When William Tyndale translated and published the New Testament into English in 1526, there were approximately six (6) million native English speakers. It is now estimated there are about 380 million native English speakers and more than 740 million non-native English speakers. This brings the total number of English speakers to over 1 billion.
By Ethnologue rankings, English is ranked at #1 with a total of 1.12 billion speakers. Mandarin Chinese is ranked at #2 with a total of 1.10 billion speakers. (Source: Wikipedia).
The King James Bible is one of the most widely sold books in the world. Therefore, the magnificent Bible translation work which William Tyndale accomplished in the 1500’s is still being read today — since the King James Bible contains about 80% pure Tyndale in the books he was able to translate — before he was executed and burnt at the stake in 1536.
He translated these Bible books: (a) Genesis through 2 Chronicles, and the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament and (b) the entire New Testament.
William Tyndale could never have imagined that his Bible translations would reach so many people. These quotes from Tyndale are found on our About page, but they seem very fitting here, as well:
“If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who drives the plough to know more of the scriptures than you do.”
“I perceived how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue.”
“I call God to record against the day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, that I never altered one syllable of God’s Word against my conscience, nor would do this day, if all that is in earth, whether it be honor, pleasure, or riches, might be given me.”
“Christ is with us until the world’s end. Let his little flock be bold therefore.”
Thanks for reading. Kind Regards to all who stopped by this small corner of the internet! If you wish, leave a comment or question.
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No pressure from me — for anyone — to buy anything.
I am truly encouraged by all who visit here. I hope you learned something about William Tyndale and his work and of course, learned more about God’s Word, too.
However, if you are curious about owning a William Tyndale New Testament? Check out our small Store. Orders are fulfilled by Christianbook Distributors located in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA.
The British Library paid over one million pounds in 1994 for an original copy of the 1526 New Testament. A facsimile (digital photocopy) of this same New Testament is available in our store — for a very reasonable price.
We have items in the store related to William Tyndale and items related to the King James Bible. Some are very inexpensive.
One example, you can rent via streaming the “Man with a Mission” documentary which features Tyndale scholar, David Daniell. It is very low cost, but quite an interesting video.
For full disclosure, I do earn a small advertising fee, if you purchase something.
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