The Age of Bibles: English Precursors to the King James Bible

The King James Bible, also known as the Authorized Version of the Bible, published in 1611, profoundly influenced the development of the English language. However, what many people today do not know is that several earlier English-language versions of the Bible, all published in the sixteenth century, strongly influenced the King James Bible itself.

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, with scattered passages of Aramaic. The New Testament was originally in Greek or Aramaic. Early Christians translated the Bible into several ancient languages. St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate (written in the early fifth century) was the standard Christian Bible for a thousand years. In 1382 the first complete English translation, credited to John Wycliffe, appeared; it retained, however, much of the Latin text.

Sixteenth-century religious controversies, notably the break with Latin-based Roman Catholicism and the establishment of vernacular-based Protestant churches (a movement known as the Reformation), generated the need for new translations of the Bible. For example, one of the founders of the Reformation, Martin Luther, translated the entire Bible into German between 1522 and 1534.

In England, too, these translations occurred. Because of the religious turmoil of the period, the various translations display a wide range of theological slant as well as linguistic style.