How We Got The Bible

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How We Got The Bible 

Ten Key Points

1 The Bible is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

2 The Bible is made up of 66 different books that were written over 1,600 years (from
approximately 1500 bc to ad 100) by more than 40 kings, prophets, leaders, and followers
of Jesus. The Old Testament has 39 books (written approximately 1500-400 bc). The New
Testament has 27 books (written approximately ad 45-100). The Hebrew Bible has the
same text as the English Bible’s Old Testament, but divides and arranges it differently.

3 The Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew, with some Aramaic. The New
Testament was written in Greek.

4 The books of the Bible were collected and arranged and recognized as inspired sacred
authority by councils of rabbis and councils of church leaders based on careful guidelines.

5 Before the printing press was invented, the Bible was copied by hand. The Bible was
copied very accurately, in many cases by special scribes who developed intricate methods
of counting words and letters to insure that no errors had been made.

6 The Bible was the first book ever printed on the printing press with moveable type
(Gutenberg Press, 1455, Latin Bible).

7 There is much evidence that the Bible we have today is remarkably true to the original writings. Of the thousands of copies made by hand before 1500, nearly 5,900 Greek manuscripts from the New Testament alone still exist today.

The text of the Bible is better
preserved than the writings of Plato or Aristotle.

8 The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed the astonishing reliability of some of the
copies of the Old Testament made over the years. Although some spelling variations exist,
no variation affects basic Bible doctrines.

9 As the Bible was carried to other countries, it was translated into the common language of
the people by scholars who wanted others to know God’s Word.

Today there are still 2,000 groups with no Bible in their own language.
10 By ad 200, the Bible was translated into seven languages; by 500, 13 languages; by 900, 17 languages; by 1400, 28 languages; by 1800, 57 languages; by 1900, 537 languages; by 1980, 1,100 languages; by 2014, 2,883 languages have some portions of Scripture.

Old Testament Written
(approx. 1500-400 bc)

New Testament Written
(approx. ad 45-100)

clay

leather

stone

The oldest
New Testament
fragment
(from John 18)
that we have
today was
copied in Greek
on a papyrus
codex around
ad 110-130.

 Bible Copied on Papyrus Bible Copied on Fine Animal Skins Scrolls of leather, and later of papyrus, were used to make copies of the Scriptures.

A papyrus codex is a bound volume
made from sheets folded and sewn
together, sometimes with a cover. They
were used more than scrolls after
ad 1-100.

Fine quality animal skins from
calves or antelope (vellum) and sheep
or goats (parchment) were used for
over 1,000 years to make copies of the
Bible approximately ad 300-1400.
Two of the oldest vellum copies
(ad 325-350) that exist today are the
Vatican Codex and the Sinaitic Codex.

Bible Printed by Printing Press after 1455

The Bible,
God’s Word to the World

Wycliffe Bibles were inscribed by hand
on vellum in the 1300s-1400s. Some
copies took ten months to two years to
produce and cost a year’s wage.

The Bible was the first book to be printed
with Gutenberg’s printing press in 1455.

The Bible is now printed on paper in
many languages. It is also available in
many digital formats.

Old Testament events
are written down in Hebrew
(portions in Aramaic) over
centuries. In Exodus, the
Lord tells Moses to write in a book.

Other Old Testament writers, inspired by God, include leaders, kings and prophets.

Together, these writings on
leather scrolls and other
materials are called the
Hebrew Scriptures or Old
Testament.

Ezra, a priest and scribe,
collects and arranges some
of the books of the Hebrew
Bible—the Old Testament—
about 450 bc, according to
Jewish tradition.

The Septuagint is the
Greek translation of the
Hebrew Bible (the Old
Testament). It is translated
in 250-100 bc by Jewish
scholars in Alexandria,
Egypt.

(The word Septuagint
means seventy, referring to
the tradition that 70 or 72
men translated it. It is often
abbreviated LXX, the
Roman numeral for
seventy.)

The books are arranged by
subject: historical, poetic,
and prophetic. It includes
the Apocrypha (meaning
“hidden”), referring to seven
books that were included
in the Hebrew Bible until
ad 90 when they were
removed by Jewish elders.

