Verses by John Wycliffe

Re: verses from 1395 Wycliffe's

Verses from 1395 edition of Wycliffe's Bible


Job 24:23 [old spelling]
God yaf to hym place of penaunce, and he mysusith that in to pride; for the iyen of God ben in the weies of that man

Job 38:32 [updated spelling]
Whether thou bringest forth Lucifer, that is, day star, in his time,
and makest even star to rise on the sons of earth


Matthew 3:8 [updated spelling]
Therefore do ye worthy fruit of penance

Matthew 4:1 [updated spelling]
Than Jesus was led of a spirit into desert, to be tempted of the fiend.

Matthew 4:7 [updated spelling]
Eftsoon Jesus said to him, It is written, Thou shalt not tempt thy Lord God.

 

Dick Cimino suggested that Wycliffe’s Bible of 1382 came “from the same type of Greek text” as the KJV (The Book, p. 14). David Cloud listed Wycliffe’s as part of the heritage of the KJV (Faith, p. 433). Cloud wrote that “the foundation for the English Bible was the Wycliffe Bible of 1384” (p. 532). Cloud noted: “In English, the Word of God was preserved prior to 1611 with some impurities in the Wycliffe version based on Latin from 1384” (Bible Version Question/Answer, p. 92). He described it as “a good Bible with plain, powerful language” (p. 96). Cloud commented: “Though Wycliffe translated from Latin rather than Hebrew and Greek, his translation was good” (pp. 170-171). Gail Riplinger claimed that it is a myth that the Wycliffe Bible came from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate (In Awe, pp. 773, 788-789).


Geddes MacGregor pointed out that Wycliffe’s “was enormously popular, attaining an astonishing circulation for a book issued before the days of printing” (Literary History, p. 79). It is not known how much of the translating was actually done by John Wycliffe. MacGregor noted that “to Nicholas of Hereford is to be attributed the greater part of the translation into English of the Old Testament in the manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford” (p. 78). Deanesly maintained “that one person [John Purvey] wrote the General Prologue [to the Old Testament], and that he edited also the second version of the Wycliffite Bible” (Lollard Bible, pp. 266, 377). David Daniell suggested that John Trevisa was a translator of “the later improved edition” of Wycliffe’s Bible (Bible in English, pp. 91-95). Glenn Conjurske asserted: “as for the Wycliffe Bible being translated from the Old Latin, there is a mountain of evidence to the contrary. It was translated from the Latin Vulgate, and is in fact a very literal translation from the Vulgate” (Olde Paths, April, 1994, p. 94). MacGregor also maintained that the Wycliffe Bible “follows it [the Latin Vulgate] very closely” (Literary History, p. 79).


John Wycliffe wrote: “Regarding Jerome’s translation, it seems fitting that it be approved as much by the sanctity of his life . . . as by his expertise in the Hebrew language and the complete agreement of his translation with the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts” (Levy, John Wyclif, p. 157). Wycliffe also noted: “One need not believe that St. Jerome’s translation is free from error” (p. 156). Wycliffe's Bible included the Apocrypha and in the New Testament adds the epistle of Laodiceans.

