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Question: "Who translated the Greek Bible?"
1. The Bible was originally written in two languages, the Old
Testament in Hebrew (with a few passages in Aramaic); the New
Testament in Greek.
The OT was translated into Greek between 250-150 B.C.
2. The NT was translated into Latin and Syriac c. 150 and into
Coptic c. 200. In subsequent centuries versions appeared in the
Armenian, Gothic, Ethiopic, Georgain, Arabic, Persian, and Slavonic
languages. The Bible, in whole or in part, is now available in more
than 1100 different languages and dialects.
3. I am assuming the caller primarily wanted to know about the
translation of the Greek Scriptures into our English language. John
Wycliffe, born in 1320, holds the honor of being the first to make
the whole Bible available in English. However, he did not translate
from the original languages, but from the Latin Vulgate, a
translation made by Jerome between A.D. 383 and 405.
4. It was William Tyndale, born about 1494, who first translated
the original Greek into English. So well did Tyndale do his work
that the KJV reproduces about 90% of his work.
5. Spent 10 years studying at Oxford and Cambridge. Soon after
leaving Cambridge, while working as a chaplain and tutor, he said
in a controversy with a clergyman, "If God spare my life, ere many
years I will cause a boy that driveth a plough to know more of the
Scripture than thou dost." As a result of his work of placing the
Scriptures in the hands of the common man, he spent the last 10
years of his life in hiding. He was condemned by the Catholic
church for being a heretic. He was strangled, and his body burned
at the stake.
If you have corrections, questions, comments or suggestions about these questions and answers, please contact Leon Mauldin directly at leon.mauldin@gmail.com
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