The Bible Translations

The Bible has been the most widely read and most frequently quoted of books. The great influence exerted by the Bible on the English language has been recognized by writers such as Tennyson, Macaulay, Carlyle, Huxley and others. More than a book of religion, it has been one of the formative influences on the language.

Tyndale and Coverdale are the most important version of the Bible. Along with these we may include the Anglican Prayer Book, first issued in 1549 and later revised in 1662. Tyndale has translated chiefly from the original Hebrew and Greek versions, though at times he consulted more modern versions like Luther's German Bible.

The history of the English Bible begins with the work of Tyndale in 1526. Tyndale had a genius for the telling phrase and the idiomatic yet beautiful rendering. A great deal of his phraseology has remained ppart of the language as it had passed unchanged into the Authorised Version. Words and phrases as congregation (in the sense of church), elders (meaning priests), peacemaker, long suffering, ungodliness, weakling, stumbling block, glad tidings, scapegoat, godly etc., are from the Tyndale version.

The word trespass in the Anglican Prayer book comes from Tyndale's translation. The Authorised Version has "forgive us our debts" following the Greek and Latin texts. Trespass is a word from Old French (offences). Through his translation Tyndale has given this word wide currency. The other familiar phrases that we find in the Authorised Version like the fatted calf (St. Luke), eat, drink and be merry (St. Luke), the burden and the heat of the day (St. Mathew), are all contributions of Tyndale.

From Coverdale's translation (1535) there are beautiful combinations of words like loving-kindness, tender-mercy, tender-hearted, avenger of blood, the valley of the shadow of death, morning star, broken hearted, blood guiltiness etc.

Certain phrases like the prodigal son, mess of potage etc. which are recognized as Biblical came, in fact, not through any rendering of the Scripture, but through chapter headings in pre-Authorized Version Bibles. The well-known phrase sweat of thy brow cannot be found in any extant version of the Book of Genesis, whereas all seem to agree on the sweat of thy face. This expression has survived from one of those Lollard versions of the Bible which existed and disappeared during the 15th century. The expression the iron hath entered my soul is from a Jesuit version of the Bible.

The Authorized Version was made according to the suggestion of king James I. It is also known as King James' Version. It was begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. A team of scholars an theologians worked on this translation with great enthusiasm and tireless industry. The Authorized Version is unique in its authority as an English classic because it has preserved the tradition of the language. Its language is simple, dignified and elevated and at the same time a little archaic as becomes this great book of divine revelation. The translations of the Authorized Version have striven hard to effect a compromise between extreme attempts at literary and colloquial styles. The vocabulary adopted was predominantly native in character. About ninety four percent of the words are Anglo-Saxon.

Many words and phrases from the Authorized Version have found their way into the language and have assumed the character of idioms and are often used with little or no consciousness of their origin. For example, we have a labour of love, clear as crystal, the still small voice, a thorn in the flesh, the eleventh hour, the shadow of death, a howling wilderness, the old Adam, the salt of the earth, to wash our hands off, the holy of holies, the lesser lights, the olive branch, a perfect Babel, a painted Jezebel etc.

English Bible has sometimes given rise to phrases and uses of words through misunderstanding. The current application of the phrase to see eye to eye and to be of one's mind has no warrant in the original context. A striking instance of word making through misunderstanding is helpmeet. In the Bible 1611, we find "it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a help meet for him". Readers mistook the two words help and meet for a compound and so helpmeet became current as a synonym for one's partner in life (helpmate).

The style of the Authorized Version has been greatly admired by many of the best judges of English style. Poets like Coleridge, Wordsworth, Milton, and Tennyson, and writers like Bunyan, Browne, Carlyle, Ruskin and Newman have been influenced by the style and diction of the Bible. Macaulay extols it as a book, which "If everything else in a language should perish, would alone be sufficient to show the whole extent of its beauty and power". 

Prepared by

Dr. Susan Mathew

CMS College Kottayam