A BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
Paul E. Kretzmann
I
Vernacular Versions of Parts of the Bible in England before Wyclif
Early translations
It is usually stated that there were no vernacular Bible versions in Germany before Luther, and that assertion is, in a manner of speaking, correct. The statement has also been made that there were no Bible versions in the vernacular in England before Wyclif, and that may also be defended. But just as Germany had the Heliand, a translation of Tatian’s Harmony of the Gospels, Otfried’s Evangelienbuch, the Monsee-Vienna Fragments, some interlinear Psalters, and last, but not least, the fourteenth-century version made from the Vulgate, which was published either in 1462 or 1466, and before 1518 had fourteen High German and four Low German editions ■571 , thus England, too, had a great many versions of parts of the Bible in the various dialects, especially the Wessex, the Middlesex, the Kentish, and the Northumbrian, which have well repaid the study that has recently been made of them ■572 .
Poetical transcriptions and paraphrases
Although the ecclesiastical history of England goes back to the third century, very little is known of the period before the Anglo-Saxon invasion. With the conversion of Ethelbert of Kent at the time of Gregory the Great, the real history of the Christian Church in England begins, as depicted so vividly by the Venerable Bede. It is he that gives us the account of the poet Caedmon in the seventh century, of whom he writes, as Alfred has it in his translation: “Song he aerest be middengeardes gesceape, ond bi fruman moncynnes, ond eal thaet staer Genesis, thaet is seo aereste Moyses booc; one eft bi utgonge Israhela folces of Aegypta londe, ond bi ingonge thaes gehatlandes; ond bi odrum monegum spellum thaes halgan gewrites canones boca; ond bi Cristes mennicnesse, ond bi his throwunge, ond bi his upastignisse in heofonas; ond bi thaes Halgan Gastes cyme, ond thara apostola lara.” ■573 ■574 . In the next century, Cynewulf made similar poetical transcriptions of Bible stories: Crist, Doomsday, the Harrowing of Hell, and others. To the same school, although of a later date, belong the paraphrases which are most widely known: Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, Temptation of Christ, and others ■575 .
Bede’s translation
The first prose version of any part of the Bible originated in all probability in the eighth century, when the Venerable Bede, the eminent scholar, historian, and churchman, translated the Gospel according to St. John into the vernacular. It represented the culmination of his life work, but no part of his rendering is extant. We have parts of an Anglo-Saxon version of this Gospel, however, which may go back to the end of this century. The rendering is remarkably exact and clear, as the following verses show: “On fruman waes Word, and thaet Word waes mid Gode, and God waes thaet Word. Thaet waes on fruman mid Gode. And thaet Word waes flaesc geworden, and eardode on us, and we gesawon hys wuldor, swylce ancennedes wuldor of Faeder, thaet waes ful mid gyfe and sodfaestnysse,” John 1:1-2,14 ■576 .
Psalters
In the ninth century, the interlinear Psalters appear, that is, interlinear glosses of the Book of Psalms. Of these renderings eleven manuscripts are known to exist, and they appear under various names: Aldhelm’s Paris Psalter, Altmerc’s Psalter, the Mercian Psalter, and others. “Not less than three Latin versions of the Psalter were current in the Middle Ages, viz., Psalterium Romanum, Psalterium Gallicanum, and Psalterium juxta Hebraeos. They were all due to the efforts of Jerome. In 383 he made a cursory revision of the Old Latin Psalter from the Septuagint. Pope Damasus at once ordered this revision to be introduced into the Roman Liturgy; it was henceforth known as the Roman Psalter, and is still in use at St. Peter’s in Rome. Soon after retiring to Palestine in 387, Jerome found at Caesarea a copy of the Hexapla of Origen, which had belonged to the learned bishop Pamphilus, and from which he made a careful revision of the Psalter. This new text soon found its way into the churches of Gaul, whence it derived its name ‘Gallican’; it is still retained in the Roman Breviary and in the Vulgate, and forms the basis of the English Prayer-Book version of the Psalms. At the age of forty-five Jerome began to learn Hebrew, and before 393 he had translated the Psalter from the original. This excellent version did not lend itself to the already established traditions of the liturgy. We find it only in the most ancient manuscripts of the Vulgate and in the triple Psalters.” ■577 . In Altmerc’s Psalter, which is conceded to be one of the earliest versions, Psalm 7:1 begins thus: “Dryhten God min, in the ic gehyhte, gefrea me from allum oehtendum me ond genere mec.” ■578 . In the Cambridge Psalter ■579 , the language is much more difficult, as Psalm 23:1-3 show: “Drihtyn recyd me ond nowiht me bid wona, on stowe laeswe thaer he me yestodulode, ofyr waetyr yereordnisse yelaedde me.”
