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The Scriptures – Light for those in Darkness

When you read William Tyndale’s 1525 Prologue to the New Testament, you get a glimpse into his character. His concern for his countrymen is moving. He wants them to have the Light of Scripture to drive away their spiritual darkness. Pictured below is Page 1 of this 1525 Prologue. You will find a transcript of page 1 just below the picture.

Below is the transcript of page 1 in modern English spelling:

Prologue

I have here translated (brethren and sisters most dear and tenderly beloved in Christ) the new Testament for your spiritual edifying, consolation and solace: Exhorting instantly and beseeching those that are better seen in the tongues than I, and that have higher gifts of grace to interpret the sense of the Scripture, and meaning of the Spirit, than I, to consider and ponder my labor, and that with the spirit of meekness. And if they perceive in any places that I have not attained the very sense of the tongue, or meaning of the Scripture, or have not given the right English word, that they put to their hands to amend it, remembering that so is their duty to do. For we have not received the gifts of God for ourselves only, or for to hide them; but for to bestow them unto the honoring of God and Christ, and edifying of the congregation, which is the body of Christ.

The causes that moved me to translate, I thought better that others should imagine, than that I should rehearse them. Moreover I supposed it superfluous, for who is so blind to ask why light should be showed to them that walk in darkness, where they cannot but stumble, and where to stumble is the danger of eternal damnation, other so despiteful that he would envy any man (I speak not his brother) so necessary a thing, or so bedlam mad to affirm that good is the natural cause of evil, and darkness to proceed out of light, and that lying should be grounded in truth and verity, and not rather clean contrary, that light destroyeth darkness, and verity reproveth all manner lying.

Please note: Some of my transcription of page 1 of the 1525 Prologue to the New Testament could be incorrect in a few places. I have done my best. Feel free to let me know or comment on this post, if you think something isn’t correct.

The 1525 Prologue to the New Testament referred to in this article is from what is known as the 1525 Cologne Fragment. Details about this are below:

It is thought by scholars that William Tyndale’s first attempt at translating and printing the New Testament is contained in what is known as the Cologne Fragment or the Matthew Fragment. There is only one copy known to exist. It is housed in the Grenville Collection at the British Library. All that has survived is 31 leaves/pages containing Tyndale’s Prologue, a woodcut of St Matthew, and chapters 1-22 of Matthew’s Gospel. It is said to have been printed in Cologne, Germany.

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Kind regards to all who stopped by this small corner of the internet! If you wish, leave a comment or question.

We are excited to announce…

We have published a new book about William Tyndale’s translation of the Old Testament prophet, Jonah.

The title of the book is: William Tyndale’s JONAH: A modern-spelling edition of the 1531 translation with facsimile of Tyndale’s 16th century original.
The book is available in two formats: 1) Paperback and 2) Audiobook

The paperback is 44 pages. Click this link to learn more.

Tyndale-Jonah-paperbk-book-Nov-4-2020 — Book Cover (William Tyndale’s JONAH: A modern-spelling edition of the 1531 translation with facsimile of Tyndale’s 16th century original)

For a limited time, ten (10) people may get the ENTIRE audiobook for FREE. Click this link to learn more. No credit card is required. We hope you will take advantage of this limited time offer!

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Video: TTS Reading – 2 Peter 3:8-10 (1526 Tyndale NT)

2Pet-3v8-10-Oct3-FI-FEB

Below is another video from our new YouTube changes. It is a Bible reading from the 1526 William Tyndale New Testament that has been done using Text-to-Speech (TTS) software.

The YouTube video shows the original spelling. Below is the modern spelling of these verses.

Any who are familiar with the King James Bible will recognize how similar the King James is to Tyndale’s translation.
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“Dearly beloved be not ignorant of this one thing how that one day is with the Lord as a thousand year and a thousand year as one day.

The Lord is not slack to fulfill his promise as some men count slackness: but is patient to usward and would have no man lost but would receive all men to repentance.

Nevertheless the day of the lord will come as a thief in the night in the which day the heavens shall perish with terrible noise and the elements shall melt with heat and the earth with the works that are therein shall burn.”
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Published on Wednesday, October 3, 2018
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Thanks for reading!

Kind regards to all who stopped by this small corner of the internet! If you wish, leave a comment or question.

Store

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.

If you are curious about owning a William Tyndale Bible, 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.

The Tyndale New Testament, 1526 Edition

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 or purchase via streaming the “Man with a Mission” documentary which features Tyndale scholar, David Daniell. It is very low cost, but quite an interesting video.

Man with a Mission: William Tyndale–DVD

(NOTE: To see how to do streaming video rental or purchase, click on the DVD link above to get further details.)

For full disclosure, I do earn a small advertising fee, if you purchase something.

Disclaimer

First English Bible dot com is an Affiliate of The Christianbook Group, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for websites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Christian Book dot com.