Papyrus, a plant, is cut into strips and
pressed into sheets of writing material and can be made into a scroll or a codex. The New Testament books were probably first
written on papyrus scrolls. Later Christians begin to copy them on sheets of papyrus which are bound and placed between two pieces of wood for covers. This form of
early book is known as a codex.

A Scribe

Time of Jesus
4 bc-ad 33?
Jesus quotes the Old
Testament (Scriptures) often.
He says that he did not come
to destroy the Scriptures, but
to fulfill them. He says to his
disciples, “This is what I told
you while I was still with you:
Everything must be fulfilled
that is written about me in
the Law of Moses, the
Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds
so they could understand
the Scriptures. Luke 24:44-45

Old Testament Apocrypha
Evidence derived from first
century ad writers Philo and
Josephus indicates that the
Hebrew canon did not include
the Apocrypha.
Earliest Translations
200-300 Latin, Coptic (Egypt),
and Syriac (Syria).
Church Fathers accept the
writings of the Gospels and
Paul’s letters as canonical (from a
Greek word referring to the rule
of faith and truth). Origen lists 21
approved New Testament books.
Eusebius lists 22 accepted books.

The New Testament books are
collected and circulated throughout
the Mediterranean about the time of
Constantine, the Roman emperor
who legalizes Christianity in 313. By
400 the standard of 27 New
Testament books is accepted in the
East and West as confirmed by
Athanasius, Jerome, Augustine and
three church councils. The 27 books
of the New Testament were formally
confirmed as canonical by the Synod
of Carthage in 397, thus recognizing
three centuries of use by followers of
Christ.

Jerome starts translating the
Scriptures into Latin in 382 and finishes
23 years later. This translation, called
the Latin Vulgate, remains the basic
Bible for many centuries.

Early Coptic Translation

Jerome

Saint Matthew
Lindisfarne Gospels
Approximately 900

Followers of Jesus
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul,
James, Peter, and Jude write the
Gospels, history, letters to other
Christians, and the Revelation
between ad 45 and 100. The
writers quote from all but eight of
the Old Testament books. These
writings in Greek are copied and
circulated so that by about 150
there is wide enough use of them
to speak of the “New Testament”
(“New Covenant”). The new
covenant God made with people
was promised in Jer. 31:31-34 and
referred to by Jesus (Lk. 22:20)
and Paul (1 Cor. 11:25) and in the
letter to the Hebrews.

2000 BC 500 BC 200 BC

AD 1 AD 100 AD 200

AD 300

Papyrus

Roman Empire declines.
Germanic migrations (378-
600) cause new languages
to emerge.
The Masoretes are special
Jewish scribes entrusted with
the sacred task of making
copies of the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament)
approximately 500-900. They
develop a meticulous system
of counting the number of
words in each book of the Bible
to make sure they have copied
it accurately. Any scroll found
to have an error is buried
according to Jewish law.

AD 600
Christianity reaches
Britain before 300, but
Anglo-Saxon pagans drive
Christian Britons into Wales
(450-600). In 596, Augustine
of Canterbury begins
evangelization again.
Caedmon, an illiterate monk,
retells portions of Scripture in
Anglo-Saxon (Old English)
poetry and song (676).
Aldhelm of Sherborne,
709, is said to have translated
the Psalms.

AD 500

Bede

Bede, a monk and scholar, makes
an Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
translation of portions of Scripture.
On his deathbed in 735, he finishes
translating the Book of John.
Alfred The Great, King of
Wessex (871-901) translates
portions of Exodus, Psalms, and
Acts.
Aldred, Bishop of Durham, inserts
a translation in the Northumbrian
dialect between the lines of the
Lindisfarne Gospels (950).
Aelfric (955-1020) translates
portions of the Old Testament.

AD 1300

Normans conquer England
(1066) and make French the
official language. No English
translation work produced until
the 1300s.
Middle English emerges,
popularized by works such as
the Canterbury Tales and Richard
Rolle’s Psalter (1340).

John Wycliffe

First English Bible is
translated from Latin in 1382
and is called the Wycliffe Bible
in honor of priest and Oxford
scholar John Wycliffe. During
his lifetime, Wycliffe had
wanted common people to have
the Bible. He also criticized a
number of church practices and
policies. His followers, derisively
called Lollards (meaning
“mumblers”), included his
criticisms in the preface to the
Wycliffe Bible. This Bible is
banned and burned. Forty years
after Wycliffe’s death, his bones
are exhumed and burned for
heresy.

