Dutch And Flemish Versions
The first Bible for Catholics in Holland was printed at Delft in 1475. Among several issued from the press of Jacob van Leisveldt at Antwerp, one with the text of the Vulgate is called the Biblia Belgica. The first authoritative version for Catholics was translated from Henten’sVulgate by Nicholas van Wingh, Peter de Cort, and Godevaert Stryode, O.P. . After seventeen complete editions it was revised according to the Clementine Vulgate and became the celebrated Bible of Moerentorf or Moretus . This revision reached more than a hundred editions, and is still used. Among several unfinished versions, one by Th. Beelen was carried out by a group of ecclesiastics, viz. Old Testament . Beelen’s New Testament had previously appeared at Louvain .
A complete Bible based largely on Luther’s version was given out by Jacob Van Liesveldt at Antwerp in 1526. In 1556 it was superseded by Van Utenhove’s version after Luther and Olivetan. The Calvinists of Holland completed in 1637 a so-called state Bible, a version said to be from original sources, but greatly influenced by the English Authorized Version, reproducing in a great measure its remarkable felicity of style.
Why Are There So Many Different Versions Of The Bible
One of the reasons for so many different versions of the Bible is the number of manuscripts available. There are more than 5,800 New Testament Manuscripts in Greek, 10,000 Old Testament Manuscript in Hebrew, and more than 19,000 copies of Manuscript in Coptic, Latin Aramaic, and Syriac languages.
To translate the Bible, intellectuals divided these text/ manuscripts into two prominent families:
- Alexandrian text-type- better known as Egyptian or neutral
The Alexandrian text-type focuses on the manuscripts date and its place of origin, while the Byzantine text-type focuses on all manuscripts and decides the final reading by what most of the document talks about.
- Methods of Bible Translation
The Bible was initially written in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. All current available Bibles were translated from these three original languages. The manuscripts were further classified depending on the translation philosophy to use: Literal, dynamic, and free translation.
Literal Translation tries to keep the exact phrases and words of the original text. It is very loyal to the original manuscript, but it can be hard to read and understand. It keeps a regular historical distance. Examples are the Young Literal Version, The Holy Bible in Modern English, the New American Standard Bible , and King James Version
- Types of Bibles
Most versions are available in many different types of Bible. Here are a few of them.
Literal Translations Of The Bible
Based on Functional Equivalence or Literal here are the 5 most accurate translations of the Bible:
1. New American Standard Bible
The NASB holds the title of Most Accurate Translation due toits strict adherence to Literal translation methods. It wasoriginally published in 1963 and was revised in 1995.
Another thing that makes it so accurate is the NASBs use of the text from the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum critical text.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are among the oldest of Old Testament texts. They are regarded by scholars as among the best original texts.
The NASB is not too easy to read, due to the strict adherence to literalism. The translators wanted to stick to the structure of the source language as closely as possible.
This gives the NASB the title for most accurate English translation at the expense of readability and comprehension.
There are quite a few people who love reading such an accurate translation, so the NASB has a strong following.
But there are other translations that are easier to read than the NASB. .
2. English Standard Version
The ESV is a revision of the Revised Standard Version .It is also very close to the NASB. It was originally published in 2001.
A new edition was published in 2009 including thedeuterocanonical or apocryphal- books. This makes it suitable for reading forCatholic believers.
It is written in very modern English, yet readers still find that it reminds them of the KJV and RSV.
3. New English Translation
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What Are The Different Types Of Bibles
CHELSEA BALDWIN
When you go into a bookstore and look at the Bible section, you find a large number off different types and translations from which to choose. Even though all Bibles tell the same stories of the adventures of the Jews as Gods chosen people, some Bibles include more books or than others. Understanding the different types of Bibles will help you find a Bible that best suits your needs and personal beliefs.
Explore this article
About The New International Version
The NIV offers a balance between a word-for-word and thought-for-thought translation and is considered by many as a highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English.
In 1967, the New York Bible Society generously undertook the financial sponsorship of creating a contemporary English translation of the Bible. The NIV Bible was produced by more than one hundred scholars working from the best available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.The NIV Bible was first published in 1973, with revisions published in 1978 and 1983. You can browse the NIV Bible verses by using the chapters listed below, or use our free Bible search feature at the top of this page.Special thanks to Zondervan and Biblica for permission to use the NIV, TNIV and the NIrV
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New American Standard Bible
The New American Standard Bible is a literal translation from the original texts, well suited to study because of its accurate rendering of the source texts. It follows the style of the King James Version but uses modern English for words that have fallen out of use or changed their meanings. It uses capital letters for pronouns relating to divinity, eg ‘there He sat down with His disciples’.