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We Have a YouTube Channel – Intro Video

FEB-YT-Channel-Featured-Image-10-02-post

We now have a YouTube channel where we will be posting videos. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel if you wish to be notified when we publish new videos.

Below is the first video published to our new channel. It is only 28 seconds long and is a short introduction to our channel. We found some beautiful background music we want to feature on more of our videos. Click the play button on the video to hear it.

Published on Tuesday, October 2, 2018
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Thanks for reading!

Kind regards to all who stopped by this small corner of the internet! If you wish, leave a comment or question.

Store

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.

If you are curious about owning a William Tyndale Bible, check out our small Store. Orders are fulfilled by Christianbook Distributors located in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA.

The Tyndale New Testament, 1526 Edition

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 or purchase via streaming the “Man with a Mission” documentary which features Tyndale scholar, David Daniell. It is very low cost, but quite an interesting video.

Man with a Mission: William Tyndale–DVD
(NOTE: To see how to do streaming video rental or purchase, click on the DVD link above to get further details.)

For full disclosure, I do earn a small advertising fee, if you purchase something.

Disclaimer

Bible

“The Fall” – Tyndale’s Genesis of 1530

Gen3-Tyn1530

The few verses below (Genesis 3:1-11) contain “The Fall” of Adam and Eve after they were tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit. As you read, you can see how these verses were translated and published in William Tyndale’s Pentateuch of 1530.

Just a reminder, this is before English Bibles contained verse divisions which first appeared in 1557.

Punctuation and spelling (which is phonetic) are somewhat different, nearly 500 years later, but even in the Original Spelling (shown just after the Modern Spelling of these verses), you can still see how similar Tyndale’s version is to modern day translations of these same verses.

If there is a word you do not recognize in the ORIGINAL SPELLING version, just sound it out and you will often figure out what word it is.

MODERN SPELLING

Chapter 3

BUT the serpent was subtler than all the beasts of the field which the LORD God had made, and said unto the woman. Ah sir, that God hath said, ye shall not eat of all manner trees in the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, of the fruit of the trees in the garden we may eat, but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden (said God) see that ye eat not, and see that ye touch it not: lest ye die.

Then said the serpent unto the woman: Tush ye shall not die: But God doth know, that when so ever ye should eat of it, your eyes should be opened and ye should be as God and know both good and evil. And the woman saw that it was a good tree to eat of and lusty unto the eyes and a pleasant tree for to make wise. And took of the fruit of it and ate, and gave unto her husband also with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, that they understood how that they were naked. Than they sewed fig leaves together and made them aprons.

And they heard the voice of the LORD God as he walked in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam hid himself and his wife also from the face of the LORD God, among the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called Adam and said unto him where art thou? And he answered. Thy voice I heard in the garden, but I was afraid because I was naked, and therefore hid myself. And he said: who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, of which I bade thee that thou shouldest not eat?

ORIGINAL SPELLING

The .iij. Chapter

BUT the serpent was sotyller than all the beastes of the felde which the LORde God had made/ and sayd vnto the woman. Ah syr/ that God hath sayd/ ye shall not eate of all maner trees in the garden. And the woman sayd vnto the serpent/ of the frute of the trees in the garden we may eate/ but of the frute of the tree that is in the myddes of the garden (sayd God) se that ye eate not/ and se that ye touch it not: lest ye dye.

Then sayd the serpent vnto the woman: tush ye shall not dye: But God doth knowe/ that whensoever ye shulde eate of it/ youre eyes shuld be opened and ye shulde be as God and knowe both good and evell. And the woman sawe that it was a good tree to eate of and lustie vnto the eyes and a pleasant tre for to make wyse. And toke of the frute of it and ate/ and gaue vnto hir husband also with her/ and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened/ that they vnderstode how that they were naked. Than they sowed fygge leves togedder and made them apurns.

And they herd the voyce of the LORde God as he walked in the gardẽ in the coole of the daye. And Adam hyd hymselfe and his wyfe also from the face of the LORde God/ amonge the trees of the garden. And the LORde God called Adam and sayd vnto him where art thou? And he answered. Thy voyce I harde in the garden/ but I was afrayd because I was naked/ and therfore hyd myselfe. And he sayd: who told the that thou wast naked? hast thou eaten of the tree/ of which I bade the that thou shuldest not eate?

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William Tyndale – A Few Quotes

John Foxe in his book, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, attributes this famous saying to William Tyndale:

“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.” (Tyndale was in a discussion with a member of the clergy.)

I believe the next quote from William Tyndale is contained in one of his many prologues in his Old and New Testament Bible translations:

“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.”

If memory serves me well, this third quote comes from a letter William Tyndale wrote to his friend, John Frith, who also died a martyr’s death.

“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.”

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