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The Bible in TRANSLATION

The Bible in TRANSLATION.

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The Bible in TRANSLATION

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  1. The Bible in TRANSLATION

  2. “By the seventh month the people of Israel were all settled in their towns. On the first day of that month they all assembled in Jerusalem, in the square just inside the Water Gate. They asked Ezra, the priest and scholar of the Law which the LORD had given Israel through Moses, to get the book of the Law. So Ezra brought it to the place where the people had gathered---men, women, and the children who were old enough to understand. There in the square by the gate he read the Law to them from dawn until noon, and they all listened attentively.” (Nehemiah 8:1-3)

  3. “They gave an oral translation of God’s Law and explained it so that the people could understand it. When the people heard what the Law required (when they understood the meaning), they were so moved that they began to cry. So Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra, the priest and scholar of the Law, and the Levites who were explaining the Law told all the people, ‘This day is holy to the LORD your God, so you are not to mourn or cry.’” (Nehemiah 8:8-9)

  4. What is “the Bible”? • 66 Books: • 39 Old Testament books – Hebrew, some Aramaic • 27 New Testament books – Greek

  5. “The Bible” in Jesus’ day • The Greek translation of the Hebrew OT - the Septuagint, LXX (285 – 246 B.C.) • The first translation of the Hebrew • “All Scripture is inspired by God…” (1 Timothy 3:16) • All OT quotes in the NT are from the LXX • To this day it is the authoritative biblical text of the OT for the Greek Orthodox church • Christian Bible accepted the LXX sequencing, not the Hebrew

  6. “The Bible” in Jesus’ day • Samaritans • Lived in the former northern kingdom • Only considered the 5 books of Moses (the Pentateuch) to be “the Bible” • “…he will send you a prophet like me from among your own people, and you are to obey him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15)

  7. “The Bible” in Jesus’ day • Sadducees • Only considered the 5 books of Moses (the Pentateuch) to be “the Bible” • Did not believe in the resurrection or angels, etc.

  8. “The Bible” in Jesus’ day • Essenes • A collection of the books of Moses, the prophets, Psalms, and apocryphal works • Dead Sea scrolls

  9. “The Bible” in Jesus’ day • Pharisees • Essentially held to the same 39 books of the OT as modern Christianity

  10. The Catholic Bible • Includes the apocrypha • Considered “2nd class” books (“deuterocanonical”) but yet…. • What happens to “the soul” at the resurrection? (“The Book of Wisdom”)

  11. Muratorian fragment (canon) • Discovered in Milan (1730’s) • Dated late 2nd century (170 A.D.) • A list of all the works that were accepted as canonical. • Added the 4 gospels, and the rest of the NT (except Hebrews, James, Peter) • Rejected the gnostic writings • Accepted certain apocryphal writings (Book of Wisdom, etc.)

  12. Eusebius canon (bishop of Caesarea) • 4th century (325 A.D.) • 27 books of the NT • Greek Septuagint (OT) • Apophryphal OT writings

  13. Athanasius of Alexandria • Eliminated apocryphal books (367 A.D.) • Specified the 27 books of the NT • Council of Carthage (397 A.D.)

  14. Manuscripts • We have no original composition of any part of the Bible! • Copies of copies of copies of copies • Masoretes added vowels between 500-700 A.D. • Chapters added 1240 A.D. • Verses added 1551 A.D.

  15. Ancient versions • A tribute to the success and spread of Christianity! • Aramaic Targums • Arabic (10th century) • Syriac (Syria, Iraq, southeast Turkey) – a branch of Aramaic • Coptic (Egypt) • Latin (Western church) • Gothic (Eastern Germanic people) - extinct • Slavonic • Anglosaxon (7th, 8th century) • Frankish • Greek (Eastern church) • Armenian (Black sea, turkey, Syria) • Georgian (North of Armenia – Black/Caspian sea) • Ethiopian • Persian • Chinese

  16. The Latin Vulgate (405 AD) • Multiple very poor quality Latin translations pre-Jerome • Jerome (340-422 AD)

  17. Jerome • A scholar of Greek, Latin, and some training in Hebrew • Translated in Latin from the Greek and Hebrew • Did not want to include the apocryphal works • For that time, a great translation

  18. For almost 1,000 years (6th-16th century) the Vulgate was the recognized text of Scripture • Justification • Sanctification • Expiation • Propitiation • Salvation • Reconciliation

  19. Jerome to his detractors • “two-legged asses” • “yelping dogs” • People who “think that ignorance is identical with holiness”

  20. Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) • “For it is clear to those who reflect upon it that not without reason has is pleased Almighty God that holy scripture should be a secret in certain places lest, if it were plainly apparent to all men, perchance it would be little esteemed and be subject to disrespect; or it might be falsely understood by those of mediocre learning, and lead to error.”