Old dialects
A Kentish Gloss on the Book of Proverbs is very laborious reading. The glosses do not represent a connected translation and are of fragmentary character ■580 . A much more satisfactory version is the Northumbrian Gloss on the Gospels, of the tenth century, known also as a fine example of an illuminated manuscript. It is variously known as the Durham Book, the Lindisfarne Gospels, or the Book of St. Cuthbert. The Latin manuscript from which this rendering was made dates from before 700, having been made by Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne. The glosses were written by Aldred, whom scholars have suggested to have been the bishop of Durham of that name (957–968). Another celebrated manuscript is the Rushworth Version of the Gospels, from the latter half of the tenth century. It contains an independent translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew, and glosses of those of St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, founded upon the Lindisfarne Gospels. The translation was prepared by Farman, a priest of Harewood, and Qwun, the latter, however, supplying only a few transcriptions. The dialect of the Matthew Gospel is the Mercian: “Middy escod gecenned were haelend in thaer byrig in dagum herodes cyniges heonu tha tungulcraeftga of eastdael cwomun to hierusalem,” Matthew 2:1. The Lord’s Prayer is rendered as follows: “Faeder ure, ther the in heofunum eard. Beo gehalgad thin noma. Cume tho thin rice. Werthe thin willa, swa-swa on heofune, swilce on eorthe. Hlaf userne daeghwaemlicu sel us to-daege. And forlet us ure scylde, swa-swa we ec forleten thaem the syldigath wid us. And ne gelaet us in costungae, ah gelese us of yfle.” ■581 .
The Canterbury Psalter
One of the most pretentious efforts in the translation of Psalms is Eadwine’s Psalterium Tripartitum of the eleventh century, also known as the Canterbury Psalter. As the name indicates, it contains Jerome’s three versions of the Psalter. The version “Juxta Hebraeos” is provided with a Norman-French, and the “Romanum” with an Old English interlinear gloss. Psalm 23:1-3 is rendered as follows: “Drihten me gerecht and namuht me wane bid, on thaere stowe fosternodes ther he me gestaethelede, Ofer weteraes gereordnunge he gefedde me,” and the beginning of the Te Deum Laudamus: “The God we heriad, the drihten we andetted. The ecne faedcr eal eorthe wurthad.” ■582 ■583 .
Turn of the millennium
About the year 1000 a version of the gospels was made of which transcripts with a Kentish tinge appeared in the late twelfth century. From their original dialects they are known as the West Saxon Gospels. Matthew 2:1 is rendered as follows: “Eornunstlice tha se haelend acenned waes on ludeiscre Bethleem on thaes cyninges dagum Herodes, tha comon tha tungolwitegan fram east daele to Hierusalem.” ■584 . To the same age belongs the Regius Psalter ■585 , one of eleven manuscripts investigated by Lindeloef ■586 . It is more of a glossary than an interlinear translation, many of the Latin words not being rendered at all. Mention should also be made of the Ormulum, a paraphrase of the Gospel-stories in rhymed lines. A part of Matthew 4 is produced thus: “Forrthrihht se Jesuss fullhtnedd wass, He wennde himm intill wesste, The Goddspell seggth thatt he was ledd Thurrh Gast intill the wesste.” ■587 ■588 .
Aelfric’s translation
One name stands out above all others in the eleventh century as the most striking representative of learning of his age, namely, Bishop Aelfric of Winchester, later Abbot of Cerne in Dorsetshire. According to his own statement in his De Vetere Testamento, he had translated the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Kings, Job, Esther, Judith, and the Maccabees ■589 . “His rendering is clear and idiomatic, and though he frequently abridges, the omissions never obscure the meaning or hinder the easy flow of the narrative.” ■590 . Genesis 1-3 read, in his translation: “On anginne gesceop god heofenan and eordan. … God cvad tha: Geveorde leoht! and leoht veard gevorht.” ■591 .
