The word Bible means ‘books’, or ‘Little Library’. It was written over 1600 years (1450 BC to 100 AD) by forty different writers on three different continents. It is divided into Two main sections: the Old and the New Testaments (Covenants). Shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, physicians, fishermen, priests, philosophers and kings all wrote parts of the Bible. Despite these differences in occupations and the span of years it took to write it, the Bible is an extremely cohesive and unified book.
The Old Testament is divided into Five sections: Law or Torah, History, Poetry, Major and Minor Prophets. The Jewish people divide it into three sections: Torah (the Law), Writings (Nevi’im) and Prophets (Kethuvim). The Old Testament was written before Christ and the New Testament was written after Christ, covering the life of Christ and the Apostles.
There was no punctuation or capitalization in the Hebrew language. These had to be added later to make sense of the reading. Stephen Langton (1150-1228) is credited with dividing the Bible into ‘Chapters’, and Robert Estienne (1500s) with the ‘Verses’.
The original manuscripts were written on plant-based papyrus or on animal hide or etched in stone. They were collected into ‘Scrolls’, or rolled up sheets of writing. Over time the ‘sheets’ were also stacked and bound into what is called a ‘Codex’.
Obadiah and Philemom both have one chapter. Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible and John 11:35 is the shortest verse.
Ptolemy II (285-246 BCE) commissioned a copy of the Hebrew Jewish Torah (1st five books) into Greek, known as the Septuagint, abbreviated LXX after the 72 scholars and the 72 days it took them to do the translation. The whole Hebrew Bible later became known as the Septuagint.
Jerome (385-405) translated the Bible into Latin, known as the Latin Vulgate. (Vulgate=Common) Martin Luther (1534) was troubled that the Catholics were using the Latin Vulgate which the ordinary people couldn’t read, so he went back to the Hebrew and Greek (the New Testament was written in Greek) and translated the Bible into German. His principle was “Sola scriptura” by Scripture alone.
So we had the Jewish Bible, the Catholic Bible (includes Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) and now the Protestant Bible. The Jewish and Protestant Bibles contained the same books for the Old Testament, arranged in different order for reading purposes. The Catholic Bible contains the ‘Apocrypha’ or extra books not contained in the Protestant Bible or Jewish Bible. (Jews and Protestants do not consider these books part of the biblical canon as the Apocrypha were not included in the original Hebrew Bible). The Catholics refer to these as “Deuterocanonical” or secondary part.
Christianity grew out of Judaism as a reform movement and Protestant Christianity grew out of Roman Catholic Christianity as a reform movement. There are also other texts that the Jews consider to have religious importance known as the Talmud.
The New Testament was written mainly in Greek with some Aramaic. It is divided into five groups: Gospels, Acts, General Letters, Pauline Letters, and the Apocalypse. The word Gospel means ‘good news’ and comes from the Greek word ‘evangelion’. Matthew, Mark and Luke are referred to as ‘Synoptic Gospels’, as they share many similarities. The Old Testament was canonized long before Christ, while the New Testament wasn’t canonized until 375 A.D. ‘Canon’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Kanon’, signifying a measuring rod. Thus, to have the Bible ‘canonized’ meant that it had been measured by the standard or test of divine inspiration and authority. It became the collection of books or writings accepted by the apostles and leadership of the early Christian church, as a basis for Christian belief. It is the standard by which all Christians throughout the ages live and worship.
Miles Coverdale is credited with the first English translation. Today the Bible has been translated into over 450 different languages, and portions of the Bible into over 2000 languages. The King James Bible was published in 1611. The Message and the New International Version Bible are good for paraphrase reading, while the King James and New American Standard Bible are good for literal word-for-word study. The English Standard Version is good for a balance between the two.
“Take all that you can of this book upon reason, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier man. (When a skeptic expressed surprise to see him reading a Bible)” Abraham Lincoln
The Bible was the first book printed in 1454. Job is considered to be the oldest book in the Bible, written about 1500 B.C. The Torah, Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Old Testament were written around 1450 B.C. Revelation was written around 95 A.D. The Bible is still the best selling book in the world today. The number of new Bibles that are sold, given away, or otherwise distributed in the USA is about 168,000 per day.
Total Chapters in the Bible — 1189.
Chapters in the Old Testament — 929.
Chapters in the New Testament — 260.
