William Tyndale (1494?-1536) of England was a Catholic priest turned heretic turned exile turned Bible translator. First they burned his Bibles and then they burned him at the stake. Although his translation was “unauthorized”, the King James Bible, aka the Authorized Version, would later keep about 92% of his wording.
For example, here is the Serpent giving Eve advice about eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:4-5, all spellings modernized):
In the King James Bible:
“Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
In Tyndale:
“Tush ye shall not die: But God doth know that whensoever ye should eat of it your eyes should be opened and ye should be as God and know both good and evil.”
King James gathered 47 of the most learned men of his kingdom, but for the most part they could not top Tyndale. This becomes even more clear when you look at a verse where they did not copy off of Tyndale: Song of Solomon 2:11:
“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;”
Tyndale, from an incomplete translation of that book:
“For now winter is gone and rain departed and past.”
That Tyndale was burned at the stake before he got to the Book of Psalms is a tragic loss for the English-speaking world. He only completed the New Testament (1526, revised 1534) and the first five books of the Old Testament (1530).
English words and phrases that come from Tyndale’s translation (mainly by way of the King James):
- scapegoat,
- let there be light,
- it came to pass,
- a moment in time,
- the powers that be,
- a law unto themselves,
- my brother’s keeper,
- the salt of the earth,
- fight the good fight,
- sick unto death,
- flowing with milk and honey,
- a man after his own heart,
- the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,
- the signs of the times,
- ye of little faith,
- eat, drink and be merry,
- broken-hearted,
- clear-eyed,
- fisherman,
- landlady,
- sea-shore,
- stumbling-block,
- taskmaster,
- two-edged,
- zealous,
- Jehovah,
- Passover,
- atonement.
and others.
Target demographic: ploughboys. Tyndale once told a priest that:
“Ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth a plough to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost.”
Ploughboys did not know Latin. Most could not even read. So Tyndale mostly avoided important-sounding latinate words. And he paid attention to the rhythm – of how it would sound when read out loud.
An anti-Catholic translation: By 1500 the Greek words ekklesia (assembly), presbyteros (elder), agape (love), and metanoia (change of mind) had commonly been translated as “church”, “priest”, “charity” and “penance”, words that had gained particular meanings that supported the Catholic power structure and which were read back into the original Greek of the New Testament. Tyndale translated these words as “congregation”, “senior” (later “elder”), “love” and “repentance”. A reasonable translation of the Greek, but one that threatened the power of the Church.
– Abagond, 2021.
Sources: mainly Google Images; “God’s Bestseller” (2002) by Brian Moynahan; “In the Beginning” (2001) by Alister McGrath; “The Adventure of English” (2011) by Melvyn Bragg.
See also:
- Bible
- Christianity
- Catholic
- Protestant
- Luther – Tyndale was one of his followers
- The birth of Standard English – Tyndale was one of the formative influences
- Greek
- Anglo-Protestant culture
571
“That Tyndale was burned at the stake before he got to the Book of Psalms is a tragic loss for the English-speaking world.”
And this is where we part.
english language – only know it and speak it because my ansectors where enslaved.
so its value to me is the same as mental jail that by learning my native languages and culture as well as visiting the continent
is a necessary obligation to partly repair the grievous injury to by being ,dignity and heritage .
But how can so vicious and cruel a way ,be esteemed by someone such as abagond
I have pondered this question my whole life.
Why did I regect it before I even knew the name of the rejection?
why is it ,a choice a conclusion a barely knew I made
my source of greatest pride ,has not ,indeed is virtually impossible to refute?
my family all the sisters have children and are devoted Christians
At first after the third time as a adult I contacted them I realized that not once had they tried to contact me in all my adult years.
And one even said yeah I now you don’t believe ,but I do
the thing I know about them is they would never dream of holding white european culture accountable.
They have the ability but not the will.
and thus abagond a thousand times more.
But others sources as well point to the conclusion – you must show unconditional subservience’s to white people no matter how absurd.
or you will have neither friend family nor community.
Me i follow the “news” and the churches burning in Canada and the reason why
provide me the warmth and solace of mind I will never get here nor from my relatives.
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