The Tyndale New Testament (1526)
Talk Reformation Era: History and Literature
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1geoffreymeadows
What a great little Bible! This was my second or third time reading it. It is the New Testament in facsimile. It’s like a pdf of the document, so what you see on the page is exactly what the original readers saw when it was released in 1526. Also, in 1526, the conventions for spelling did not exist yet, so you have to sound out the words sometimes. There were 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 - think Richard the Lionhearted), 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.
Tyndale has a few quirks in his translation. Instead of using the word “salvation” he most often uses the word “health.” Also he almost always 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 (and not use up all their m’s and n’s). 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 until 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.” In the West, 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.
Tyndale has a few quirks in his translation. Instead of using the word “salvation” he most often uses the word “health.” Also he almost always 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 (and not use up all their m’s and n’s). 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 until 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.” In the West, 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.