Longest Chapter — Psalms 119.
Shortest Chapter — Psalms 117.
Center Chapter — Psalms 118.
Chapters before Psalm 118 — 594 Chapters.
Chapters after Psalm 118 — 594 Chapters.
Add the Chapters up –1188 (594+594)+1(Center Chapter)=1189.
Center Verse — Psalms 118:8.
The Bible can be read aloud in 70 hours.
Voltaire, the French philosopher, was an atheist. He threatened that he would see to the destruction of the Bible and its removal from the face of the earth. What happened is that the Bible Society bought the house where he was born, after his death, and today that building is one of the biggest sales centers for the Bible.
In our time, we are privileged to have access to a wide variety of Bible translations in English. The idea that a Bible translator could be hunted down like a criminal and his Bible translation burned and destroyed seems shocking.
Why did such a tragedy happen? Let’s briefly explore the religious-political situation in England between 1380 and the 1530s for the answer.
We begin with the first English version of the Bible, translated and published in 1380 by John Wycliffe (c. 1330-1384). An Oxford theologian, Wycliffe was a severe critic of what he believed was a corrupt Church. He hoped that people could be called back to a more biblical faith, and for this to happen he was convinced that they needed to read the Bible in their own language.
By producing a translation, Wycliffe ran afoul of Church authorities. The few Wycliffe Bible copies in existence were banned by a synod of clergy in Oxford in 1408. In fact, the edict was issued against any unauthorized translation of the Bible into English.
Wycliffe was pronounced a heretic and was called “a son of the old serpent, forerunner and disciple of Antichrist” by the English Archbishop. In 1415, the Church Council of Constance condemned Wycliffe’s writings and ordered his bones to be dug out of the ground and to be burned.
We can now begin to understand why Tyndale and his Bible translation would also not be appreciated. Church authorities of the time seemed to take a dim view of Christian folk having the Bible in their own tongue. In the words of Church historian Philip Schaff, “Down to the very end of its history, the Medieval Church gave no official encouragement to the circulation of the Bible among the laity. On the contrary, it uniformly set itself against it.”
The Protestant Reformation begins
Tyndale would obviously be in danger of the Church hierarchy solely on the basis of his producing an unauthorized English translation. However, Tyndale had two strikes against him because he was also enmeshed in the Protestant Reformation, which was in full swing by the time he completed his New Testament in English in 1526. The first shot of the Reformation had been fired nine years earlier, when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. (Luther translated the New Testament into German in 1522.)
Tyndale had thrown in his lot with the Reformers and was highly critical of the Church structure in England. We could concede that the established church in England had no real case for objecting to a Bible in English, except perhaps on the traditional view that it was unhealthy for people to actually read the Bible for themselves. However, church officials also objected to the virulent commentary that Tyndale’s New Testament contained. This gave the high clergy the rationale to condemn Tyndale and seize copies of his translation.
A determined Tyndale
Tyndale was aware of the dangers of embarking on the translation project he was contemplating. However, he was convinced that the common people must be able to read the Bible in order to be called back to the biblical gospel. In one debate with a cleric, he vowed that if God spared his life, he would see to it that the plowboy would know more about Scripture than untutored priests.
Tyndale first approached Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall (or Tonstall) of London in 1523 to request permission to translate the Bible into English. He hoped that the bishop would both authorize his translation work and also provide him with a residential chaplaincy so he could support himself financially during his project. The bishop denied both requests and suggested Tyndale look for employment elsewhere.
The next year, Tyndale decided to go to the Continent, where, with the support of a group of British merchants, he completed his translation of the New Testament. Tyndale found a printer in Cologne, Germany; but opponents raided the printing establishment. Escaping with the pages that were already printed, he headed to Worms, Germany, where his full New Testament in English was printed in 1526. The first printing of 6,000 copies was then smuggled into England.
Church officials in England, especially in London, did everything they could to intercept copies of Tyndale’s New Testament and destroy them. But copies kept appearing, to the chagrin of Bishop Tunstall. He hit upon the idea of buying up as many copies as possible within his diocese and then destroying them. Once he accomplished his aim, the bishop held a public burning of these New Testament copies at St. Paul’s cathedral.
