Who originally translated the bible from ancient Hebrew?

Answer 1

The primary person responsible was William Tydale during the early 1500's. The Bible was forbidden to be translated into anything but Latin during the time the Church at Rome ruled. However, Tyndale took the works of people like Wycliffe and others and finished a remarkable feat of translation into English while imprisoned in dark and devastating conditions. He was later burned at the stake for his disobedience that was classified as heresy and treason. However, his last prayer before his execution was answered just a few short years later. Tyndale prayed that the eyes of the King would be opened and that he would allow the Bible to be printed in English throughout England. Today the King James Bibles is said to be more than 85% Tyndale while much of our American language is classic Tyndale. Furthermore, without Tyndale, there would have been no Shakespeare, for he himself adored the language of William Tyndale.

Answer 2

You'd have to clarify and ask what language.

The Greeks translated the Hebrew Old Testament into their language and produced the "Septuagent" translation. 70 men translated it, hence the name. This occurred before Christ and was the common translation of his day. It was the only Hebrew to Greek translation around then.

I have a Greek New Testament beside me right now and it's our best effort to put together the oldest and most reliable texts into the original language. It is in the Koine Greek. Koine was the common language (street-talk speech) during Jesus' day and of the apostles who wrote it (all before AD 100). Jesus spoke Aramaic not Hebrew (for everyday speech that is- Temple was different - he would have spoken Hebrew when he read aloud) but everybody in the civilized world spoke Greek so Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and all the rest wrote in Greek to spread the "good news" about Jesus and the resurrection fast and for everyone to believe in.

The English translations we have today are from early Greek manuscripts and other early copies. People still translate the Bible all the time into contemporary language in almost every language and also for people that still do not have Bibles to read about God, Man and his Son Jesus.

I am in seminary and the Greek Text we use was edited by Aland, Black and others.

Comforting to hear is that there is little variation between all the early copies out there and almost all the variations which do exist are not theologically significant (usually "ands, buts and ors" to generalize)

I like the New American Standard Bible for English - that's very "word-for-word" but some translations, in an effort to make it more readable without losing much meaning, will not translate word for word but meaning for meaning. The New International Version leans towards "meaning for meaning." Paraphrased Bibles would be the Message or the Living Bible. These are very readable but God's carefully chosen words are lost - that's the expense of less than word-for-word translations.

Hope this answers some questions.

Answer 3

The Hebrew Bible was first translated into Greek by Jews living in Egypt. This translation is known as the 'Septuagint' (or 'LXX') and would have involved a number of people, whose names were not recorded. The first five books were translated around 250 BCE.

The LXX was the only version of the Old Testament used by Christians until the fourth century, when Jerome translated the Greek text into Latin.

Answer 4

John Wycliffe translated the Bible in english.

Answer 5

John wycliffe was the first person to translate the Bible into English

Answer 6

The earliest translation was into Greek, some 2280 years ago, by a group of Jewish sages who were commanded to do so by Ptolemy Philadelphus.