Earliest New Testament Translations - Volume 1: The Gospels

This is volume 1 of a 2 volume comparison of the six earliest translations of the New Testament into the English language. This volume is a comparison of the most important of the reformation and pre-reformation English translations of the 4 New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). All of the original wording has been retained for accuracy and authenticity, but the big stumbling block of the wayward Middle English spelling has been eliminated. All of the spelling has been updated to modern standards so that the reader can concentrate on the meaning of the scripture as these early devoted translators translated it instead of stumbling over the spelling.

Volume 1 is limited to the Gospels due to page count limitations.

The preface begins with a short introduction explaining why these earliest translations are still important today, and continues with a brief chronology of the significant milestones in the evolution of the Bible in the English language. Following this are short discussions of the importance and development of each of the translations selected for this comparison study.

This comparison continues with each of the New Testament Gospels presented with a brief, one sentence summary of the content. Chapters in the earlier translations are broken into verses to match the King James and each verse is presented in six easy to follow parallel translations.

Chosen for this comparison study were:
1&2: Both the 1382 Wycliffe and the 1395 Purvey (also known as the later Wycliffe) translations. This was the very first translation of the entire Bible into English and was translated from the fifth century Latin translation of St. Jerome.
3&4: Both the 1526 and later 1534 Tyndale translations. This was the very first translation of the New Testament into English made directly from the original Greek.
5: The 1599 Geneva translation. This was the very first English translation to break scripture into the numbered verses we enjoy today, and also to add substantial explanatory marginal notes making it the first true study bible.
6. The English translation as in the original 1611 King James Version. No comparison of Bible translations would be complete without including the venerable King James Version.

SEE ALSO:
1. Earliest New Testament Translations: A side-by-side comparison of the six earliest complete New Testament translations, for Kindle.
2. Earliest New Testament Translations vol. 2: The same comparison as above but containing only the books of Acts, all of the epistles, and Revelation, in paperback.
3. Expanded Earliest New Testament Translations: The same side-by-side comparison of the six earliest complete New Testament translations with two additional, later but extremely significant translations added, for Kindle.
4. Earliest Old Testament Translations vol. 1: A side-by-side comparison of the six earliest English translations of the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah or Law), for Kindle.
5. Earliest Old Testament Translations vol. 2: The same side-by-side comparison of the six earliest English translations of the historical books of the Old Testament, for Kindle.
6. What Did Jesus Really Teach?: A detailed word study of the original Greek underlying our English translations including every sermon or speech of Jesus concerning our instruction contained in all four of the Gospels, combined with explanations from respected commentaries, both in paperback and for Kindle.
7. The Sermons and Tutelage of Jesus: A shorter version of What Did Jesus Really Teach including only Jesus