Jonah – FirstEnglishBible.com

Our new book on Tyndale’s Jonah is available

We are very excited to announce that 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. It costs $7.99. Click this link to learn more.

For a limited time, twenty five (25) 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!

The audiobook is nearly 11 minutes long. It costs $3.99 (if you miss the limited time offer to get it FREE). You may listen to the Prologue and Jonah, Chapter 1 for FREE even when the limited time offer has ended. Click this link to learn more about purchasing the audiobook for $3.99.

The paperback book gives you three (3) unique views of Tyndale’s Jonah, which he published in 1531.
View 1: A modern-spelling edition of Tyndale’s Bible text of Jonah.
View 2: A facsimile of the 16th-century Bible text of Jonah as published by Tyndale in 1531.
View 3: A transcription of the facsimile in modern typeface but with the original 16th-century spelling.

Tyndale’s translation of Jonah (discovered in 1861) was nearly lost to posterity. In 1863, English Bible scholar, Francis Fry published a book containing a facsimile of this rare work from Tyndale. Fry’s 1863 publication is the source for View 2 of Tyndale’s Jonah found in the paperback book.

There is something sobering in seeing this facsimile. One gets to glimpse — via Francis Fry’s lithographs — the very text of Jonah which Tyndale received from his 16th-century print shop. Tyndale was putting his life in danger to bring the Bible in English to his countrymen.

If any of you decide to buy either version of the book (paperback or audiobook) and enjoy it, we would really appreciate if you let others know about it, so they can enjoy it, too. We would appreciate your feedback in our comments section, as well!

Thanks!

Bible

Jonah 1:1-6 – Parallel Edition with Original & Modern Spelling

Image of Jonah 1:1-6 as translated by William Tyndale

Scroll down to see the ORIGINAL and MODERN SPELLING translations of the verses shown on the image above. The image shows the Book of Jonah as published by William Tyndale around 1530 or 1531.

ORIGINAL SPELLING OF TYNDALE’S BIBLE TRANSLATION:

BOOK OF JONAH 1:1-6

¶The Storie of the prophete Jonas.
The first Chapter.

1:1 ¶ The worde of the lorde came un to the prophete Jonas the sonne of Amithai sayenge: 1:2 ryse & gett the to Nineve that greate citie & preach un to them / how that theyr wekednesse is come upp before me.

1:3 ¶ And Jonas made him ready to fle to Tharsis from the presens of the lorde / & gatt hym downe to Ioppe / and founde there a sheppe ready to goo to Tharsis / & payed his fare / & went aborde / to goo with them to Tharsis from the presens of the lorde.

1:4 ¶ But the lorde hurled a greate winde into the se / so that there was a myghtie tempest in the se: in so moch that the shepp was lyke to goo in peces. 1:5 And the mariners were afrayed & cried every man un to his god, & cast out the goodes that were in the sheppe in to the
se / to lighten it of them. But Jonas gatt him under the hatches & layed him downe and slombrede.
1:6 And the master of the sheppe came to him & sayd un to him / why slomberest thou? upp / & call un to thy god / that God maye thinke on us / that we perish not.

MODERN SPELLING OF TYNDALE’S BIBLE TRANSLATION:

BOOK OF JONAH 1:1-6

¶The Story of the Prophet Jonah
The First Chapter

1:1 ¶ The word of the Lord came unto the prophet Jonah the son of Amittai saying: 1:2 rise & get thee to Nineveh that great city & preach unto them, how that their wickedness is come up before me.

1:3 ¶ And Jonah made him ready to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, & gat him down to Joppa, and found there a ship ready to go to Tarshish, & paid his fare, & went aboard, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

1:4 ¶ But the Lord hurled a great wind into the sea, so that there was a mighty tempest in the sea: insomuch that the ship was like to go in pieces. 1:5 And the mariners were afraid & cried every man unto his god, & cast out the goods that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah gat him under the hatches & laid him down and slumbered. 1:6 And the master of the ship came to him & said unto him, Why slumberest thou? Up, & call unto thy God, that God may think on us, that we perish not.

Published on Saturday, September 1, 2018

——

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.)

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Bible

Rise & Get Thee to Nineveh (Jonah 1)

Jonah-Chap1-1531

William Tyndale published the book of Jonah around 1531. It was probably printed in Antwerp where he had earlier published the Five Books of Moses (Pentateuch) in 1530.

Below you will find the title page (Page 1), the first few lines of the prologue (Page 2-exerpt) entitled: “W.T. vn to the Christen reader” and the first few verses of Jonah, Chapter 1 (Page 40-exerpt). Tyndale’s Prologue was 38 pages long – much longer than the book of Jonah itself – which is only 4 short chapters and consisting of 7 pages in this printing from 1531.

Page 1 – Original Spelling

¶ The prophete
Ionas / with an introduccion before teachinge to vnderstonde him and the right vse also of all the scripture / and why it was written / and what is therin to be sought / and shewenge wherewith the scripture is locked vpp that he which readeth it / can not vnderstonde it / though he studie therin neuer so moch: and agayne with what keyes it is so opened / that the reader can be stopped out with no sotilte or false doctrine of man / from the true sense and vnderstondynge therof.

Page 2 (exerpt) – Original Spelling

W. T. vn to the Christen reader.

As the envious Philistenes stopped the welles of Abraham and filled them vpp with erth / to put the memoriall out of minde / to the entent that they might chalenge the grounde: even so the fleshly minded ypocrites stoppe vpp the vaynes of life which are in the scripture / with the erth of theyr tradicions / false similitudes & lienge allegories: & that of like zele / to make the scripture theyr awne possession & marchaundice: and so shutt vpp the kingdome of heven which is Gods worde nether enteringe in them selues nor soferinge them that wolde.

Page 40 (exerpt) – Original Spelling

¶ The Storie of the prophete Ionas.

The first Chapter.

The worde of the lorde came vn to the prophete Ionas the sonne of Amithai sayenge: ryse & gett the to Niniue that greate citie & preach vn to them / how that theyr wekednesse is come vpp before me.

¶ And Ionas made him ready to fle to Tharsis from the presens of the lorde / & gatt hym downe to Ioppe / and founde there a sheppe ready to goo to Tharsis / & payed his fare / & went aborde / to goo with them to Tharsis from the presens of the lorde.

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

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 Bible? Check out our small Store. Orders are fulfilled by Christianbook Distributors located in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA.

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.