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Revelation of St. John the Divine.

Dr. Thomas Ravis, Dr. George Abbot
Dr. Richard Eedes, Dr. Giles Tomson, Sir Henry Savile
Dr. John Peryn, Dr. Ralph Ravens, Dr. John Harmar

V. The Fifth Company of Translators at Westminster—translated all of the Epistles of the New Testament

The fifth company of translators at Westminster are all found at this link
Dr. William Barlow
Dr. John Spencer
Dr. Roger Fenton
Dr. Ralph Hutchinson
William Dakins
Michael Rabbet
[Thomas(?)] Sanderson

VI. The Sixth Company of Translators at Cambridge translated the apocryphal books. The King James translators did not consider the Apocrypha to be scripture and neither did King James—see, Alexander McClure on the Apocryphal committee and Why the Apocrypha is not is the Bible.

Dr. John Duport, Dr. William Brainthwaite, Dr. Jeremiah Radcliffe
Dr. Samuel Ward
Dr. Andrew Downes, John Bois
Dr. John Ward, Dr. John Aglionby, Dr. Leonard Hutten
Dr. Thomas Bilson, Dr. Richard Bancroft

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

If anyone is interested, last week Walmart had 400th Aniversery copies of the ORIGINAL KJV for $4.99.

With the preface and geaneologies of the various tribes. All this and OLDE ENGLISH lettering. Shows why the Geneva version still gave the KJV a run for it’s money till they modernized the alphabet.

Not bad for less than $5.00 bucks.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

No, it was for a graduate history class I took in 1999 on the English Reformation and post-Reformation periods.

[fire4effect]

Was this authorized by God, King James, or both? Are there unauthorized editions out there?

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Authorized by King James.

Historically speaking, the KJV was translated NOT for the sake of religion, but for purely political reasons.

Remember the context of the times, when the Counter Reformation was well under way (leading to Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot of 1605) and the Puritans in England were attacking the king and the Anglican Church as still being too Catholic.

With Elizabeth I dead and buried, James' hold on power was by no means certain. The Puritans had commissioned their own translation, called the "Geneva" Bible, which included subversive annotations aimed clearly at overthrowing him and establishing a "Puritan" state (similar to what Cromwell ultimately did after the English Civil War). James outlawed the Geneva Bible under pain of death, and commissioned the KJV to supplant it and also provide the Anglican Church with a standard, authorized text to hopefully unify the country.

In the end, James held on to power until he died in 1625, but his Charles I lost both the throne and his head to the Puritans in 1649. But, the KJV still reigned supreme.

[BonRad]

“The idea that reading the bible in the vernacular was the gift of the Protestant Revolution is absolute, Western parochial nonsense.”

Thanks so for this. Wonders never cease as to the errors of the prots, especially contradiction of simple history.

[stfassisi]

“”The Scriptures were written in the mother tongues of the people, mostly Greek””

There is good evidence that even OT Scripture was translated to Greek in 300 Bce. So, for the KJV to try and use Hebrew in many cases was ridiculous considering there was many versions of Hebrew and the language of the times was Greek

Here is a good article from UPENN

The Significance of Greek for Jews in the Roman Empire
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak//publics/notrak/Treu.htm

Excerpt...
Whether it is a special case or not, in the 3rd century BCE the Jewish community in Alexandria had not only made the transition to Greek, they had also given up the native Aramaic to such an extent that a translation of the Torah into Greek became necessary. The fact that we hear nothing about the process of this linguistic transformation suggests that it had taken place gradually and without incident. We can also only conjecture why this happened: The Jews had already accomplished one change in language when they adopted Aramaic, the universal business language. The division between Hebrew, the language of cult and sacred scripture, and the practical everyday language was already familiar to them. Now one business language was being replaced by another, just as Greek was later replaced by Latin in Rome.

[GonzoII]

Thanks for adding the link.

[bibletruth]

Praise God Almighty that Godly men who rightly feared the Living God [unlike 19th century translators, some of whom reject Jesus Christ, and who are only qualified for the sandbox]…these KJV Bible believing men were not only outstanding scholars of Greek, Hebrew, Latin: but also the target language, which is why they were eminently more qualified than present “scholars” whom poorly wrestle with the nuances of the target language: choosing only to make it a book of “easy” understanding.

[AnalogReigns]

Any history of the KJV NOT mentioning William Tyndale's translation, the very first printed & widely distributed bible in English, is missing the Keystone in the arch of English translations.

Tyndale's translation of the 1520s was absolutely crucial in the development of the English bible. In fact, although he was executed for his work....his last words, a prayer, were answered. Tyndale said, "Lord, open the King of England's Eyes!" Within a few months, Tyndale's translation was republished as the official royally authorized "Great Bible."

The KJV often has exactly the same wording as Tyndale's version of 80 years before...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

William Tyndale (ca. 1495-1536) was the greatest of all English biblical scholars. His translation of the Bible into English formed the major part of the Authorized Version, or King James Bible.

William Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire and mostly educated at Oxford, where he earned a master of arts degree in 1515. He became a priest and, doubtless influenced among other things by the work of John Colet and Erasmus at Cambridge some years earlier, decided to produce an English translation of the Bible. He found support from a rich London cloth merchant. Within months, however, he became convinced he must leave London if he was to succeed; and, accordingly, with the financial support of the merchant, he left England in 1524, never again to return.

After short sojourns in Hamburg, and, possibly, Wittenberg, Tyndale settled down at Cologne in 1525. He quickly began the printing of his New Testament, but only a few sheets had been finished when the city fathers got wind of it and stopped it. The work was resumed at Worms, and by April 1526 an octavo edition was being sold in London. In November all available copies were burned at St. Paul's Cross. In 1528 Tyndale published the Parable of the Wicked Mammon, dealing with Luther's teaching concerning justification by faith, and the Obedience of a Christian Man, which replaced papal authority by royal authority and was heartily approved by King Henry VIII. However, in the Practice of Prelates in 1530, Tyndale not only attacked Cardinal Wolsey but opposed the annulment of Henry VIII's marriage with Catherine of Aragon. Meanwhile Bishop Tunstall of London had invited Sir Thomas More to reply to Tyndale's books, and a lively controversy took place.

Tyndale's Lutheran-inspired Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount was much admired; and possibly The Supper of the Lord, which appeared in 1533, was also his. Meanwhile throughout these years his work on the Old Testament had been proceeding. In 1530 he published his translation of the Pentateuch. As his New Testament had been pirated for various unsatisfactory editions, he published a revision in 1534, with a third, revised edition in 1535. In 1535, however, he was seized by the local government authorities in Antwerp, where he was living, for being a propagator of heresy. After months of imprisonment and many theological disputations he was condemned in August 1536 for persistence in heresy, and in October he was strangled to death and his body publicly cremated.

During his years at Antwerp, where he was so well maintained by the generosity of the English merchants there, Tyndale acquired a great reputation for austerity of character and frugality of life, combined with a steady attention to the needs of the poor, which offset the impression caused by the violent language found in his polemical works. In the year following his death there appeared in England a new Bible with the king's approval which was said to be the work of one Thomas Matthew. It was, however, a composite work edited by John Rogers and containing translations by him, by Miles Coverdale, and, for the greater part, by Tyndale. This Matthew Bible was reedited by Coverdale and published in 1539. It became known as the Great Bible. In this way Tyndale's translation was the basis of the first Bibles in English to get royal approval. His translation has underlain most subsequent English versions and has profoundly affected the development of the English language.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/william-tyndale#ixzz1LFuqXfYz

[narses]

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