The Bible is the most translated book in human history, available today in over 3,500 languages. But the journey from ancient scrolls to the printed Bibles on our shelves is one of the most dramatic stories in the history of civilization—filled with scholars laboring by candlelight, martyrs dying for their convictions, and printing presses that changed the world forever.
The Original Languages
The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) were written primarily in Biblical Hebrew, with small portions in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, the common trade language of the first-century Mediterranean world. These original texts were copied by hand across centuries, producing thousands of manuscripts that scholars still study today.
The Septuagint: First Major Translation
Around 250–150 BCE, Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. This translation, known as the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX, from the Latin for “seventy,” referring to the legendary seventy translators), became the Bible of the early church. Jesus and the apostles frequently quoted from it. The Septuagint made the Hebrew scriptures accessible to the Greek-speaking world and established a precedent: the Word of God could be translated without losing its authority.
Jerome and the Latin Vulgate
As the Roman Empire adopted Latin as its dominant language, the church needed a reliable Latin Bible. Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome, one of the greatest scholars of the ancient world, to produce a standard Latin translation. Working from 382 to 405 CE, Jerome translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek originals rather than simply revising earlier Latin versions. His work, the Vulgate (from the Latin vulgata, meaning “common”), became the standard Bible of the Western Church for over a thousand years and remains the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Medieval Period and Vernacular Translations
During the Middle Ages, Latin literacy was largely confined to clergy and scholars. Common people heard the Bible read in a language they couldn’t understand. John Wycliffe, an English theologian, believed this was wrong. In the 1380s, he and his associates produced the first complete English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. The church condemned his work and, after his death, had his bones exhumed and burned. But the movement he started could not be stopped.
William Tyndale: The Martyr Translator
William Tyndale changed everything. Working in the 1520s and 1530s, he was the first to translate the New Testament into English directly from the Greek, and he began translating the Old Testament from Hebrew before his execution in 1536. Tyndale’s English was vivid, memorable, and deeply influential—scholars estimate that about 80% of his wording was carried forward into the King James Bible. He was strangled and burned at the stake, reportedly praying “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
The King James Bible (1611)
King James I of England commissioned a new translation in 1604, and the resulting Bible—published in 1611—became the most influential Bible in the English-speaking world. Produced by 54 scholars working in six committees, the King James Version synthesized earlier translations, particularly Tyndale’s, into majestic prose that shaped English literature and speech for four centuries. Phrases like “the salt of the earth,” “a labor of love,” and “by the skin of your teeth” entered common usage through the KJV.
The Modern Translation Era
The discovery of older manuscripts—including the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) and Dead Sea Scrolls (1947)—gave scholars access to earlier and more accurate source texts. This, combined with growing understanding of biblical languages and translation theory, produced a wave of modern translations: the Revised Standard Version (1952), the New International Version (1978), the English Standard Version (2001), and dozens more. Each translation makes different choices about how to balance accuracy with readability.
Translation as Mission
Today, organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL International are working to complete Bible translation in every language. Over 2,200 languages still have no complete Bible. Translation remains an act of faith and sacrifice—just as it was in Jerome’s scriptorium, Tyndale’s exile, or the King James committee rooms of 1604.
The history of Bible translation is ultimately the story of people who believed these words were worth the cost of making them known.