The Legacy of the Bible

Most of us have more than one translation of the Bible. Some in other languages and the experts (supposedly) with Greek and Hebrew versions

The American Bible Society produces the Record (Winter 2010) with some fascinating insights I'd like to pass on to you. For me some of this was a senior moment (I was ignorant where I thought I should have been knowledgeable). Most of us probably are acquainted with the 1611 King James version as we seniors grew up with that although there were other early 20th century versions available.

Many of us love the KJ version which in places displays beautiful 1611 English and the KJ II helps with some of the archaic words. (Tyndale's New Testament appeared in 1526.) But when was the first translation made in the USA? That I didn't know. It was Eliot's Algonquin Bible produced in 1663. Eliot was known as the "Apostle to the Indians." With the help of an Algonquin companion, Eliot mastered their language and then translated the entire bible.

This was followed by the first English-language bible in 1782. The early Americans were unable to import Scriptures from England and began printing their own. At just 6" x 4" it was called the Bible of the Revolution. The work was authorized by Congress and won the praise of George Washington. In 1792 the Hodge and Campbell Bible was printed and published by subscription with George Washington the first subscriber.

About the same time, 1791, America's first illustrated Bible was published by an ambitious printer Isaiah Thomas with 50 copperplate engravings such as the Creation, Noah and his Family, Abraham Offering up His Son and the Ascension of Jesus. The American Bible Society has 45,000 holdings held in the ABS headquarters in New York. This includes some 3,000 treasures of the Rare Scriptures Collection. All are kept securely behind glass doors where the temperature stays at 66 degrees with humidity kept at 31 percent.

A question that keeps lurking in my mind is how many versions of the Bible are there? ABS tries to answer that by saying no one can give a an exact number. However, there are about 900 English bible translations and paraphrases of the Bible. When added, foreign translations, many accomplished by studious missionaries, the total is increased.

Recently, in the last generation or two, there have been a number of translations and paraphrases. The Living Bible, initially written for the author's children to make it more understandable, was one of the earlier popular paraphrases. Others followed, and still others have seen revisions of earlier editions. There is no shortage of English translations for readers today. Selectivity is important but more important is the reading and study of this incredible best seller for which we can give thanks for the good news it offers, incredible literary offerings and an invaluable history.