Usccb Approved Translations Of The Sacred Scriptures For Private Use And Study By Catholics
1983 – Present
The1983 Code of Canon Law entrusts to the Apostolic See and the episcopal conferencesthe authority to approve translations of the Sacred Scriptures in the LatinCatholic Church . Prior to1983, Scriptural translations could be approved by the Apostolic See or by alocal ordinary within a diocese. Whatfollows is a complete list of the translations of the Sacred Scriptures thathave received the approval of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since1983. Inaddition to the translations listed below, any translation of the SacredScriptures that has received proper ecclesiastical approval namely, by theApostolic See or a local ordinary prior to 1983, or by the Apostolic See or anepiscopal conference following 1983 may be used by the Catholic faithful forprivate prayer and study.
Books of the New Testament, Alba House
Contemporary English Version – New Testament, First Edition, American Bible Society
Contemporary English Version – Book of Psalms, American Bible Society
Contemporary English Version – Book of Proverbs, American Bible Society
The Grail Psalter , G.I.A. Publications
New American Bible, Revised Edition
New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, National Council of Churches
The Psalms, Alba House
The Psalms – St. Joseph Catholic Edition, Catholic Book Publishing Company
The Psalms – St. Joseph New Catholic Version, Catholic Book Publishing Company
Revised Psalms of the New American Bible
Good News Translation , American Bible Society
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List Of English Bible Translations
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The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew. The Latin Vulgate translation was dominant in Western Christianity through the Middle Ages. Since then, the Bible has been translated into many more languages. English Bible translations also have a rich and varied history of more than a millennium.
Included when possible are dates and the source language and, for incomplete translations, what portion of the text has been translated. Certain terms that occur in many entries are linked at the bottom of the page.
Because various biblical canons are not identical, the “incomplete translations” section includes only translations seen by their translators as incomplete, such as Christian translations of the New Testament alone. Translations comprising only part of certain canons are considered “complete” if they comprise the translators’ complete canon, e.g. Jewish versions of the Tanakh.
History Of The Translations
Rutherford Hayes Platt, in the preface to his 1964
reprint of The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden states:
- “First issued in 1926, this is the most popular collection of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal literature ever published.”
The translations were first published, under this title, by an unknown editor in The Lost Books of the Bible Cleveland 1926, but the translations had previously been published many times.
The book is, essentially, a combined reprint of earlier works. The first half, Lost Books of the Bible, is an unimproved reprint of a book published by William Hone in 1820, titled The Apocryphal New Testament, itself a reprint of a translation of the Apostolic Fathers done in 1693 by William Wake, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a smattering of medieval embellishments on the New Testament, from a book by Jeremiah Jones , posthumously published in 1736. In the three centuries since these were originally published, a great deal more is known about the Apostolic Fathers and New Testament apocrypha.
The second half of the book, The Forgotten Books of Eden, includes a translation originally published in 1882 of the “First and Second Books of Adam and Eve”, translated first from ancient Ethiopic to German by Ernest Trumpp and then into English by Solomon Caesar Malan, and a number of items of Old Testament pseudepigrapha, such as reprinted in the second volume of R.H. Charles‘s Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament .
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Chaldaic Versions Or Targums
After the Babylonian Captivity, the Jews developed a large use of the Chaldaic, or Aramaic, tongue. To meet their needs the Sacred Books were translated into this dialect, and used in the public services of the synagogues not later than the second century B.C. At first the translations were oral, being largely paraphrastic interpretations with comments. In time rules of exegesis were determined, the translations were fixed in writing, and were thus widely circulated even before the time of Christ. Of these Chaldaic versions, called Targums , there is none extant containing the entire Hebrew Bible.
- The earliest is on the Pentateuch and is known as the Targum of Onkelos, whom tradition has identified with Aquila and whose Greek translation has something of the same literal character. This Targum, however, was produced by some other, probably in Babylon in the third century.
- A Targum on the Prophets, in its present form of the fourth century, is attributed to Jonathan ben Uzziel, to whom the Talmud alludes as a disciple of Hillel. In style it resembles the Targum of Onkelos, but its paraphrase is freer.
- A Targum on the Pentateuch, said to be of Jeruskalmi, or of Pseudo-Jonathan, is also a freer rendition and belongs to the sixth or seventh century.
- There are also Targums on the Hagiographa, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, etc.
Versions Of The Bible
Versions of the Bible. Synopsis.GREEK: Septuagint Aquila Theodotion Symmachus other versions. VERSIONS FROM THE SEPTUAGINT: Vetus Itala or Old Latin Egyptian or Coptic Ethiopic and Amharic Gothic Georgian or Grusian Syriac Slavic Arabic Armenian. VERSIONS FROM THE HEBREW: Chaldaic Syriac Arabic Persian Samaritan Pentateuch Vulgate other Latin versions. HEBREW VERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. VERSIONS FROM MIXED SOURCES: Italian Spanish Basque Portuguese French German Dutch and Flemish Scandinavian Finnish Hungarian Celtic . MISCELLANEOUS: Aleutian Aniwa Battak Benga Bengali Chinese Gipsy or Romany Hindu Hindustani Japanese Javanese Mexican Modern Greek. ENGLISH VERSIONS.
