The bible is a sacred book that doesn’t only chronicles the greatness of the Lord but also helps people understand how they deal with all the edges of life. It has been present for a long time now but there are still no concrete evidences and findings on who authored this holy book. Regardless of the mystery that the book holds, it is still considered as one of the most popular and old piece of literature. People referred to it as either the Holy Bible or the Holy Scripture. This book is equivalent to the Koran of the Muslims and other holy books of other religions in the world.
Because of its content, which is the word of the Lord, it has moved thousands of lives from all across the globe. There are also a lot of people who writes Christian books about the Holy Scripture, such as the book by David Murdoch called The Bible Was Not Written in English: How Church Traditions Have Kept Us in the Dark — easy to understand Bible guide for the undecided to the senior pastor. Moreover, as the years go by, there have been a lot of versions of the Bible that were produced. Thus, here are some of the popular bible versions that you might want to check out:
King James Version
The King James Version of the Bible has taken its name after king James I of England give his authorization to translate the Bible in the year 1603. It is known by many names, such as King James Version (KJV), King James Bible (KJB), and Authorized Version (AV). It contains the Old Testament’s 39 books, the Apocrypha’s inter-testamental part consisting of 14 books, and the New Testament’s 27 books.
This version was hailed as among the most significant books in the English culture and an inspiring force that contribute to the molding of the English-speaking world. John Norton and Robert Barker are known to be the first publishers of the KJV. It was also the third, preceded by the Great Bible and the Bishop’s Bible, English translation of the Holy Scripture that was approved by the officials of the English Church.
American Standard Version
The American Standard Version is also known as the Revised Version and the Standard American Edition of the Holy Scripture. The translation of it into English was done on 1901 along with the publishing of the Old Testament’s revision but the publication of the revised New Testament happened a year before the OT was completed. The American Standard Version name was the most widely used from the time its copyright was renewed in 1929 until today.
This revision of this version started in 1870, where they aim to produce a revised type of the King James Bible. The quest into creating this version thereafter formed the Revised Version or RV; thus, it was called as the RV project. There were a total of 30 scholars that were selected to partake in the project in 1871, including Philip Schaff. The groups that are being represented on the committee of America include the Baptist, Dutch Reformed, Methodist, and more.
Twentieth Century New Testament
The Twentieth Century New Testament is also referred by its abbreviation, which is TCNT. It is the version that contains the English translation of the Holy Scripture’s New Testament. The publication of its three sections happened between the year 1898 and 1901; hence, it was considered as the pioneer translation of the Holy Scripture into the modern English language. However, it was republished in 1904 after thorough revisions in accordance to the recommendations of its readers.
This version was released in Britain for more than 15 years by a bunch consists of about 20 individuals. Even though the group was definitely fluent in the New Testament’s Greek version, they were absolutely not considered as professional scholars — unlike those who produced the ASV. This group is composed of diverse people of a cross portion of the community, such as ministers, mothers, educators, railroad workers, and etc. However, they shared a common interest, which is to conduct in the English country what has been already accomplished for the citizens of approximately all nations — to make Englishmen to read the most crucial section of their Holy Scripture in that form of their native language that they utilize.
The Bible: An American Translation
The Bible: An American Translation or abbreviated as AAT is almost the opposite of The Twentieth Century New Testament. It is because the An American Translation is made up of the Holy Scripture’s Old Testament that was translated by a couple of scholars with John Merlin and Powis Smith as their editors. Moreover, Edgar J. Goodspeed is the translator of the Apocrypha and the New Testament. It was completely published in the year 1939 by The University of Chicago Press.
Alex Writes 