The Lord’s Prayer
In the mean time, many renderings of the Lord’s Prayer appeared, both in prose translations and in poetical transcriptions, of which some appear in various Anglo-Saxon collections. A thirteenth century version reads as follows: “Hure fader, that art in hevene, blessed be thi name. Thin holi heveriche mote us cumen to frame, Thi will be done in hevene and in erthe ii same, To-day us yif ure lifli bred that ilke dai we craven. And foryif us oure dettes, so strong as we hes haven, Also we don alle men that in oure dettes aren, And lede us noht in fonding, bot silde is fro harm and fro schame, And for alle kennes iveles, thuruh thin holi name”; and a Kentish Paternoster of 1340: “Vader oure thet art ine hevenes, y-halged by thi name, cominde thi riche, Y-worthe thi wil ase ine hevene and ine erthe, bread oure eche dayes yef ous to-day, and vorlet ous oure yeldinges, ase and we vorleteth oure yelderes, and ne ous let nagt in to vondinge, ac vri ous uram queade. Zuo by hit.” ■592 .
Rolle’s translation and later development
In the fourteenth century Richard Rolle, the hermit of Hampole, the English Bonaventura, made a translation with a commentary on “The Psalms and Certain Canticles.” ■593 . His rendering is preceded by a prolog. In his translation of the Psalms he took a verse or short section, the Latin being given first, followed by a more or less extensive commentary in English. The text of Rolle was later used by some Lollard scribe to attach to his own commentary, and therefore the two versions are kept apart with great care. The form of Rolle’s rendering may be seen from the text of Psalm 8:1-2: “Lord our Lord, qwat thi name es wonderfull in al the erde. For lyfted es thi worchyp aboven hevens. Of the mouth of nought spekand and sowkand thou has made louying, for thin enmys, that thou destroye the enmy and the venger.” The same man also made a translation of the Canticles as they were appointed for the service of the canonical hours: The Thanksgiving of Israel, Precatio Ezechiae, The Song of Hannah, The Song of Moses and the Children of Israel, The Prayer of Habakkuk, The Song of Moses, Magnificat, Te Deum Laudamus, Benedictus, Nunc Dimittis, The Song of the Three Children, The Athanasian Creed. At the same time, a translation of the Psalter was made in the West Midland dialect. It is easier and more idiomatic than Hampole’s work, who exhibits too much slavishness in his adherence to the Latin original, making his rendering more of a gloss than a translation. There was finally a translation into English of Jerome’s Psalterium Abbreviatum, the earlier manuscript of which belongs to the middle of the fourteenth century. The form of rendering is shown by the following specimen: “Lord parceyue my wordis with eres; undurstonde my cry. Take hede to the voys of my preir, my king & my God.” ■594 ■595 .
The Gospel-story of the Life of Jesus
There are two more versions which deserve a place among the translations before Wyclif. The first is known as the Gospel-story of the Life of Jesus, and contains an account of the principal events in the life of the Savior in 112 sections, corresponding to the lessons to be read in churches at the celebration of the Holy Communion. The author, whose language seems to belong to the fourteenth century, evidently took the Comes of the Lectionarium or the Evangelistarium used in his territory, and arranged the accounts in chronological order, so as to form a continuous narrative of the life of Jesus. “The style is homely and vigorous; the Biblical phraseology is mostly retained, but the writer generally paraphrases the text, sometimes adding short explanations of his own. But little apocryphal matter is introduced.” ■596 . A poetical version, similar to this account, is found in a manuscript based upon the Temporale, containing: 1) The Old Testament Story (the Creation and Fall, Cain, Seth, the Death of Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc.); 2) The Life of the Savior (Birth, Ministry, Passion, Resurrection, Ascension, Descent into Hell after the Gospel of Nicodemus, and an account of the Destruction of Jerusalem). It does not seem to have been very widely known ■597 .
