Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: cms@dragon.uucp Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Bible versions Message-ID: Date: 16 Jul 90 07:07:21 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited Lines: 87 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , chl@cs.man.ac.uk (Charles Lindsey) writes: > Thanks for the various texts of John 1. A notable omission was the genuine KJV > text which, to my taste, has not been bettered by anything else. It has a > better rhythm (and this is poetry not prose) and the slightly unusual word > ordering (putting the word "not" at the end, for example) does a lot to point > out the message: > He was in the world, and the world was made by him, > And the world knew him not. > He came unto his own > And his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. > (Pardon small errors, I am quoting from memory). Very good. > However, my question is this. This KJV text was based on even earlier > translations. Does anyone have access to the text of the Tyndale or Coverdale > versions which they would care to post? No, but I do have a copy of the Douay Bible (Douay-Rheims): He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, he gave power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. For what it's worth, the publisher's note indicates that the Douay-Rheims is more accurate than any modern Bible because it is based on ancient texts, no longer extant, captured by Saint Jerome in his Vulgate; Douay is a translation of the Vulgate with the original languages diligently compared. I don't agree with that: Having compared the Jerusalem Bible with the New Jerusalem Bible, I can attest that translations from the original languages seem best, although I see the author's point, and it's a valid one. In fact, the King James Bible itself was not an original translation, as you mentioned above, but rather borrowed heavily from the Douay. My Jerome Commentary notes that when the King James first came out some contemporaries thought the English was barbaric. I don't know much about the Tyndale version except that its author was an open partisan of Luther, the translation was theological slanted, and the notes virulently anti-Catholic. Not my kinda guy. The Coverdale Bible, unlike Tyndale, was not a translation from the original languages; it was apparently translated from Dutch. (= German, i.e., Luther's translation) and from Latin. The Great Bible combined the two by joining Tyndale's unpublished notes and revised by Coverdale. Every church in England used this Bible for a while; its psalter was the one used in the Book of Common Prayer. The Geneva Bible was a revision of the Tyndale and the Great Bible; it was also Calvinistic and anti-Catholic in tone. The Bishops Bible was a revision of the Great Bible in the light of the Geneva Bible; it toned down the Calvinism. The Authorized Version (King James) was a revision of the Bishops Bible and, as noted above, borrowed from the Douay-Rheims, besides earlier editions. Revised Version was the first major revision of the King James in 250 years. A conservative revision of the American Standard Version, with readings preferred by American scholars, became the New American Standard. The Revised Standard Version is a revision of the King James. Hope that helps. I gleaned this from Jerome's Commentary. -- Sincerely, Cindy Smith _///_ // SPAWN OF A JEWISH _///_ // _///_ // <`)= _<< CARPENTER _///_ //<`)= _<< <`)= _<< _///_ // \\\ \\ \\ _\\\_ <`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ <`)= _<< >IXOYE=('> \\\ \\ \\\ \\_///_ // // /// _///_ // _///_ // emory!dragon!cms <`)= _<< _///_ // <`)= _<< <`)= _<< \\\ \\<`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ GO AGAINST THE FLOW! \\\ \\ A Real Live Catholic in Georgia