William Tyndale (1494–1536)

This is a great little Bible. This was my second or third time reading it. In 1526, the conventions for spelling did not exist yet, so you have to sound out the words sometimes. Also, there are a few 16th century words that are not much in use now, like habbergions (habergeon - a chain mail armor suit of the 12th to 14th centuries), or debite (a deputy or official). Another word was gasyngstock, or gazingstock, which is easy to get from the context. I have an unabridged dictionary which helped me with a few words, but once or twice I used an online Tudor and Stuart Words dictionary. Mostly though, there were not many words difficult to determine. One in every several chapters. Tyndale has a few quirks in his translation, too. Instead of using the word “salvation” he most often uses the word, “health.” Also very often he translates Christ’s name as “Jesu” instead of “Jesus.”

Technically, this is not in the Old English language. It’s Modern English with archaic spellings, so once you get the hang of reading the weird spellings, you’re okay. There are some old publishing tricks in it too, as when they put a line over a letter which indicates that the next letter is an m or an n. They did this to fit more text on a line of print. But really, it’s not hard to get the meaning as you read. I liked that this Bible slowed me down a bit. You pick up different things when you slow down. There are no verse numbers in this Bible either. Verse numberings did not come till later.

Imagine reading the New Testament the first time it was translated into your own language. The small size of this book made it easier to conceal. For a while there in Reformation Era England, if you got caught with it, you could be hung or burned at the stake. William Tyndale, the translator of this New Testament, was himself executed. His last words were, Lord, change the heart of the King of England. We can read this Bible with no thought to that level of persecution. Its small size makes it perfect for travel or to put in a purse. I liked it because, imagining the 16th century English readers, it gave me the feeling that I was reading the Bible for the first time again.… (more)

For a very long time only academics had access to the work of William Tyndale outside of the few historical quotations that served to be his voice through the centuries. And the King James Version. But few do know how greatly WT influenced the KJV, or just how much of Tyndale would be immortalized by its words. Much has been written of his life, his sacrifice, his suffering, but not much of the very substance of the man himself as can only be seen through the printed word of The Newe Testament. Any student of the Bible would be well served to hammer himself into this work, struggle through the ancient and primitive English, and work until with confidence William Tyndale's Newe Testament might be read with proficiency and ease. Definitely a five star read, that well deserves to be elevated from the reference shelf and into the very heart of an individual.… (more)

William Tyndale is the finest English translator of the Bible, and his New Testament one of the most influential works in English Literature. As a young man in pre-Reformation England, where unauthorised translation of the Bible was illegal, he heard a pompous divine claim that 'we were better be without God's law than the Pope's'. Tyndale's answer was: 'I defy the Pope and all his laws, and if God spares my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than thou dost'. Unable to do this in England, he spent the rest of his life in exile on the Continent and was executed as a heretic in 1536. His translations - of the entire New Testament and much of the Old Testament - were smuggled into England, where an eager public risked their lives to read them. His New Testament with its clear, vivid style and resonant phrases, is a masterpiece of English prose and was the basis of the Authorized Version of 1611.… (more)