Seventy-Nine Versions of the Bible
11/08/2005 00:04 Filed in: Faith & Reason
One of the first things I wanted to do once my comps were through was to inventory my collection of Bible versions in English. I've been collecting Bible translations and paraphrases for twenty years--since I was a teenager. Currently, I seem to have seventy-nine distinct versions of the Bible or parts of the Bible.
I've always enjoyed comparing translations ever since that day in Sunday School when I was a child and none of us could make any sense of Romans 7:14-21, even our teacher. Most of us had King James Versions because my church gave KJV Bibles to us with our names printed on them when we were in the third grade. Even our teacher had trouble understanding the passage. Then, I went home and read the same passage in my copy of the Children's Living Bible (which was just an edition of the Living Bible with a number of pictures), and it all clicked. That was my introduction to the value of comparing translations during Bible study.
Even after taking multiple Greek classes in seminary, I find reading English translations to be very rewarding.
Feel free to look around at my list. I am cross posting it on the other side of my website , where I hope to eventually start annotating this list with descriptions regarding the distinctives of each translations. If you happen to notice any available versions I don't have, please let me know. I have listed my collection in chronological order, which is also how they are organized on my shelf at home.
Before you ask...no I have not read them all. But I'm working on it! I try read the Bible daily, and when I finish one translation, I go on to another one.
1388 - The Wycliffe New Testament (Modern Spelling edition)
1530-1537 - Tyndale’s Old Testament (Modern spelling edition edited by David Daniell)
1534 - Tyndale's New Testament (Modern spelling edition edited by David Daniell)
1602 - The Geneva Bible Annotated New Testament (facsimile edition)
1611 - King James Version (facsimile edition)
1769 - King James Version (Standard 4th edition in use today)
1833 - The Webster Bible
1862 - Young's Literal Translation of the Holy Bible
1885 - Revised Version
1885 - Spurrell’s Old Testament Translated from the Original Hebrew
1899 - Douay - Rheims Version (Roman Catholic/Revised from 1609 edition)
1901 - American Standard Version
1902 - Rotherham Emphasized Bible: A Literal Translation (Joseph Bryant Rotherham)
1904 - The Worrell New Testament
1909 - Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech
1924 - The New Testament in Modern English (Centenary Translation / Helen Barrett Montgomery)
1927 - An American Translation (Smith/Goodspeed)
1935 - The James Moffatt Translation
1937 - The New Testament in the Language of the People (Williams NT / Charles Bray Williams)
1944 - The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: A New Translation (R. A. Knox)
1946 - Revised Standard Version (New Testament)
1949 - The Bible in Basic English
1952 - The New Testament: A New Translation in Plain English (Charles Kingsley Williams)
1957 - The Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text (George M. Lamsa)
1961 - The New Testament: An Expanded Translation (Kenneth A. Wuest)
1965 - The Amplified Bible
1968 - The Jerusalem Bible
1968-1970 - The Cotton Patch Version of Paul’s Epistles, The Cotton Patch Version of Luke and Acts, The Cotton Patch Version of Hebrews and the General Epistles, The Cotton Patch Version of Matthew and John
1969 - The Modern Language Bible (The New Berkeley Version in Modern English)
1970 - King James II Version
1970 - New English Bible
1971 - The Living Bible
1971 - New American Standard Bible
1971 - Revised Standard Version (second edition)
1972 - The New Testament in Modern English (Phillips’ Revised Edition)
1974 - The “Word” Made Fresh: A Unique Version of the Bible, Volumes 1 & 2 (Andrew Edington)
1976 - The Holy Bible in the Language of Today: An American Translation (William F. Beck)
1976 - Today’s English Version (Good News Bible)
1978 - New International Version
1981 - The Compact Bible: The New Testament in Fewer Words (New Testament)
1982 - The New King James Version
1983 - The Simple English Bible New Testament (Parallel w/ KJV)
1984 - New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Revised Edition)
1985 - The Holy Gospel of John (Peter Levi)
1985 - New Jerusalem Bible
1985 - Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text
1986 - New American Bible (Revised from 1970 edition)
1986 - New Life Version
1987 - English Version for the Deaf (AKA Easy - to - Read Version
1987 - New Century Version
1988 - Christian Community Bible (Catholic Pastoral Edition)
1989 - God's New Covenant (Heinz Cassirer's New Testament)
1989 - Revised English Bible
1990 - New Revised Standard Version
1990 - The New Translation: The Letters of the New Testament
1991 - The Unvarnished New Testament (Andy Gaus)
1992 - The Alba House Gospels (Mark A. Wauck)
1992 - Good News Translation (Good News Bible/Today’s English Version – Second Edition)
1994 - The Golfer’s Good News: A Golfer’s Translation of the Gospel of Matthew (Alan G. Meadows)
1994 - The 21st Century King James Version
1995 - Contemporary English Version
1995 - God’s Word
1995 - New American Standard Bible: Updated Edition
1995 - The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version
1995 - The Schocken Bible: Volume I: The Five Books of Moses
1996 - New International Readers Version
1996 - New International Version, Inclusive Language Edition
1996 - New Living Translation
1998 - The Complete Jewish Bible (David H. Stern)
1999 - New International Readers Version (Second Edition—inclusive language removed)
2000 - King James 2000 Version (Robert A. Couric)
2001 - The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
2002 - The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Eugene Peterson)
2003 - The English Majority Text Version of the Holy Bible (Revised Edition / Paul W. Esposito)
2003 - New English Translation (The Net Bible / Second Beta Edition)
2004 - The Holman Christian Standard Bible
2004 - The Word on the Street (Rob Lacey)
2005 - Today’s New International Version