How We Got the Bible

How the Bible Was Translated

The Bible was written in Hebrew and Aramaic (the Old Testament) and Greek (the New Testament). Over centuries it was translated: into Greek (the Septuagint), into Latin (Jerome's Vulgate), and eventually into English through Wycliffe, Tyndale, and the King James Version of 1611. Modern translations work directly from the earliest available manuscripts. Translations differ mainly in how literally they render the original languages, not because the message changes.

The original languages

The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, with a few sections in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, the common Greek of the first-century Mediterranean world. Around the third to second century BC, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek in the Septuagint, which the early church often used.

Latin, then English

In the late fourth century, Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate, which became the standard Bible of the Western church for a thousand years. English translation came slowly. John Wycliffe’s circle translated from Latin in the 1380s. William Tyndale translated the New Testament directly from Greek in 1526 and much of the Old Testament from Hebrew, work for which he was executed in 1536; much of his wording lived on. The King James Version of 1611 drew on Tyndale and the original languages and shaped English-speaking Christianity for centuries.

Why translations differ

Modern translations work from the earliest Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, including discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls. They differ mainly along a spectrum: formal equivalence (word-for-word, such as the ESV or NASB) stays close to the structure of the original, while dynamic equivalence (thought-for-thought, such as the NIV or NLT) aims for natural readability. Neither is dishonest; they make different trade-offs between precision and clarity. Comparing translations is often a good way to see the range of a passage’s meaning.

What Christians hold

Christians hold that God’s word can be faithfully carried across languages, and that no one is cut off from it for lack of Greek or Hebrew. This site quotes the King James Version in its public pages for its enduring, out-of-copyright English, while encouraging readers to compare modern translations too.

Frequently asked questions

What languages was the Bible originally written in?

The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, with some Aramaic; the New Testament was written in Koine Greek. Early translations include the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate.

Why are there so many Bible translations?

Translations differ mainly in how literally they render the original languages, from word-for-word (formal equivalence, like the ESV or NASB) to thought-for-thought (dynamic equivalence, like the NIV or NLT). They serve different readers, not different messages.

Is the King James Version the most accurate Bible?

The KJV (1611) is a landmark translation with beautiful, enduring English, but it was made before many early manuscripts were discovered. Modern translations draw on older evidence. Many readers compare the KJV with a modern version to get both its dignity and the latest scholarship.