AD 1500

In 1408, in England, it
becomes illegal to translate or
read the Bible in common English
without permission of a bishop.
World’s first printing press
with moveable metal type is
invented in 1455 in Germany
by Johann Gutenberg. This
invention is perhaps the single
most important event to
influence the spread of the Bible.
The Gutenberg Bible
is the first book ever printed.
This Latin Vulgate version is
often illuminated by artists who
hand paint letters and ornaments
on each page.

Gutenberg Bible Page

Erasmus, a priest and
Greek scholar, publishes a
new Greek edition and a
more accurate Latin
translation of the New
Testament in 1516. His goal
is that everyone be able to
read the Bible, from the
farmer in the field to the
weaver at the loom. Erasmus’
Greek text forms the basis of
the “textus receptus” and is
used later by Martin Luther,
William Tyndale, and the
King James translators.

William Tyndale, priest and
Oxford scholar, translates the
New Testament from Greek
(1525), but cannot get approval
to publish it in England. He
moves to Germany and prints
Bibles, smuggling them into
England in sacks of corn and
flour. In 1535 he publishes part
of the Old Testament translated
from Hebrew. In 1536, Tyndale
is strangled and burned at the
stake. His final words are “Lord,
open the King of England’s
eyes.”
Martin Luther translates
the New Testament into
German in 1522.

Erasmus

William Tyndale
Tyndale is called the “Father of the
English Bible” because his translation
forms the basis of the King James
Version. Much of the style and
vocabulary we know as “biblical
English” is traceable to his work.

22 ● How We Got the Bible

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AD 1555

Bishops Bible
A new translation begins
under Queen Elizabeth in
1568. It is translated by
several bishops of the
Church of England in
answer to the Geneva Bible.
Rheims-Douai Bible
was translated into English
from the Latin Vulgate by
Catholic scholar Gregory
Martin, while in exile in
France (New Testament in
1582/Old Testament in
1609). It becomes the
standard translation for
the Catholic church.

England’s Queen Mary bans
Protestant translations of the English
Bible. John Rogers and Thomas Cranmer
are burned at the stake. Later some 300
men, women and children are also burned.
The Geneva Bible
Exiles from England flee to Geneva,
Switzerland, and in 1560 print the Geneva
Bible, a complete revision of the Great
Bible with the Old Testament translated
from Hebrew. The Geneva Bible contains
theological notes from Protestant
scholars John Calvin, Beza, Knox, and
Whittingham. It is the first Bible to use
Roman type instead of black letter. This is
the Bible of Shakespeare and the one
carried to America by the Pilgrims in
1620. The 1640 edition is the first English
Bible to omit the Apocrypha.

The Great Bible (1539)
is placed in every church by
order of Thomas Cranmer,
archbishop under King
Henry VIII. This Bible is
chained to the church
pillars to discourage theft.

The Matthew’s Bible,
translated by John Rogers
under the pen name
“Thomas Matthew,” is the
first Bible published with
the king’s permission
(1537). Printed just one year
after Tyndale’s death, its
New Testament relies
heavily on Tyndale’s version,
and even has a tribute to
him on the last page of the
Old Testament. Tyndale’s
initials are printed in 2 1⁄2-
inch block letters. Later
Thomas Cromwell, advisor
to King Henry VIII, entrusts
Coverdale to revise
Matthew’s Bible to make
the Great Bible.

The Coverdale Bible
is translated by Miles
Coverdale (1535) and
dedicated to Anne Boleyn,
one of King Henry VIII’s
wives. This is the first
complete Bible to be
printed in English.

The “Chained Bible”

AD 1500

Tyndale’s Initials
printed in the
Matthew’s Bible

King James Version or
Authorized Version
King James I of England commissions
54 scholars to undertake a new Bible
translation. Over the next six years, six
teams of scholars using the Bishops
Bible and Tyndale’s Bible, as well as
available Greek and Hebrew
manuscripts, complete the new version
in 1611. The King James Version (also
called the “Authorized Version,” even
though King James never gave the
finished version his royal approval) is
revised several times.
(The edition used today was revised in
1769.) It is the most popular Bible for
more than 300 years.

