English Versions of the Bible

Hope is the destination that we seek.
Love is the road that leads to hope.
Courage is the motor that drives us.
We travel out of darkness into faith.
~The Book of Counted Sorrows

For the word of God is quick, and mighty in operation, and sharper then any two edged sword: and entereth through, even unto the dividing a sunder of the soul and the spirit and of the joints, and the marrow: and judgeth the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
~Hebrews 4:12

Why Translations Matter so much? Confusion! And also sabotage and censorship of our hidden history.

Also important:

“It shall greatly help ye to understand the Scriptures if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeth after.” ~ Myles Coverdale

Strong’s Concordance (Word Research)

A Dictionary of Proper Bible Names

Early Church Fathers – Additional Works

The Etymology of Words – Decoding The Secrets of The Ancients

Study Software – A few free choices here & https://bibleengagementproject.com/Pricing Logos cheap software?

Apocrypha (Books Censored From the Bibles):

The Lost Books

Early Christian Writings (Including Gnostics & Apocrypha)

SOME ENGLISH VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE

Context: ThePreservationoftheBiblefromtheTargumstoWilliamTyndale

Related: The Uncensored Bible Project

Early Anglo-Saxon Versions.

Caedmon, by 680, had rendered Bible stories in common speech in poetic paraphrase, according to Bede. Bede (died 735) is credited with a translation of John’s Gospel. King Alfred (848-901) had portions of the Bible translated into the vernacular. But until the time of Wycliffe (14th cen.) and Tyndale (16th cen.), the Bible was translated Into English only sporadically and piecemeal.

Wycliffe’s Version (1382). This was the first complete translation into English, revised c. 1400, condemned and burned in 1415. At least 170 MS. copies have survived. Its weakness was that it was based on the Latin Vulgate instead of the original Greek.

Tyndale’s Translation (1525-35). Translated from the original Hebrew and Greek, the significance of Tyndale’s version lies in its being first in a line of translations, so creative and impressive in its style that it formed the backbone of the Authorized King James Version of 1611. (Martyed: Murdered by the Catholic Church for translating)

The Coverdale Version (1535). Miles Coverdals leaned on Tyndale’s scholarly work. He supplemented it, where it had not been finished, by his own translation from German’ and Latin. He presented the first completed English Bible in print.

The Cepher Bible – The את Cepher is a comprehensive restoration of sacred scripture that …

Sets forth a transliteration, rather than a substitution, of the names of the Father (Yahuah), Son (Yahusha) and Holy Spirit (Ruach Ha’Qodesh);
Transliterates over 3,100 other Hebrew names and places;
Restores the stand alone Aleph Tav את throughout the text; previously omitted in other English translations;
Includes all of the 81 books previously canonized as the Bible (see scripture comparison chart), plus another 6 books considered to be inspired and/or historically significant: Chanoch (Enoch) & Yovheliym (Jubilees) from the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as Yashar (Jasher), 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, and Hadaccah (Additions to Esther) – for a total of 87 books under one cover;
Restores an accurate order to the books as they were originally written;
Corrects many notorious errors found in virtually all previous English translations, such as Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 14, Zakaryahu (Zechariah) 5, and Mattithyahu (Matthew) 23;
Restores Chapters 151-155 of Tehilliym (Psalms); and the Acrostic Psalms 35 and 145, together with the Acrostic format of Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) are marked with Ivriyt (Hebrew) indicators;
Restores the Missing Fragment of 70 verses in 4 Ezra Chapter 7;
Restores the 29th chapter of Ma’asiym (The Acts of the Apostles) chronicling Pa’al’s (Paul’s) journey to Spain and Britain;
Includes an improved Paleo Ivriyt index of the modern and paleo Hebrew alphabet that provides a comparison between Paleo letters and modern Hebrew letters, the inclusion of the sofit letters (finals), an intrinsic meaning guide, and an all new pronunciation guide;
Includes an expanded chart of all the sacred names of Elohiym with the Ivriyt (Hebrew) spelling for easy comparison, as well as the common usage, and the Cepher transliteration;
Includes improved one-of-a-kind ancient Maps, such as the four journeys of Pa’al, the migrations of certain houses of Yashar’el into Africa, the migration of the house of Zerach, the migration of the other tribes, the recent discoveries of the Gulf of Aqaba (Red Sea) crossing, and the true placement of Mount Cynai (Sinai) and Mount Chorev (Horeb);
Provides an comprehensive Family History section for personalization.
Includes extensive footnotes.

The Thomas Matthew Bible (1537). Largely a revision of Tyndale by Tyndale’s friend John Rogers, it was nevertheless published under the name of Thomas Matthew. This one is particularly trustworthy in my opinion. The Matthew Bible, also known as Matthew’s Version, was first published in 1537 by John Rogers, under the pseudonym “Thomas Matthew”. It combined the New Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as he had been able to translate before being captured and put to death, with the translations of Myles Coverdale as to the balance of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, except the Apocryphal Prayer of Manasses. It is thus a vital link in the main sequence of English Bible translations.

The Great Bible (1539) was the first authorized Bible, called “great” from its size. It was also styled the”Cranmer Bible” because of Archbishop Cranmer’s preface to the second edition (1540).The Taverner’s Bible (1539), a revision by Richard Taverner of the Matthew Bible minus most of the notes and polemic data.

