Random Thoughts-42

Reading about William Tyndale recently, I realized that many are the heroes of the Christian faith, some among them martyrs, who have paid the price for the translation, printing and publication of the Bible in English.
Tyndale, called by some as "The father of the English Bible", underwent immense persecution, imprisonment and finally was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536 for translating the Bible in to English.

At a time when Bible translation was prohibited by the church, he had a burning desire to make available the Bible in English, so that the commoner in England could easily read it. Educated in Oxford and Cambridge, he could speak seven languages and was good at Hebrew and Greek.
He traveled to Hamburg, Germany and worked on the New Testament and got it printed in Cologne, but the press was raided; he however escaped with the printed pages to the city Worms where the New Testament was soon published. Around 6000 copies were published and smuggled to England. King Henry VIII was furious. Some bishops burnt the bibles, others bought them to destroy them. Another called it the
"Testament of the Antichrist."

Tyndale hid in Antwerp and began translating the Old Testament while the King's soldiers searched England and Europe for him.
Finally, Henry Phillips, an Englishman, who befriended him, betrayed his trust and Tyndale was captured by soldiers.
On October 6, 1536 he killed by strangling and burning. Some say, his last prayer was "Lord, open the eyes of the King of England." Around 3 years later, King Henry VIII ordered every church in England to make a copy of the English Bible available to its worshipers.
Around 90% of the King James Version and 75% of the Revised Standard Version are from the Bible translated into English by William Tyndale.

I believe when he was burnt at the stake, Jesus was welcoming him in heaven saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" (Matthew 25:21)
 
Absolutely, the work was a landmark.. and the man was unduly martyred...

One thing people overlook....
In those early translations - they were more like what we would call "Study bibles" ... and many of them contained reams of "Interpretation" and "Opinion" appended in the margins.... The Tyndale bible was like this.... Margins were full of "Protestant" doctrine and opinion decrying the Roman Catholic Church (Of which the English Crown was a member)

For example... ONE of the things that the Royalty and Clergy protested was the frequent admonition in the margins that the Royalty and Clergy were evil men practicing evil acts.. As you might imagine.. This sort of thing didn't sit well with the ruling authorities or clergy..

One of the landmarks of the Authorized Version is that it had NONE of this interpretation/opinion appended onto it... It ONLY contained the translation of the Holy Scripture....

If you look at the predominate format of the bible owned by people today - it follows this format... Scripture plus maybe some crossreferences and a few footnotes pertaining to specific translation issues... Some may include a brief concordance as well...
 
Absolutely, the work was a landmark.. and the man was unduly martyred...

One thing people overlook....
In those early translations - they were more like what we would call "Study bibles" ... and many of them contained reams of "Interpretation" and "Opinion" appended in the margins.... The Tyndale bible was like this.... Margins were full of "Protestant" doctrine and opinion decrying the Roman Catholic Church (Of which the English Crown was a member)

For example... ONE of the things that the Royalty and Clergy protested was the frequent admonition in the margins that the Royalty and Clergy were evil men practicing evil acts.. As you might imagine.. This sort of thing didn't sit well with the ruling authorities or clergy..

One of the landmarks of the Authorized Version is that it had NONE of this interpretation/opinion appended onto it... It ONLY contained the translation of the Holy Scripture....

If you look at the predominate format of the bible owned by people today - it follows this format... Scripture plus maybe some crossreferences and a few footnotes pertaining to specific translation issues... Some may include a brief concordance as well...

Thanks for the input JohnC. God Bless.
 
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