Bible Translations

The Old Testament part of the Bible was written in Hebrew (with a little bit in Aramaic). The New Testament part of the Bible was written in Greek. From the earliest times the Bible was translated into other languages. A Greek version of the Old Testament called the Septuagint was popular among Greek-speaking Jews at the time of Jesus and was used by the first Christians.

In the Middle Ages Latin was the language used by scholars throughout the western world, and few books were written in English. A Latin Bible - the Vulgate - was the only version readily available. At this time, all books were still written by hand, and were too expensive for ordinary people to own. As a result ordinary people had very little knowledge about what the Bible said.

With help from others, John Wycliffe (1329 - 84) translated the Latin Vulgate into English. Wycliffe believed that it should be available to everyone in their own language. His ideas and Bible were suppressed by the Church establishment.

The first English Bible printed in this way was produced by William Tyndale in 1525.

Many other English versions of the Bible followed, including a Catholic translation. When he became king, James I sponsored a new English translation of the Bible.

Today many new English translations of the Bible are available in the language of today and Catholic and Protestant scholars often work together on Bible translation projects. The RE:Quest website has chosen to use the New Living Bible because it is so easy to understand.

The work of Bible translation continues throughout the world, with the aim of making the Bible available in every language. So far, the whole Bible has been translated into 371 different languages, while 2200 languages have at least a portion of the Bible available. It is the world's bestselling book.