Acts and epistles
The other version referred to above is a translation of the Acts, the greater part of the epistles, and a portion of the Gospel of St. Matthew, also from the latter part of the fourteenth century. Two of the extant manuscripts are preceded by a prolog with an introduction to the Gospel-account from the Old Testament story and an indirect appeal that the people be taught all that is needful for the welfare of their souls: “God made mankynde aftur his owne ymage & lyknesse & put hym in paradys that was a lond of blysse.” The following extract from the Epistle to the Ephesians, Ephesians 5:1-2, will show the nature of the rendering: “And therefore be ye foloweres of God, as his dereste children; & walke ye in lofe, as Crist hath y-lofed ous, & yef hym-selfen for ous, an offerynge & a sacryfyce to God in a swet smellynge of softnesse.” ■598 .
The Gospel of Christ proclaimed
Thus these early translators, with a manifest love for the sacred Word, did their share toward making the Gospel of Christ known to their fellow countrymen. Theirs were but feeble cries in the night, but they heralded the new and better day, when the flowers appeared on the earth; the time of the singing of birds was come, and the voice of the turtle was heard in the land, Song of Solomon 2:12.
II
The Principal Bible Translations Since Wyclif
A century of labor
Just as the Bible translation furnished by Luther is interesting not only from a theological, but also from a literary standpoint, so the English Bible also bears the distinction of being a national book and of having been instrumental in creating the modern English language. And this is true in spite of the fact that the English Bible is not the product of a single person, but that of a whole century of labor.
A time of great distress
The fourteenth century was a time of great distress and grievous visitations for England, just as it was for the entire civilized world. The country had been devastated by wars and internal dissension, the common people, especially in the country, were virtually held in peonage, the “Black Death,” that had been introduced from the Continent, decimated the population, and poor crops and other strokes of misfortune followed in rapid succession. And in spiritual matters things looked still worse. While Pope and antipope were calling down maledictions upon each other, the hierarchy, the higher and lower clergy, lived from the fat of the land and let the people starve. All these conditions moved John Wyclif, a man that was acquainted with the life of the English people, very deeply. In spoken and written message he uncovered the abuses under which the country was groaning, and proposed remedial measures. But his greatest and most meritorious work was this, that he gave to the people of England the first complete translation of the Bible in their own vernacular.
Wyclif’s translation
Wyclif could not make his translation from the original languages, it being very doubtful whether Greek and Hebrew were at all known in England at that time. But he took the best edition of the Vulgate of Jerome and endeavored to render this into the speech of the English people. A large part of the work he did himself, the gospels and probably the entire New Testament. In 1382 the first draught of the translation was ready, and the “poor, wandering preachers” could now make their copies and journey forth to give to the eager people the Word of God in their own tongue. Wyclif immediately began the revision of his translation, removing unidiomatic expressions and other difficulties, and his friend Hereford assisted him with all faithfulness. When the latter was called to London and excommunicated, Wyclif and others continued without abatement. And when the faithful preacher died, at the end of the year 1384, another friend, by the name of Purvey, finished the work, which could then appear in the year 1388. All efforts on the part of the opponents to disprove the fact of Wyclif’s translation have come to naught, especially through the untiring research work of Forshall and Madden. The translations which were in circulation under the name of Wyclif were prohibited in 1408, but thousands of individual copies had meanwhile been made, not to speak of the many cases in which very poor people had memorized large sections of the Scriptures as the greatest treasure of their lives. Many a soul in those days learned to know the way of life by means of the Wyclifite translations.
Tyndale
But the father of the present English Bible is William Tyndale. He was born in 1485, attended the primary schools and the preparatory schools of his day, and received his Bachelor’s degree and later his Master’s at Oxford. About this time the writings of Luther were spread in England with great zeal, and Tyndale was one of the first men to be persuaded of the truth of the great Reformer’s position. Since the number of adherents of Luther at the university at Cambridge was considerably larger than at Oxford, he was matriculated there. Before long he conceived the idea of translating the Bible from the original tongues. But when he went to London to lay his project before the Bishop of London and give proof of his ability to translate from the Greek, his reception was decidedly chilly. In the year 1524, therefore, he went to Hamburg, a merchant of London defraying the expenses, and from there to Wittenberg, where he became acquainted with Luther personally.
