Notes of Tyndale 1526 and 1534 Differences
William Tyndale realised that he was breaking new ground with the printing of both the 1526 and the 1534 New Testament. The 1534 New Testament was Tyndale’s magnum opus, his final corrections of the 1526 New Testament.
- The Tyndale New Testament of 1526 has 720 Pages front and back in total.
- The Tyndale New Testament of 1534 has 847 Pages front and back in total. Plus 4 blank pages to the last page. That means that the Tyndale New Testament of 1534 has another 127 more pages.
- There are no large woodcuts/illustrations in the Tyndale 1526 in The Book of Revelation, but small woodcuts/illustrations, representing the different Evangelists and Apostles, appear at the beginning of the Gospels, and the following Epistles-Romans, 1 Peters, 1 John, Hebrews, James and Jude, and Revelation; The Day of Pentecost.
- There are 39 woodcuts/illustrations including small illustrations of the Evangelists, the Day of Pentecost, SS. Paul, Peter, and James, and 22 larger woodcuts/illustrations in Tyndale 1534 in The Book of Revelation, all by Albrecht Dürer.
- The Tyndale New Testament of 1534 is the first instance of the use of the word ‘Elder’ rather than ‘Priest’.
- Tyndale challenged the hierarchies and structures of the church, replacing words such as ‘Church’ with ‘Congregation’, ‘Penance’ with ‘Repentance’ and ‘Charity’ with ‘Love’.
- Three quarters of the King James Version of 1611 is believed to be taken directly from Tyndale New Testament of 1534.
- The language of Tyndale has shaped and influenced the English language, and many of his words and phrases are still in regular use today, including ‘salt of the earth’, ‘signs of the times’, ‘apple of his eye’ and ‘blessed are the peacemakers’.
- The Tyndale New Testament of 1534 is the first English translation of the Bible drawn directly from the Hebrew and Greek texts.
- William Tyndale was greatly influenced by the work of Luther and Erasmus, and longed to see the Bible translated into the language of the English people, professing a desire for ‘the boy that driveth the plow’ to be as familiar with the scriptures as a clergyman.
- Before Tyndale, Church services were conducted in Latin, with the church assuming the position of mediator between God and man, and the idea of making the scriptures available to ordinary people was considered deeply subversive.
- The Tyndale 1534 New Testament has 2 Title-Pages one with the date of 1534 in Roman numerals and the month of November, first page.
- 33 pages later is the second title-page with the printer’s name Marten Emperowr (de Keyser) of Anwerp and year of 1534
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A surprising number of Tyndale's phrases are still in common use today, including:-
- 'under the sun',
- 'eat, drink and be merry',
- 'signs of the times',
- 'the salt of the earth',
- 'let there be light',
- 'my brother's keeper',
- 'lick the dust',
- 'fall flat on his face',
- 'the land of the living',
- 'pour out one's heart', ‘
- 'the apple of his eye',
- 'fleshpots',
- 'go the extra mile',
- 'the parting of the ways',
- 'broken-hearted', ‘
- 'flowing with milk and honey'.
- “The newe Testament as it was written and caused to be written by them which herde yt. To whom also oure Saveoure Christ Jesus commaunded that they shulde preache it vnto al creatures.”
- The Tyndale New Testament of 1526 and 1534 lack verses, as they, “Verses” didn’t exist in Bibles until 1550.
- In the Tyndale New Testament of 1526, there are no long treatises explaining Scripture nor any marginal explanations.
- The Tyndale New Testament of 1534 there are marginal explanations on every page. Tyndale, equipped the new edition of 1534 with inflammatory marginal notes; throughout his writings the anti-clerical tone not unnaturally increases in intensity after the burnings of his New Testament of 1526.
- No man can come to me except the father which hath sent me, draw him. And I will raise him up at the last day.
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Below are the words of one of the most well-known Scriptures from the New Testament, found in the Gospel of John, chapter 3 and verse 16, and spelled in the English Bibles from early on, until the time modern King James Bible of 1769:
- Wycliff (1380) “for god loued so the world; that he gaf his oon bigetun sone, that eche man that bileueth in him perisch not: but haue euerlastynge liif,”
- Tyndale (1534) “For God so loveth the worlde, that he hath geven his only sonne, that none that beleve in him, shuld perisshe: but shuld have everlastinge lyfe.”
- Great Bible (1539) “For God so loued the worlde, that he gaue his only begotten sonne, that whosoeuer beleueth in him, shulde not perisshe, but haue euerlasting lyfe.”
- Geneva (1560) “For God so loueth the world, that he hath geuen his only begotten Sonne: that none that beleue in him, should peryshe, but haue euerlasting lyfe.”
- Rheims (1582) “For so God loued the vvorld, that he gaue his only-begotten sonne: that euery one that beleeueth in him, perish not, but may haue life euerlasting”
- King James (1611) “For God so loued the world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life.”
- King James (1769) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
- Tyndale’s riposte was direct, and infinitely less tortuous (this is less than half More’s sentence) in its syntax. The conspiracy to prevent men from reading Scripture was ‘not for the love of your souls, which they care for as the fox doth for the geese ... insomuch as they permit and suffer you to read Robin Hood, and Bevis of Hampton, Hercules, Hector and Troilus ... ribaldry, as filthy as heart can think.’
- In 1534, too, he turned on his former associate George Joye ( who printed a New Testament) who, Greek-less, had presumed to revise his translation on the basis of Latin and issue it, playing boo peep, or pissing like a fox in a badger’s sett, as Tyndale put it, to assert territorial rights.
- Tyndale’s translation lies at the base of almost all subsequent English renderings, the Authorised Version of 1611 included, until the 19th and 20th centuries, until the New English Bible and the Revised English Bible of the 1960s and 1989 respectively.
- Not even Shakespeare, has reached as many readers as William Tyndale, direct or mediated. Tyndale’s English has never been surpassed for simplicity, directness, vigour, vividness, denunciation and – paradoxically – tenderness.
- It is said that Tyndale was a master of seven foreign languages, but most importantly, he was a master of his native language, English.
- Translators of the Bible before Tyndale relied on the Latin Vulgate (the official version of the Bible for the Catholic Church), but Tyndale believed that the original Hebrew and Greek of the scriptures were languages more suitably rendered into English than Latin:
- “Saint Jerome also translated the Bible into his mother tongue [i.e., the Latin Vulgate]:
- John Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible was made from the Vulgate into Middle English.
- William Tyndale was the first to translate the New Testament into Modern English from the original languages of Hebrew and Greek.
- John Wycliffe was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, Catholic priest, and a seminary professor at the University of Oxford.
- Scholars have noted that William Tyndale was right in sensing the superiority of English to Latin in matters of rendering Hebrew syntax. One scholar has noted that Hebrew and English have similar word orders and that in his English translation Tyndale masterfully rendered the syntax of the original Hebrew into a fluid and rhythmical English prose that in turn influenced English writers.
- Words are powerful instruments in the transfer of meaning, and thus the translation of words is very tricky. As the old Italian proverb goes, tradutore traditore—“a translator is a traitor.” Any rendering of a text from one language to another inevitably involves interpretation and the changing of meaning.
Tyndale New Testament of 1534
- Gospels
- Acts of the Apostles
- Epistles
- Apocalypse
The New Testament contains 4 Gospels
- Matthew
- Mark
- Luke
- John
These books tell the stories about Jesus' life, ministry, and death. The Gospels were written anonymously and came to be ascribed to disciples (Matthew and John) and associates of apostles (Mark and Luke) sometime in the second century.
Acts of the Apostles, written by the author of the third Gospel ("Luke"), describes the spread of the Christian church from Jesus' death to the death of the apostle Paul.
Following Acts are 21 epistles or letters. Most of these New Testament books are records of correspondence between a church leader and a Christian community; the New Testament epistles address issues of Christian belief, practice, and ethics.
13 of these books are written by Paul.
The last book in the New Testament is Revelation, a Christian apocalypse. The author of this book, John, describes the events leading up to the destruction of this world and the appearance of the world to come.
Our New Testament of 1534 translated by William Tyndale, consists of 46 Books of the New Testament translated into English, by William Tyndale.
The previous New Testament of 1526 had only 18 Books of the New Testament. When the British Library decided to republish Tyndale’s New Testament of 1526, they should have told people that all the New Testament Prologues, were missing.
William Tyndale’s New Testament of 1526 did not include the New Testament Prologues, which are spread out over 100 pages. The New Testament Prologues were eventually published separately as “A Pathway into the Holy Scripture”by William Tyndale- Published in 1530.
The importance of the Prologues is that they are an introductory section of The New Testament that provides vital background information about the early Christian affirmations concerning the identity of Jesus, the central subject of the Gospel. All 18 of the Prologues of The New Testament of 1526 are missing. It is like selling a new car without the brakes.
William Tyndale successfully completed the printing of the translation of the New Testament at the press of Peter Schoeffer, in Worms, Germany, probably early in 1526. It was a simple, small, octavo, without marginal notes, with simple chapter-breaks, printed in exceptionally clear Bastarda Type (the earliest font, similar to those made by Gutenberg for his Bible in the 1450s) with small illuminations at the start of each book. Tyndale’s New Testament of 1526 has 720 pages only.Our Tyndale New Testament of 1534 has 847 Pages front and back in total, plus 4 blank pages to the last page.
Books Missing from Tyndale’s New Testament 1526 and are in Tyndale’s New Testament of 1534
- W. T. Unto the Reader
- William Tyndale, yet once more to the Christian Reader
- Second Title - Page
- The Books Contained in the New Testament
- A Prologue to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans
- The Prologue upon the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians
- The Prologue upon the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians
- The Prologue to the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
- The Prologue to the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
- The Prologue upon the First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy
- The Prologue to the Second Epistle of St. Paul unto Timothy
- The Prologue unto the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus
- The Prologue to the Epistle of St. Paul unto Philemon
- The Prologue to the First Epistle of Saint Peter
- A Prologue to the Second Epistle of St. Peter
- The Prologue upon the Third Epistle of St. John
- The Prologue to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. James and Judas
- The Pistle taken out of the Old Testament
- The Table of the Epistles and Gospels
- Tyndale’s Notes
Books in Tyndale’s New Testament of 1534
- First Title - Page
- W. T. Unto the Reader
- William Tyndale, yet once more to the Christian Reader
- Second Title - Page
- The Books Contained in the New Testament
- The Gospel of St. Matthew
- The Gospel of St. Mark
- The Gospel of St. Luke
- The Gospel of St. John
- The Acts of the Apostles
- A Prologue to the Epistle of Paul to the Romans
- The Epistle of the Apostle St. Paul to the Romans
- The Prologue upon the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians
- The First Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
- The Prologue upon the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians
- The Second Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians
- The Epistle of St. Paul unto the Galatians
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians
- The Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians
- The Epistle of St. Paul unto the Philippians
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians
- The Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians
- The Prologue to the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
- The First Epistle of St. Paul unto the Thessalonians
- The Prologue to the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
- The Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians
- The Prologue upon the First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy
- The First Epistle of St. Paul unto Timothy
- The Prologue to the Second Epistle of St. Paul unto Timothy
- The Second Epistle of St. Paul unto Timothy
- The Prologue unto the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus
- The Epistle of St. Paul unto Titus
- The Prologue to the Epistle of St. Paul unto Philemon
- The Epistle of St. Paul unto Philemon
- The Prologue to the First Epistle of Saint Peter
- The First Epistle of St. Peter the Apostle
- A Prologue to the Second Epistle of St. Peter
- The Second Epistle of St. Peter
- The Prologue upon the Third Epistle of St. John
- The First Epistle of St. John the Apostle
- The Second Epistle of St. John
- The III. Pistle of St. John
- The Prologue to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews
- The Pistle of St. Paul unto the Hebrews
- The Prologue upon the Epistle of St. James and Judas
- The Pistle of St. James
- The Pistle of Saint Judas
- The Revelations of St. John the Divine
- The Pistle taken out of the Old Testament
- The Table of the Epistles and Gospels
- Tyndale’s Notes
William Tyndale 1494–1536
Books by William Tyndale
- 1525-The New Testament Translation (incomplete) Cologne.
- 1526- The New Testament Translation (first full printed edition in English) Worms Germany.
- 1526- A compendious introduction, prologue or preface into the epistle of Paul to the Romans.
- 1528- The parable of the wicked mammon Antwerp.
- 1528- The Obedience of a Christen Man (and how Christen rulers ought to govern...) printed in Antwerp by Merten de Keyser.
- 1530-The five books of Moses [the Pentateuch] Translation (each book with individual title page). Printed in Antwerp by Merten de Keyser.
- 1530- The Practice of Prelates. Printed in Antwerp by Merten de Keyser.
- 1531- The exposition of the first epistle of saint John with a prologue before it . Printed in Antwerp by Merten de Keyser
- 1531? - The Prophet Jonah Translation. Printed in Antwerp by Merten de Keyser.
- 1531- An Answer into Sir Thomas More's Dialogue.
- 1533? - An Exposicion Upon the. v. vi. vii. Chapters of Mathew.
- 1533- Erasmus: Enchiridion Militis Christiani Translation.
- 1534- The New Testament Translation (thoroughly revised, with a second foreword against George Joye's unauthorised changes in an edition of Tyndale's New Testament published earlier in the same year). Printed in Antwerp by Merten de Keyser.
- 1535- The Testament of Master Wylliam Tracie Esquire, expounded both by W. Tindall and J. Frith.
- 1536?- A Path Way into the Holy Scripture .