King James

AD 1600

AD 1800

King James Bible
Page from 1611 version

Older Manuscripts
Discovered!
Between 1629 and 1947,
several of the earliest known
copies of the Bible are found.
Codex Alexandrinus,
a copy of the New Testament
from approximately 400,
perhaps the best copy of the
book of Revelation, is made
available to western scholars
in 1629.

Codex Sinaiticus
(earliest complete copy of the New
Testament, copied in approximately
350) is found in St. Catherine’s
Monastery near Mt. Sinai.
The Revised Version (1885) In
1870, scholars in England decide to
revise the King James Version to
reflect the findings from the
manuscripts discovered during the
two previous centuries. Their goal
is to use better Hebrew and Greek
texts and to retranslate words
based on new linguistic information
about ancient Hebrew.

Codex Vaticanus
(earliest and probably best
copy known of the New
Testament from
approximately 350) is
released to scholars in 1889
by the Vatican Library.

The Revised Version

The Dead Sea Scrolls, found
in a cave in 1947 by a shepherd,
contain the oldest known copies
of portions of the Old Testament.
These copies were made
between 100 bc and ad 100.

Scroll of Isaiah

A Scroll of Isaiah that is part of the
Dead Sea Scrolls is the oldest complete
manuscript of any book of the
Bible (copied around 100). The copies
of Isaiah discovered in the Qumran
caves prove to be remarkably close to
the standard Hebrew Bible, varying
slightly in the spelling of some names.
They give overwhelming confirmation
of the reliability of the Masoretic
copies.
During the 1900s more than a hundred
New Testament manuscripts are found
in Egypt.
AD 1900

A Qumran Cave near the Dead Sea

A Ugaritic Grammar is published in the
1960s. Ugaritic is an ancient language similar to
Hebrew and helps scholars understand Hebrew
vocabulary and poetry.

Modern Translations
The knowledge from newly
discovered manuscripts has
led to hundreds of new
translations.
1885
The English Revised
Version
A British revision of the King
James Version.
1901
American Standard
Version (ASV)
Revision of the King James
Version in American English.
1926
Moffatt Bible

A very popular modern-
language version.

1931
Smith-Goodspeed, An
American Translation
Modern American English.
1952
The Revised Standard
Version (RSV)
A revision of the ASV. New
Testament revised 1971.
1958
J.B. Phillips’ New Testament
in Modern English
A paraphrase, originally made
for youth.
1965
The Amplified Bible
Uses word-for-word ASV with
added words to communicate
insights on original texts.

1966
Jerusalem Bible
Translation by Catholic scholars
in Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem
Bible, 1985.
1970
New English Bible
“Timeless” modern English.
Revised in 1989.
1970
New American Bible (NAB)
Official version of the Catholic
Church. Revised New Testament
in 1986.
1971
New American Standard
Bible (NASB)
Literal word-for-word translation.
Updated in 1995.

1971
The Living Bible
Popular paraphrase.
1976
The Good News Bible
(Today’s English Version)
(TEV)
Vernacular English translation.
1978
New International Version
(NIV)
Dignified, readable.
1982
New King James Version
(NKJV)
Modernization of the King
James Version using the same
manuscripts.

1987
New Century Version
(NCV)
Puts biblical concepts into
natural terms.
1989
Jewish New Testament
English translation using
traditional Jewish expressions.
1989
New Revised Standard
Version
“Gender neutral” revision of
the RSV.

1991
Contemporary English
Version
“Natural, uncomplicated” English.
1995
God’s Word
Contemporary English.
1996
New Living Translation (NLT)
A revision of The Living Bible to
make it a translation.

1996
New International Reader’s
Version (NIrV)
A simplified version of the NIV
with a 3rd- or 4th-grade reading
level.
2001
English Standard Version
(ESV)
Literal update of the RSV.
2002
The Message (MSG)
A paraphrase from the original
languages.

2004
Holman Christian
Standard Bible (HCSB)

Balance between word-for-
word and thought-for-thought.

2005
Today's New International
Version (TNIV)
Modernization of the New
International Version.
2005
New English Translation
(NET)
Available only on the Internet,
with extensive translator’s
notes.