Efforts from continental Europe
During all these months, Tyndale was busily engaged with his translation of the New Testament, the first draught of which shows the influence of Luther throughout. When he had finished the manuscript, he went to Hamburg to receive some money from his patron, and then to Cologne to have the printing of the English Testament done. All this had to be done with the greatest secrecy, since the enemies of the Reformation were exceedingly active. Through the machinations of Cochlaeus, a bitter enemy of Luther and the truth, the matter was betrayed to the authorities. Tyndale quickly packed up plates and as much printed stock as he could find in a hurry and fled to Worms, where he had two editions of the New Testament printed by Peter Schoeffer. The precious books were then smuggled into England in every possible way, and new editions were prepared as fast as Tyndale could get the money. Meanwhile he also went to Wittenberg once more and devoted as much time as possible to the study of Hebrew. In the year 1530 he finished his translation of Genesis, in the next year the Prophet Jonah, in the year 1534 the entire Pentateuch. And still his busy hand did not rest. He was now living at Antwerp, since it was more convenient for his connections with England. But his enemies did not rest until they had managed to have him arrested and imprisoned. He found time to revise his translation of the New Testament once more and to continue his work on the Old Testament. He was executed on October 6, 1536.
Influence by Luther
Tyndale’s translation, especially that of the New Testament, was made under the influence of Luther. This is shown not only in the language itself, but also in the glosses and side-heads. Of the glosses in Tyndale’s first edition every single one agrees with those of Luther in his third edition of the German New Testament. The special factors which commend Tyndale’s Testament are his clear, forceful language and the simplicity of the grammatical construction. In this respect his work was basic for the English Bible to this day, although after his death a period of persecution came upon his work and his friends.
Matthew’s Bible and Coverdale’s translation
Tyndale was dead, but his notes were not lost, and so his friend Rogers took up the work, revised the translation by a comparison with others, and then published the complete Bible, in 1537 or 1538, under the name Matthew’s Bible. It was hailed with joy by Cranmer and other friends of the Reformation, and rapidly attained to a large circulation. But the glosses and notes did not find the approval of the hierarchy, and the fact that the work was based upon the labors of a heretic created much opposition. Upon the advice of Bishop Cromwell, therefore, an English preacher by the name of Coverdale, who was in full accord with the Lutheran doctrine, was commissioned to edit a translation which would meet with general approval. Coverdale used the following translations in preparing his own: the Swiss-German of Leo Judae of 1528–29, Luther’s translation of 1522–34, a Latin translation by an Italian Catholic named Sanctes Pagninus, the Vulgate, and the English translation of Tyndale. Coverdale did not possess the powerful, forceful spirit of his predecessor, but he had a pensive nature and the gift of expressing the great truths of God’s Word in simple and pleasant language. The expressions “loving-kindness” and “tender mercies” were coined by him. In the year 1537 this translation was ready for the printer, and it appeared on the market the next spring.
Cheke and Taverner
In the mean time, other scholars had taken up the fascinating work of Bible translation. Thus a nobleman by the name of John Cheke translated Matthew and a part of Mark, but his rendering is interesting only because he attempted to find an idiomatic English expression for every one in the Greek, and thus coined words which were altogether foreign to the English language. Of greater value was the translation by Taverner, which was published in 1539 and lived for two editions. His success in finding proper idiomatic expressions was greater than that of Cheke.
The Great Bible
Coverdale had attempted to remove all objectionable features in the translation prepared by him. And yet the hierarchy was not satisfied. He therefore, together with Grafton, went to Paris in order to produce another translation. All the existing Bibles were revised very carefully by a comparison with the original languages and with the Latin Bible of Muenster. Incidentally, the attempt was made to bring out the English idiom and to remove all hardness of construction and language. But when they were in the midst of printing, the Catholic Inquisitor of France ordered the forms confiscated. Coverdale and his associates, with the aid of Archbishop Bonner, saved as much as they could, purchased both the presses and the plates, sent them to England, and completed the work there. This Bible, known as the Great Bible, appeared in 1537 and immediately found recognition, all the more so since Cranmer wrote the introduction to the second edition, and Tunstall and Heath in later editions had their names printed on the title page. From April, 1539, till December, 1541, there appeared seven editions of this Bible, which was generally used in the churches.
