OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE
ENGLISH BIBLES
John Wycliffe 1380 AD Translated from the Latin
Vulgate
John Purvey
1388 AD Translated from the Latin Vulgate
William
Tyndale 1525/35 AD Used Vulgate,
Luther, some Greek
(Erasmus) and Hebrew
Miles
Coverdale 1535 AD Used
German Bible, Latin Bible, and
previous English Bibles
Matthew’s 1535 AD
Used Tyndale and Coverdale
Great Bible
1539 AD 1st
Authorized English Bible, Used
Hebrew, Greek (Erasmus), and Latin
Vulgate
Cranmer’s Bible
1540 AD Revised Great Bible
William
Wittington 1557 AD Produced a New Testament
Geneva Bible
1560 AD “Breeches Bible” from quaint translation
of Gen 3:7, “sewed fig tree leaves for
breaches…”, Revision of Great Bible, 160
editions printed. Brought to USA on
Mayflower, favored by New England
Pilgrims, continued after publication KJV
in 1611
Bishop’s Bible
1568 AD 2nd Authorized
English Bible, Revision of
Coverdale
Rheims-Douai
1609 AD Catholic English Bible, Translation of
Latin Vulgate
KJV
1611 AD 3rd
Authorized English Bible, Based on
Bishop’s Bible, Tyndale, Matthew,
Coverdale, Great Bible, Geneva Bible.
A Revision of
previous English Bibles.
Based on the
Textus Receptus (NT
Erasmus, OT Masoretic Text)
ERV
1881/85 AD Based on Textus Receptus, Constantine
ASV
1881/1901 AD Tischendorf’s Greek Text, and the
Church Fathers, Ancient Versions of
the Bible, A, C, Aleph, a much better text
than previously (Westcott and Hort Greek
Text not yet published)
New ASV
Revision of ASV, used new
discoveries of
Greek and Hebrew MSS
RSV
1946/52 AD Not new translation but a revision of the
ASV. Used Westcott and Hort and 17 the
Edition of Nestle Greek Text, Masoretic
Hebrew Text, newly discovered Papyri.
NEB
1961 Protestant churches in Great Britain
under the leadership of C. H. Dodd
introduced a sense for sense translation
based on an eclectic Greek text.
The translation was popular for a while
mainly in Britain.
TEV
1966 The American Bible Society under the
leadership of a Dr. Bratcher produced
an extreme idiomatic translation,
popularly known at the time as the
“Peanuts”
version. It was doomed for a
short life and soon passed from the
scene!
NIV
1973/78 AD A completely new translation into
contemporary English. Adopts a more
dynamic equivalent and paraphrase
approach to
interpretation. Used the
Biblia Hebraica Hebrew Bible, The Dead
Sea Scrolls’
Hebrew Tests, the Masoretic
Hebrew text, the Septuagint, the Latin
Vulgate, the Syriac
Peshitta, the
Aramaic Targums, Jerome,
an eclectic Greek text base using the
Nestle Aland and Bible Society Greek
texts.
NRSV
1989 AD A revision of the RSV intending to use
modern or contemporary English
especially in regard to the pronouns of
the Bible (thee and thou), and to be
more gender
sensitive.
RNIV NT
2002 AD A revision of the NIV with specific
attention to gender sensitivity.
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