I. GREEK
The Septuagint
The Septuagint, or Alexandrine, Version, the first and foremost translation of the Hebrew Bible, was made in the third and second centuries B.C. An account of its origin, recensions, and its historical importance has been given above . It is still the official text of the Greek Church. Among the Latins its authority was explicitly recognized by the Fathers of the Council of Trent, in compliance with whose wishes Sixtus V, in 1587 published an edition of the VaticanCodex. This, with three others, the Complutensian, Aldine, and Grabian, are the leading representative etlitions available.
Version of Aquila
Version of Theodotion
Version of Symmachus
Other Greek Versions
II. VERSIONS FROM THE SEPTUAGINT
The Vetus Itala or Old Latin
The Vulgate
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English Bible Versions Translation
This is how it was:
In 1378 1388 AD, a English theologian and reformer John Wycliffe and Oxford associates undertake the first translation of the Bible into English. The first complete English Bible from them appeared in manuscript in 1382 AD. John Wycliffe was later deemed heretic by the Catholic Church and killed.
- William Tyndale
In 1525 AD, a English reformer William Tyndale translated the New Testament from the Greek text, copies of which were printed in Germany and smuggled into England.
Tyndales translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew text was only partly completed because he was publicly executed and burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic Empire.
- King James Version
In 1611 AD James I of England commissioned a revision of the English Bible, The King James Version, as it is called, was completed in 1611 AD. It is a continuation of the partly complete Tyndales work of translation.
Realize that the Roman Empire was in power in the days of John Wycliffe and William Tyndale. They were against them and their work hence they persecuted them.
Therefore the Roman Empire entered to translate the bible to fit into catholic doctrines and teachings. This how the Roman Empire did:
- Douay or Douay Rheimsh Bible
In 1582-1609 AD, the Douay or Douay Rheimsh Bible was completed and it was commonly used by the Roman Catholics in English-speaking nations.
- The New American Bible
Fourteenth Century And After
The third period extends from the late fourteenth to the sixteenth or early seventeenth century, and has furnished us with the pre-Wyclifite, the Wyclif, and the printed versions of the Bible.
Pre-Wyclifite Translations
Among the pre-Wyclifite translations we may note:
Wyclifite Versions
The Wyclifite versions embrace the earlier and the later version of this name.
Printed English Bibles
We are now entering the period of printed English Scriptures. France, Spain, Italy, Bohemia, and Holland possessed the Bible in the vernacular before the accession of Henry VIII in Germany the Scriptures were printed in 1466, and seventeen editions had left the press before the apostasy of Luther. No part of the English Bible was printed before 1525, no complete Bible before 1535, and none in England before 1538.
The London booksellers now became alive to the ready sale of the Bible in English Grafton and Whitchurch were the first to avail themselves of this business opportunity, bringing out in 1537 the so-called Matthew’s Bible. Thomas Matthew is an alias for John Rogers, a friend and fellow-worker of Tyndale. The Matthew’s Bible is only a compilation of the renderings of Tyndale and Coverdale.
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Egyptian Or Coptic Versions
The first Christians of Lower Egypt commonly used Greek, but the natives generally spoke Coptic , which is now recognized in four dialects, viz.: Bohairic, Sahidic, Akhmimic and Fayûmic . As Christian communities formed and flourished, the Bible was translated into these dialects and it is generally admitted that some versions, if not all, date back to the second century. That they were independent translations from the Greek seems certain, and Biblical criticism has therefore profited by the light they have thrown on the and the New-Testament manuscripts. Of these versions the most important are in Bohairic or Memphite, the language used at Memphis and Alexandria, and the Sahidic, the language of the upper Thebais. The former is entirely extant and since the eleventh or twelfth century has been the standard text of the Church in Egypt. The latter exists in large fragments, but little has so far been found of the others.
Fayûmic or as it has been termed Bashmuric , one of the Coptic dialects according to the division of Athanasius, Bishop of Cos , is the name now applied to some fragmentary versions published as the “Codices Basmyrici” by Zoega .
Past Of The Lost Books Of The Bible
1. Books of the Apocrypha:
First and Second Esdras
Tobit
Additions to Esther
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus, otherwise known as The Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach
Baruch
Letter of Jeremiah
Song of the Three Holy Children, an addition in the Greek version of Daniel 3
Susanna
Bel and the Dragon
Additions to Daniel, or the Prayer of Azariah
Prayer of Manasseh
First Maccabees
2. Books of the Pseudepigrapha:
Epistle of Barnabas
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
The letter of the Smyrnaeans
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Gospel of Judas
The Gospel of Thomas
The Psalms of Solomon
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
Second Baruch
The Books of Adam and Eve
The Acts of Phillip
The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary
The Gospel of Nicodemus
The Gospel of the Saviour’s Infancy
The History of Joseph the Carpenter
The Acts of Paul
The Seven Epistles of Ignatius
The Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians
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