Comparisons of the Old Testament Canon
Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Bibles all contain the same 27 New Testament books.
Hebrew Bible
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Daniel
Ezra
Nehemiah
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles

Roman Catholic
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Tobit
Judith
Esther (includes additions
to Esther)
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs (Song of
Solomon)
Wisdom of Solomon
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Baruch (includes Letter of
Jeremiah)
Ezekiel
Daniel (includes Susanna
and Bel and the Dragon)
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

Greek Orthodox
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
1 Esdras
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther (includes additions
to Esther)
Judith
Tobit
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
3 Maccabees
Psalms (plus Psalm 151)
Prayer of Manasseh
Job
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs (Song of
Solomon)
Wisdom of Solomon
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
Hosea
Amos
Micah
Joel
Obadiah
Jonah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Baruch
Lamentations
Letter of Jeremiah
Ezekiel
Daniel (includes Susanna
and Bel and the Dragon)
4 Maccabees (in Appendix)

Protestant
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs (Song of
Solomon)
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah

Bible Translations
Translation Year* Type Description
King James Version
(KJV) 1611, 1769 Word-for-word Used by adults who prefer the
English found in older versions.

American
Standard Version
(ASV)

1901 Word-for-word Very formal. Used for serious

Bible study.

Revised Standard
Version (RSV) 1952 Word-for-word Based on the ASV.

Amplified Bible
(AMP) 1965

Word-for-
word, plus

amplification
of meaning

Uses a unique system of
punctuation, typefaces, and
synonyms (in parentheses) to more
fully explain words.

New Jerusalem
Bible (NJB) 1966, 1985 Word-for-word

Typically used by Roman Catholics
for serious Bible study. Includes the
Apocrypha.

New American
Bible (NAB)

1970, 1986,
1991 Word-for-word

Official translation used in U.S.
Catholic Church Mass. Includes the
Apocrypha.

New American
Standard Bible
(NASB)

1971, 1995 Word-for-word Used by adults for serious

Bible study.

Good News

Translation (GNT) 1976, 1992 Thought-for-
thought

Used by children and believers for
whom English is not their first
language.

New International
Version (NIV)

1978, 1984,
2011 Balance

Modern translation aimed to be
acceptable to many denominations.
Currently the best-selling Bible
version.

New King James
Version (NKJV) 1982 Word-for-word

Modern language translation to
maintain the structure and beauty
of the KJV.

New Century

Version (NCV) 1987 Thought-for-
thought

Uses footnotes to clarify ancient
customs. Used by children and
teenagers for personal devotional
reading.

Translation Year* Type Description
New Revised
Standard Version
(NRSV)

1989 Word-for-word

Revision of the RSV using information
gathered from newly discovered
Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.

Contemporary
English Version
(CEV)

1995 Thought-for-
thought

Recommended for children and
people who do not speak English as
their first language.

God’s Word
Translation (GW) 1995 Balance

Translated by a committee of
biblical scholars and English
reviewers to ensure accurate,
natural English.

New International
Reader’s Version
(NIrV)

1996, 1998 Thought-for-
thought

Simple words and short sentences
to appeal to a lower reading level.

New Living

Translation (NLT) 1996, 2004 Thought-for-
thought

Translation style of the Living Bible
(TLB). Easy-to-read modern version.

English Standard
Version (ESV) 2001 Word-for-word

Derived from the RSV. Used by
teenagers and adults for serious
Bible study.

The Message
(MSG) 2002 Paraphrase

Re-creates the common language in
which the Bible was written into
today’s common language.

Holman Christian
Standard Bible
(HCSB)

2004 Balance

Alternate translations included in
footnotes. Used by teenagers and
adults for personal devotions and
Bible study.

Common English
Bible (CEB) 2011 Balance

Diverse team of translators from 22
faith traditions in American, African,
Asian, European, and Latino
communities.
*Year complete Bible translation was released and later revisions

 Word-for-word: Scholars translate each word based upon the word usage at the time of writing.
No translation is actually “word-for-word,” but the intent is to come as close as possible.

Thought-for-thought: Scholars translate the meaning of each thought.

Balance: Between a word-for-word and thought-for-thought approach.
Paraphrase: A restatement of a translation in modern vocabulary; often expanded for clarity.

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