Despite this campaign against Tyndale’s New Testament, new copies kept appearing in England. Tunstall then conceived of a plan to buy up large numbers of copies on the Continent, before they made their way to England, and then destroy these as well. The bishop made an agreement with a merchant in Antwerp, Belgium, Augustine Packington, to buy all of Tyndale’s remaining printed New Testaments.
Tyndale was made privy to this plot and readily agreed to sell the copies. He would use the money he received to publish a new edition and have even more copies to distribute. The bishop’s plot was foiled. In the words of one Edward Halle, a chronicler of the times, “And so forward went the bargain: the bishop had the books, Packington had the thanks, and Tyndale had the money.”
More translation, opposition and Tyndale’s death
Meanwhile, Tyndale traveled to Antwerp, Belgium, where he began translating the Old Testament into English. By 1530, he had completed and published the English translation from the Hebrew of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.
Tyndale is also considered to have translated the historical Old Testament books from Joshua to 2 Chronicles, though his translation did not appear in his lifetime. As Tyndale was involved in the theological disputes of the day and because he was hounded by those seeking to capture him, he was unable to complete the translation of the entire Old Testament.
Tyndale’s second edition of the New Testament was finished in 1534. It was his definitive work, and it is this edition that served as the basis of the 1611 King James Authorized Version.
As Tyndale worked in Antwerp, Belgium, the agents of King Henry VIII and other opponents were scouring Europe, hoping to find and capture him. Tyndale was betrayed by a fellow Englishman, kidnapped and arrested on May 21, 1535. He was incarcerated in a Belgian fortress and eventually brought to trial for heresy and found guilty. The verdict condemning him to death came in August 1536. On October 6 of the same year he was executed at Vilvorde, Belgium.
Tyndale’s final prayer, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes,” is said to have been directed to English King Henry VIII (1491-1547). His prayer was a hope that the king would allow copies of the Bible in English to be circulated. Tyndale’s prayer had already been answered. An English version of the Bible that drew on his translation work was in circulation before his death. Three years after Tyndale’s death, Henry required every English parish church to make a copy of the English Bible available to parishioners.
In the biblical books that Tyndale translated, perhaps up to 90 percent of his wording is found in the King James Authorized Version and the Revised Standard Version. Where the 1611 Authorized Version departed from Tyndale’s translation, later revisers of this version often returned to it. For his pioneering work of translation, William Tyndale is considered the “Father of the English Bible.”
The Bible is inspired by the Spirit of the Living God and Jesus said that the Words or Rhema that He speaks to us is ‘Spirit and Life’. I have proven this true with the casting out of demons who hate the Name of Jesus Christ and the Word. I sleep with a Bible under my pillow, knowing that it contains the Holy Spirit throughout its pages. Psalm 119 is all about the power of the Word of God. Read it and ‘feel’ the ‘faith’ that comes from the words. The entrance of His Word gives ‘light’. We live under Satan’s darkness in this world; is it any wonder that he attacks the Bible when it is the one source that gives ‘Light’ to our hearts?
Click this link for a list of Bible Prophecies that Jesus Christ fulfilled: 365 Messianic Prophecies
A number of years ago, Peter W. Stoner and Robert C. Newman wrote a book entitled Science Speaks. The book was based on the science of probability and vouched for by the American Scientific Affiliation. It set out the odds of any one man in all of history fulfilling even only eight of the 60 major prophecies (and 270 ramifications) fulfilled by the life of Christ.
The probability that Jesus of Nazareth could have fulfilled even eight such prophecies would be 1 in 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.
Stoner claims that that many silver dollars would be enough to cover the face of the entire state of Texas two feet deep. Now I’ve been to Texas. I’ve driven for days to get across Texas. Texas is a very big state. Who in his right mind would suppose that a blindfolded man, heading out of Dallas by foot in any direction, would be able, on his very first attempt, to pick up one specifically marked silver dollar out of 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000?
The Bible will change a life if one reads it, meditates in it, and seeks to obey it. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. How can they hear without a preacher? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel. Not all preachers live in luxury and earn big salaries, and not all preachers are full of pride with lust for power and the material things of this life. Some are genuine shepherds seeking to live humbly in prayer and study of His Word, encouraging those around them to do the same. You will never fall in love with someone with a closed mind, you have to open your mind to ‘feel’ what your heart is telling it. God is not far from anyone of us, if we diligently ‘seek’ with ‘feeling’ after Him.