  21. English Bible pre-KJV • John Wycliffe (1330-1384) • Anticipated the reformation • The Bible is the sole criterion of doctrine, not the church or the pope • The authority of the pope is not found in scripture • Handwritten translation from the Latin • 1382 – literal and “wooden” • 1388 – more readable • The only English Bible until 1526

  22. Wycliffe Bible: • Jesus spoke Aramiac  Greek  Latin  English

  23. About 180 copies survive

  24. The Reformation • Constantinople fell (1453 A.D.), Greek scholars came west • Plato

  25. The Reformation • Printing press, Guttenberg (1398-1468) • First printed Hebrew OT – 1488 • First published Greek NT – 1516

  26. The Bible translated from the original languages – “the peoples book” • French Bible (1530) • Spanish Bible (1569) • Dutch Bible (1637) • Swedish (~1600) • Czech (1579) • Finnish (1598) • Hungarian (1541) • Polish (1541) • German (1534) • English (1525)

  27. The reformation • Tension between scholar and priest • The scholar had better versions • Tension between priest and the common person • The common person had better versions • The authority of medieval Catholicism challenged

  28. The reformation • Wealth/prosperity of the church vs. the humility of Christ • Sacraments • Indulgences • Need for a priest/saint “in between” • Purgatory • Monasticism • Transubstantiation

  29. German Bible – Luther (1534) • From the Greek and Hebrew • “Sola scriptura” (the Bible alone) • Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation of lesser quality • Preface to the NT (1522) – James is “a letter written in straw” • Revelation – “I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it” • Rejected all forms of allegory as a means of understanding scripture

  30. English Bible’s pre-KJV • William Tyndale • THE father of the English Bible • Educated at Oxford and Cambridge in Greek and Hebrew • English version, based on the Greek and Hebrew • NT completed in 1525

  31. “If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost.”

  32. Tyndale – “A great linguist!” • “Tush, ye shall not die.” (Genesis 3:4) • “The Lorde was with Joseph, and he was a luckie felowe.” (Genesis 39:2) • “80% or more of the English Bible down to the Revised Version has been estimated to be his…”

  33. Toxic foot notes • “666” – clearly the pope • “Oh, abominable pope with all his idols.” • Breaking someone’s neck: “This is a good text for the pope.”

  34. “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes”

  35. Miles Coverdale (1535) – first printed edition • NT based on Tyndale’s translation • OT based on the Vulgate • Matthew’s Bible (1537) • Pseudonym: John Rogers • Tyndale (and Coverdale) revision • Burned alive in 1555 – “Rogers died with such composure that it might have been a wedding” • Richard Taverner’s Bible (1539) • The Great Bible (1539) – the largest Bible (15”x10”) • A revision of the Coverdale and the Matthew’s Bible

  36. “Long live the King!”

  37. Edmund Beck’s Bibles (1549, 1551) • “In the same way you husbands must live with your wives with the proper understanding that they are more delicate than you. Treat them with respect...” (1 Peter 3:7 – GN) • “And if she be not obedient and healpeful unto hym: endeavoureth to beate the feare of God into her heade…”

  38. The Geneva Bible (1560) • Persecution in England, led to Protestant’s fleeing to Geneva, Switzerland • The names of the translators were hidden (William Whittingham) • From 1560 to 1616 a new edition was published every year! • The Bible of Shakespeare, John Bunyan, Mayflower captain, Puritan pilgrims, King James • The most popular English Bible for almost 200 years!

  39. The Geneva Bible (1560) • The first English Bible to have chapters and verses • “Breeches” Bible – “They sewed figge-tree leaves together and made themselves breeches” (Genesis 3:7) • Marginal notes: • “the angel of the bottomless pit” = the pope • King James decision in 1604 for a new translation

  40. The Bishop’s Bible (1558) • Revisers were bishop’s • Displaced the Great Bible in churches • Less popular than the Geneva • Rheims-Douay Bible (1582-1610) • An English version for Catholics • A translation from the Latin Vulgate** (“KJV”) • Footnotes • Protestant “hereticks” • 666

  41. “You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24 – GN) • Footnote: “Two religions, God and Baal, Christ and Calvin, Masse and Communion, the Catholike Church and Heretical Conventicales.”

  42. The King James Bible (1611) • 1604 – Committee of 50 “learned men” (the model to follow) • Lancelot Andrews – “had he been present at the tower of Babel, he could have served as interpreter general.” • Rules: • “The Bishops’ Bible was to be followed with ‘as little altered as the truth of the original will permit’ and to include other translations – ‘Tindoll’s Matthew’s, Coverdale’s, Whitechurch’s (the Great Bible), and Geneva.” • Marginal notes only to explain the Greek and Hebrew! • Italics used

  43. Preface • The KJV is a REVISION, not a new translation (although they did have the Greek and Hebrew) • The KJV is really a revision of the Bishop Bible....which was a revision of the Great Bible, which was a revision of Coverdale and Tyndale. • The "credit" of the KJV in terms of vocabulary should go to Tyndale, the expression and harmony to Coverdale, the scholarship and accuracy to the Geneva Bible.

  44. The first printed version of the KJV contained about one error for every 10 pages - some of these errors, due to printing, persist in the current KJV today. • Matthew 23:34 “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel” (KJV) should have been printed, “strain out a gnat.” • 1631 printed edition of Exodus 20:14: "Thou shalt commit adultery"!

  45. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7:7,8 – KJV) • “Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name…” (Matthew 6:9 - KJV)

  46. Weakness: • The textual basis for the KJV is inadequate. • NT: Textus Receptus (Erasmus of Roterdam) – 1469-1536 • Mediocre manuscripts, the earliest from the 10th century! • Erasmus did not have a complete Greek NT text (Revelation) – using the Latin Vulgate he finished it into Greek!! • OT: A partially corrupt Erasmus Greek text • Codux Alexandrinus (5th century) not available • Many errors in the book of Job, Isaiah • But, the best Bible to date

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