The Geneva Bible
During the last years of Henry VIII and during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary little or nothing was done in the matter of translating the English Bible. But some of the Protestant refugees to the Continent, who met principally in Frankfort-on-the-Main and in Geneva and were strongly Calvinistic in sentiment, undertook to issue a new edition of the English Bible. In the year 1557 the New Testament of Whittingham was published, substantially a revision of Tyndale’s translation. And in 1560 there appeared the so-called Geneva Bible, in the main the work of Whittingham, Gilby, and Sampson. In producing this translation, the plan had been to revise the text of the Great Bible by a comparison with the Latin Old Testament of Leo Judae, the Latin New Testament of Erasmus, and the French edition of Olivetan. The marginal notes were Calvinistic. This Bible soon attained to great popularity in England, especially on account of its handy size. Until the year 1611 there were one hundred and twenty editions.
The Bishops’ Bible
But the State Church of England was the Anglican or Episcopal, as established by Henry VIII, and the marginal notes and glosses of the Geneva Bible did not find favor in the eyes of its dignitaries. Under the leadership, therefore, of Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, a new translation of the Bible was undertaken. The work was divided so that the bishops of England did most of the translating. The purpose was not so much to consult the original tongues as to make smooth and easy reading, except in the edition of 1572, which was prepared by Lawrence. The first edition of the Bishops’ Bible came out in 1568, and was immediately introduced as the Bible for use in the churches, retaining its influence for many years, nineteen editions being published till 1616. It was printed for the last time in 1619.
Rheims and Douay Version
The ceaseless activity of the Protestants in the field of Bible translation was felt even by the Roman Catholic clerics of England, who had established a Collegium in Flanders, under the leadership of Allen. This association now determined to make a translation of the best edition of the Vulgate for the English people. Under the direction of a former Oxford scholar, Gregory Martin, the work was rapidly carried forward in the first years, more slowly afterwards. The New Testament appeared in 1582, the Old Testament not till 1609. The translation has a certain value, since it adheres slavishly to the Latin text. But for the same reason it is a failure from the literary standpoint, since in many passages it is impossible to follow without the original. It is known as the Rheims and Douay version, since the New Testament was issued at the former, the Old Testament at the latter city.
Authorized Version
In England, meanwhile, the tension between the Episcopal and the Puritan parties continually became greater. Soon after the death of Elizabeth, therefore, King James I called a conference at Hampton Court to discuss the situation. One of the results of this meeting was that all agreed upon the necessity of a new Bible translation. The king had selected fifty-four scholars to do the work, but in reality only forty-seven were engaged. The translators met in three groups, at Oxford, at Cambridge, and at Westminster. Of former translations the following were chiefly consulted: Tyndale’s, Matthew’s, Coverdale’s, Great Bible, Geneva. But other editions were compared as well, as the Antwerp Polyglot, French, Italian, and Spanish translations, and the renderings of individual men. All readings were graded and appraised according to their worth, clearness, harmony, euphony, and the work of any one group was always revised by the other groups. The result was, as one writer has it, that the Bible of 1611, the so-called Authorized Version, has become the generally accepted Bible of all English-speaking nations, exercising its influence not only in the religious field, but also in that of literature, and surpassing in this respect every other agency.
Further revision and the Standard American Version
Since, however, many an old manuscript was discovered in the course of the next centuries, and also because philology had made great strides forward since the days of James I, many religious leaders of the last century thought it best to undertake a revision of the Authorized Bible. In Germany the work was done in connection with the celebration of the Quadricentenary of Luther’s birth. In England a large committee was organized, which was to work in conjunction with a similar committee in America. For more than ten years the translators labored. The revised New Testament was published in England on May 17, 1881, the Old Testament on May 19, 1885. The American committee retained its organization and in 1901 issued its Standard American Version. Unfortunately, in these and other versions of recent years, the spirit of liberalism has exerted its influence, not only in the prophetical sections of the Old Testament, but also in important texts of the New Testament. ■599