How many English versions are there to date? I can't seem to find the answer.
How many versions?
Discussion in 'Bible Versions & Translations' started by deacon jd, May 22, 2009.
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Baptist4life Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
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2. There are different ways to translate.
None of the legitimate translations out there change any core doctrines. -
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:laugh: -
The 2006/07 edition of Rev. Bradford Taliaferro's Bible Version Enyclopedia lists over 500 English versions. But he includes items such as: Gordon's New Testament (never published) and The Gospels for Hackers, an Evolutionary Edition of the NT (very incomplete), the New Testament in Scots, and Tyndale's 1531 Jonah for example.
Ken Connelly states in his Indestructible Book that "from 1525 to the publication of the KJV in 1611 there were some 212 editions of the Bible, complete or in part" (p.277), "between the KJV and ASV in 1901 there were no less than 522 attempts" (p.181), and "between 1901 and 1985 no less than 440 efforts were recorded". Connelly claims that there were 40 translations (mostly Psalms) in Olde & Middle English, plus another 26 translations (including Wycliffe's) before 1525.
David Daniell mentions in his The Bible in English that in the 19th century in Britian alone there were "13 new translations of the Bible, or Old Testament alone, and 37 of the New Testament on its' own" (p.642); yet, this period is not considered particularly proliferous of Bible translations.
I can tell you that I can personally confirm more than 150 unique English translations published of the New Testament since 1900 (more than 30 just since 2000). I actually own hardcopies of over 100 versions. Here are the criteria I used to define a unique translation: 1. it must legitimately be in English (not a pidgin, dialect, etc.); 2. it must be the complete NT (or at least the vast majority of the 27 books); 3. it must be a genuinely 'unique' text (not a minor revision or remarketing of a previous text); 4. it must have been generally available to the public (this excludes any individual 'private' copy). 5. it can be very paraphrasical and still be included in my list; 6. it can be 'condensed' or abridged text and still be included in my list. In my list study notes, chronological or parallel arrangements, or special covers with fanciful titles do not qualify as new unique Bibles (while the text remains the same). -
I am the guy who for the first 27 years of my Christian life read the KJV. These last 30 years I've read the KJVs plus other translations. I consider it axiomatic that my trailer/signature block is true. This leads to the following logical conclusions:
God uses multiple translations to enhance our experience with the Scripture and with the Lord about whom the Scripture speaks.
Why did God bless we English speaking/reading persons so many Good Bibles. -