Learn more Here

The September Testament

This is William Tyndale’s final New Testament translation of 1535, completed just before he was captured, imprisoned, and executed in 1536. Tyndale’s friend John Rogers published his New Testament in a very important Reformation Bible called the Matthew Bible in 1537. Rogers also added commentaries called “The Notes.” Rogers was martyred in 1555, burned at the stake in Smithfield, England.

The October Testament contains the full New Testament of William Tyndale, some of his prologues to the gospels and epistles, and John Rogers’ notes, all gently updated by Ruth Magnusson Davis.

In 2009, Davis founded the New Matthew Bible project, dedicated to gently updating the Matthew Bible for today. In early 2016 the New Testament was published as ‘The October Testament.’ This pdf edition contains amendments through to June 2021. Ruth’s gentle editorial hand in the work is almost unnoticeable; Tyndale continues to shine through and Rogers’ style in the notes is distinctly his.

Readers often comment on the flow and the clarity of the New Matthew Bible scriptures, and on the beauty of the original style. Because the Matthew Bible was the primary source of the King James Version, people will find much that is familiar here, but will find it much easier to understand than the KJV. (Computer studies have shown that the New Testament of the King James Bible is 83% taken from Tyndale’s New Testament in the Matthew Bible.)

The name ‘October Testament’ recalls Martin Luther’s ‘September Testament.’ More significantly, however, just as the advent of October signals the approach of the end of a calendar year, so it also reminds us that the year of the Lord is drawing on to its close.

The Geneva Bible (1560) was a revision of the Great Bible.

The Bishops Bible (1568) was the second authorized English Bible and was intended to supersede the Geneva Bible, the Bible of the people, and the Great Bible, the pulpit Bible of the churches. The translation work was done mainly by scholarly bishops.

The Douay Version (1609-10) was the first Roman Catholic Bible in English.

The King James Version (1611) (Includes many Apocrypha) was the culmination of these preceding early translations and revisions, and became the third “authorized” English Bible, sponsored by James I of England. It employed the chapter divisions of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury in the 13th cen., and the verse divisions of Robert Estienne (1551). This version reigned supreme from 1611 to 1881.

The Revised Version (1881-85). A revision of the King James Version based on a literal translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts by sixty-five English scholars.

Note: Why The King James “Authorized” Bible (And other Modern Bibles) Are Less Accurate Than Ancient Bibles

The Septuaguint – Greek Old Testament – Also called The Alexandrian Bible (Written perfectly synced by 70 Hebrew Scholars separately for Alexander the Great’s history collection) this is the Greek old testament – much closer to the “source” of doctrine than standard modern bibles. A worthy addition to any collection.

Septuagint_(lxx)_brenton

The American Standard Version (1901). An American edition of the Revised Version of 1885, including preferred readings and format changes, by a group of American scholars under the direction of William H. Green of Princeton Seminary.

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible (1952); New Testament (1946). Authorized by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., widely used by denominations in that group and many not in its membership. Although this version has many exceliencies, it is weak and obscure in its translation of certain key O.T. messianic passages.

The New English Bible: New Testament (1961). A new translation by English scholars under the direction of 0. H. Dodd of Cambridge. It is aimed at the original Greek into idiomatic English, from archaisms and from transient modernisms. It has enjoyed an enthusiastic reception in the U.S., but not without question by many evangelicals.

MODERN SPEECH TRANSLATIONS

The Twentieth Century New Testament (1898-1901, .1904), by an anonymous group of scholars.

The New Testament in Modern Speech (1903), by .F. Weymouth, which has been revised twice by others.

The New Testament: A New Translation (1913), by Moffatt. His Old Testament appeared in 1924 and a final revision in 1935.

The New Testament: An American Translation by Edgar J. Goodspeed, in American colloquial language

The Riverside New Testament (1923, revised 1934), William G. Ballantine.

The New Testament: A Translation in the Language of the People (1937), by Charles B. Williams.

The New Testament: The Berkeley Version in English (1945), by’ Gerrit Verkuyl. The Old Testament was completed in 1959 by a group of conservative scholars.

The New Testament in Plain English (1952), by Charles Kingsley Williams. An Expanded Translation of the New Testament (1956-59) by Kenneth S. Wuest.

The New Testament in Modern English (1958), by J. B. Phillips. Four previously published translations, begining with Letters to Young Churches (1957), were published as a single volume New Testament in 1958.

The Amplified Bible: New Testament (1958). Old Testament (1962-64). The complete Bible was published in one volume in 1965. An attempt to add clarifying shades of meaning to the single-word English equivalents of key Hebrew and Greek words.

The New American Standard Bible: New Testament (1960-63). A revision of the American Standard Version (1901) by a group of conservative scholars.

Living Letters: The Paraphrased Epistles (1962),
Living Prophecies: The Minor Prophets
Paraphrased with Daniel and Revelation (1965), by Kenneth N. Taylor.

The New Testament in the Language of Today (1963), by William F. Beek.

NIV is Deception – Be Careful Who You Trust.

A Testament to Tyndale:

A Tribute to Tyndale 0 — A Tribute to Tyndale – Click to Enlarge

A Tribute to Tyndale 1 – Click to Enlarge

A Tribute to Tyndale 2 – Click to Enlarge

A Tribute to Tyndale 3 – Click to Enlarge

Source: Rob Skiba’s Books

A word on Canon:

Canon comes from man, not God – which is why there are so many that disagree with one another.

The Apostate Church of Romanism (Catholicism) holds some Apocrypha as canon, yet the various Christian orthodoxies also have various canons of what books should be “official” scripture – considered to be divinely inspired.

Examples: