Introduction To the first Scriptures translated into English to diligently be compared

You can go directly to a verse by typing bookname.htm#chapter:verse
For ensample Matthew 13:52
Matthew.htm#13:52

John Wycliffe is credited with being the first to translate the entire Bible into English.  Wycliffe did his translating primarily from the only Bible then in use: Jerome's Latin 'Vulgate' (no Greek or Hebrew texts, versions, or editions were yet fabricated.)  He is often called the "Morning Star of the Reformation" for his opposition to ecclesiastical abuses and the papacy. Wycliffe's New Testament translation was completed in 1380, and the entire Bible in 1382.  In the all-wise providence of God the Reformation of the 16th century would have been impossible without his work.

So hated was he by Rome that, although the papists were restrained in his lifetime from harming him, the church could not let his bones rest in peace. On October 8, 1427, on order of the Council of Constance (the same Council that burned John Hus at the stake), Wycliffe's body was exhumed, his bones burned, and the ashes strewn on the River Swift. Somehow the Church authorities thought that by burning his remains they might erase his memory.  But even such bizarre and extreme actions could not could stop the hunger for God's Word and truth that Wycliffe had uncompromisingly advocated. A later chronicler described this event in these eloquent words:

They burnt his bones to ashes and cast them into the Swift, a neighboring brook running hard by. Thus the brook conveyed his ashes into the Avon, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas and they into the main ocean. And so the ashes of Wyclif are symbolic of his doctrine, which is now spread throughout the world.
 

Fluent in at least 7 languages, William Tyndale translated much of the Bible into English from the original Greek and Hebrew sources. In doing so he gave the English language many of its best known phrases.

Master Tyndale happened to be in the company of a learned man and, in disputing with him ... the man said, "We are better to be without God's laws than the pope's." Master Tyndale, hearing this, replied, "I defy the pope and all his laws;" and added, "If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost." (Foxe, Book of Martyrs)

At that time, translating the Bible was considered heretical. Tyndale fled to Germany in 1524, later to Belgium. He continued his work, translating the New Testament in 1525-6 and again in 1534.
 

As touching his translation of the New Testament, because his enemies did so much carp at it, pretending it to be full of heresies, he wrote to John Frith, as followeth, "I call God to record against the day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, that I never altered one syllable of God's Word against my conscience, nor would do this day, if all that is in earth, whether it be honor, pleasure, or riches, might be given me." 

At last, after much reasoning, when no reason would serve, although he deserved no death, he was condemned by virtue of the emperor's decree, made in the assembly at Augsburg. Brought forth to the place of execution, he was tied to the stake, strangled by the hangman, and afterwards consumed with fire, at the town of Vilvorde, A.D. 1536; crying at the stake with a fervent zeal, and a loud voice, "Lord! open the king of England's eyes." 

-- Foxe's Book of Martyrs

(Although unacknowledged, much of his work appears in the 'Authorized' (or 'King James') version of the Bible)

* Tyndale 1525-1526 is based on the first translation of the New Testament from the original tongue freely available online at faithofgod.net.

** Tyndale 1534 Text downloaded from wesley.nnu.edu/tyndale; source: sbible.boom.ru - based on the W.T. Revision of the later Tyndale N.T. edition {1534 A.D.}

The Coverdale Bible. (1535)
BIBLIA The Bible / that is, the holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully and truly translated out of Douche and Latyn in to Englishe

Miles Coverdale was a close associate and friend of William Tyndale.

God spared Coverdale's life to further labour in His harvest to have even allowed him to supervise the English Bible Revisions like the Great Bible Authorised edition of 1539, and even help till the first Geneva "study" bible.

Text from sbible.boom.ru.

The Geneva Bible. (1560)

Copies of the Geneva Bible printed after 1587 generally contain a New Testament revised and annotated in 1576 by one Laurence Tomson of Geneva.

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The Geneva Bible owes its origins to the Reformation Leaders who defied the persecutions of roman catholic "Bloody Mary" (as Mary queen of England would come to be called). Upon her ascension to the throne, queen Mary banned the printing of English scriptures. This led William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, and a small band of Englishmen to flee to Geneva where they began translating an English version of the Bible.

In the 1550's, the Church at Geneva, Switzerland, was very sympathetic to the reformer refugees and was one of only a few safe havens for a desperate people. Many of them met in Geneva, led by Myles Coverdale and John Foxe (publisher of the famous Foxe's Book of Martyrs, which is to this day the only exhaustive reference work on the persecution and martyrdom of Early Christians and Protestants from the first century up to the mid-16th century), as well as Thomas Sampson and William Whittingham. There, with the protection of John Calvin and John Knox, the Church of Geneva determined to produce a Bible that would educate their families while they continued in exile.

These scholars were concerned about the influence the Catholic Church would have in shaping the available English translation of the Bible (all translated from the Latin Vulgate). They turned to the original Greek and Hebrew texts to create the Geneva Bible; and the version printed in 1560 AD was The First English Language Bible to Add Numbered Verses to Each Chapter (80 Books) so that referencing specific passages would be easier. Every chapter was also accompanied by extensive marginal notes and references so thorough and complete that the Geneva Bible is also considered the first English "Study Bible".

The Cambridge Geneva Bible of 1591 was the edition carried by the Pilgrims when they fled to America. As such, it directly provided much of the genius and inspiration which carried those courageous and faithful souls through their trials, and provided the spiritual, intellectual and legal basis for establishment and flourishing of the colonies. Thus, it became the foundation for establishment of the American Nation. William Bradford cited it in his book Of Plymouth Plantation. It holds the honor of being the first Bible taken to America, and the Bible of the Puritans and Pilgrims.

The Geneva retains approximately 90% of William Tyndale's translation. For many decades, the Geneva Bible remained more popular than that authorized by King James. The Church of England never authorized or sanctioned the Geneva Bible. However, it was frequently used, without authority, both to read the scripture lessons, and to preach from. The works of Shakespeare contain many quotes from the Geneva translation. It was pre-eminent as a household Bible, and continued so until the middle of the 17th century.
 

Geneva 1560 bible text from bibleworks that seems to be the same from e-Sword software module.

The Bishops Bible. (1568)

The "Bishops' Bible" was a revision of * the Great Bible done by several bishops of the Church of England under the direction of Queen Elizabeth's Archbishop, Matthew Parker.
The "Bishops' Bible" seems to have been a "Church" attempt to compete with the Geneva that had become the English speaking people's "Congregation" most popular household study Bible.

Text from sbible.boom.ru.

The King James version. 1611 Version
=============================================
The title pages of the original 1611 reads as follows:

THE

Imprinted At London

By Robert Barker,

Printer to the Kings most Excellent Majestie.

Anno Dom. 1611.

The New Testament is entitled:

THE

The expression "newly translated" shows that we are in the presence of
a fresh version, in spite of rule 1 that the translators were to abide by,
which demanded merely a revision of the Bishops' Bible.
The version is not said to be "authorized"; yet "appointed to be
read in Churches" (not on the title page of the New Testament) could be
interpreted to mean that as successor to the Bishops' Bible, which was thus
appointed, it might be regarded as "authorized"; moreover the Bishops' Bible
was the legitimate successor of the expressly "authorized" Great Bible.

 

A close study on the King James version, since it was first printed in 1611,

will shew that a major portion of its Authorized New Testament is in fact

based on W.T. 1534-1535 translation editions.

But even Wyclif and his followers made their contribution:

"Strait is the gate and narrow is the way"; Mat.7:14

"The cup of blessing which we bless." 1Cor.10:16
 

And from Tyndale came such lasting cadences as:

"Ye cannot serve God and mammon"; Mat.6:24; Luk.16:13

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow"; Mat.6:28

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them"; Mat.18:20

"It is more blessed to give than to receive"; Acts20:35

"Out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1Peter2:9
 

From Coverdale we have:
"Death is swallowed up in victory." 1Co15:54

From Taverner:

"According to thy word"; Gen.30:34; Exo.8:10; Num14:10; Psa.119; Luke1:38, 2:29,
and "He would have given thee living water."John4:10

Ronald Hill, The Bible in English: The King James Version, The
Christadelphian, vol. 105, p. 113.
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The Epistle Dedicatory and The Translators To the Reader

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The KJV was Printed in 1611 AD originally with 80 Books, including marginal notes. The Apocrypha was Officially Removed in 1885 Leaving 66 Books.