Wycliffe's Bible translated Matthew 3:2 as "Saying, Do ye penance" (The Gospels, p. 11 and John Wycliff and the English Bible, p. 92). Along with its use at Matthew 3:2, this rendering "penance" is also found other times in Wycliffe's (Matt. 21:29; 21:32; Mark 6:12; Luke 5:32; 13:3, 5; 15:7, etc.). Wycliffe's Bibel has the rendering "priests" instead of "elders" in Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5. At Matthew 3:6, Wycliffe's Bible has "and they were christened of him in Jordan." It read "Jesus christened" at Luke 3:21 and “christened“ at Acts 18:8. The rendering "sacrament" can be found in Wycliffe's Bible at Ephesians 1:9, 3:3, 3:9, 5:32; Colossians 1:27, 1 Timothy 3:16, and Revelation 1:20 and 17:7. It has “deacon” (Luke 10:32) instead of “Levite” and “bishops” (John 7:45, 11:47, 18:3) instead of “chief priests.“ Wycliffe’s has “Christ” (1 Sam. 2:10, 2 Sam. 23:1, Ps. 2:2) where the KJV has “anointed” and “Jesus” (Hab. 3:18) where the KJV has “salvation.“ Wycliffe's has "maiden" instead of "virgin" at Luke 1:27 and “old women in holy habit“ at Titus 2:3 instead of “aged women.” Wycliffe's Bible has the rendering "Calvary" from the Latin Vulgate's Calvariae at Matthew 27:33 and Mark 15:22 where the KJV does not. Wycliffe's Bible has “Isaiah the prophet“ (Mark 1:2), “fruit of light“ (Eph. 5:9), "dread of Christ" (Eph. 5:21), and “eagle“ (Rev. 8:13). Clearly, many words or renderings in the Wycliffe's Bible are different from those in the KJV.


Wycliffe’s Bible omitted “for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever“ (Matt. 6:13), "Jesus saith unto them" (Matt. 13:51), "wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 25:13), “spoken by Daniel the prophet“ (Mark 13:14), “But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work“ (Rom. 11:6), and “and in your spirit, which are God‘s“ (1 Cor. 6:10). It added: "taught them of the kingdom of God" (Matt. 21:17), "and he shall increase" (Luke 19:26), “and he saith to his disciples” (John 13:38 or 14:1), “of Jesus“ (Acts 16:7), and “after the purpose of God‘s grace“ (Rom. 4:5). At Matthew 24:41, this addition is in Wycliffe's: "twain in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other left." The following was added at John 7:28: "I know him, and if I shall say for I know him not, I shall be like to you, a liar." At Acts 14:7, there is this addition: “and all the multitude was moved together in the teaching of them.“ At Acts 15:41, it added: “commanding to keep the hests of apostles and elder men.“ Wycliffe’s has this addition at Acts 18:4: “putting among the name of the Lord Jesus.“ At 2 John 11, it added: "Lo, I before said to you that ye be not confounded in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." At Revelation 9:11, it added the following: “And by Latin he has the name Exterminans, that is, a destroyer.“ Other differences (additions and omissions) in Wycliffe's could be given.


Both the early edition of Wycliffe’s Bible and the later edition also have some additions that seem to be explanations of words used in the text. Glenn Conjurske observed: “The glosses in the early version are very plentiful, and most of them are simply definitions or explanations of words” (Olde Paths, Oct., 1994, p. 228). A few examples from the later edition are here offered as evidence. After “delium” at Genesis 2:12, the 1395 Wycliffe Bible added: “that is, a tree of spicerie.” At Exodus 17:13, the 1395 Wycliffe Bible has the following rendering with explanation in the text: “in the mouth of sword, that is, by the sharpness of the sword.” At the end of Numbers 21:3 after “Hormah,“ several words were added in the later Wycliffe’s [“that is, cursing, either hanging up”]. After “great” at Deuteronomy 4:7, the 1395 Wycliffe Bible has this addition: “not in number either in bodily quantity, but in dignity.”


This Bible rendered the Latin Vulgate at Psalm 23:1a as follows: "Our Lord governeth me." At Genesis 36:24, Wycliffe's has "hot waters" as does the Douay-Rheims instead of "mules," the KJV rendering. Some of the examples in the above paragraphs showed that Wycliffe's Bible included some Vulgate readings in its text. MacGregor confirmed that the translation in the Wycliffe Bible follows the text of the Latin Vulgate “very closely” (Literary History, p. 79). This evidence also suggests that Wycliffe’s differs more from the KJV than does Webster's, the NKJV, the MKJV, KJ21, or KJ2000. The fact that many KJV-only advocates can accept Wycliffe’s Bible when it differs more from the KJV than some present English translations points out serious inconsistencies in KJV-only reasoning.