Some interesting facts about the Bible:
• “Bible” comes from the Latin biblia, meaning “books.”
• The first book ever printed was the Bible in 1454.
• The Bible was divided into chapters by Stephen Langton in 1228.
• The Old Testament was divided into verses by R. Nathan in 1488 and the New Testament by Robert Stephanus in 1551.
• The Geneva Bible of 1560 was the first Bible divided into chapters and verses.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
Video – Medical Science (the Bible is 100% accurate)
I delight in your decrees; I will not NEGLECT your word (Psalm 119:16).
Shakach (shaw-kakh’) – to lay aside, to forget, to take for granted, to neglect.
TRANSMISSION OF THE BIBLE INTO ENGLISH
1400-1500 BC - God wrote the TEN COMMANDMENTS in ancient Hebrew on stone.
Thousands of years ago, sometime between 1400 and 1500 BC, God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets. Years later, the very first Scriptures were completed. They are known as the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.
500 BC - The 39 books of the Old Testament were completed and preserved in Hebrew on scrolls.
By approximately 500 BC, the 39 books of the Old Testament were completed. It was written primarily in Hebrew (a few parts are written in Aramaic) and preserved on scrolls made of animal skins. Some scrolls contained the entire Pentateuch. These scrolls were called Torah scrolls. A Torah scroll, completely unraveled, would measure 150 feet in distance. Often an entire herd of sheep would be needed in order to make just one scroll.
First Century AD - The 27 books of the New Testament were completed and preserved in Greek on papyrus.
By the end of the first century AD, the 27 books of the New Testament were completed. The New Testament was written in Greek and preserved on papyrus, a thick paper-like material produced from papyrus plants, which were once abundant in Egypt.
500 AD - The Bible was translated into over 500 languages.
By 500 AD, the Bible had been translated into over 500 languages. People all over the world were grateful that they could read God’s word in their own language.
600 AD - The Bible was restricted to LATIN. All other translations were considered illegal.
But then something terrible happened. By 600 AD, the Bible was restricted to Latin. Why? The Roman Catholic Church was the only official church, and it issued a decree that Bibles of other languages were illegal. Why did this happen? Unfortunately, the Catholic Church had become extremely corrupt. Using only the Latin version of the Bible allowed the church to neglect certain parts of the Bible and add some teachings that weren’t even found in the Bible. This could happen because only the priests were educated in Latin. The common people didn’t understand it. They really didn’t know for themselves what the Bible taught because they couldn’t read it. (Imagine if this still occurred in our church!) The church wrongly taught that a person could pay for indulgences that would bring forgiveness or help release a loved one from purgatory.
1380 - John Wycliffe (often called the Morningstar of the Reformation) translated the Bible into ENGLISH.
Finally, in the 1300s, God raised up a man named John Wycliffe. In 1378, Wycliffe wrote, “Holy Scripture is the pre-eminent authority for every Christian and the rule of faith...it is necessary for al men, not for priests alone...Christ and His Apostles taught the people in the language best known to them...therefore the doctrine should not only be in Latin...believers should have the Scriptures in a language which they fully understand.” In 1380, Wycliffe became the first person to translate the Bible into English. The church called him a heretic, and 44 years after his death, by order of the Pope, the bones of Wycliffe were dug up and burned. Many consider Wycliffe to be the Morningstar of the Reformation of the Church.
1415 - John Hus was burned at the stake for his stance on the Bible. Wycliffe’s Bibles were used to start the fire.
One of Wycliffe’s followers, John Hus, continued to promote Wycliffe’s belief that people should be permitted to read the Bible in their own language. Hus was burned at the stake in 1415, with Wycliffe’s Bibles used as kindling for the fire. His last words were, “In 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.”
1517 - Martin Luther nailed his 95 THESES of contention on a church door in Wittenberg, which is widely regarded as the catalyst for the Reformation.
Almost exactly 100 years later, in 1517, a German priest named Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention onto a church door at Wittenberg. This document was a list of 95 issues of incorrect theology and crimes of the Catholic Church. God used Luther’s accusations to spark the Reformation. The prophecy of John Hus had come true!
Around the same time, John Colet, an Oxford professor and the son of the Mayor of London, started reading the New Testament in Greek and translating it into English for his students at Oxford, and later for the public at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London. The people were so hungry to hear the word of God in a language they could understand, that within six months there were 20,000 people packed in the church and at least that many outside trying to get in! (Sadly, while the enormous and beautiful Saint Paul’s Cathedral remains in London today, typical Sunday morning worship attendance is only around 200 people...and most of them are tourists.) Fortunately for Colet, he was a powerful man with friends in high places, so he amazingly managed to avoid execution.
1526 - William Tyndale printed the first English Bible.
In 1526, William Tyndale became the first man to ever print the New Testament in the English Language. Copies of Tyndale’s New Testament were burned as soon as the church confiscated them. People risked death by burning if caught in mere possession of Tyndale’s forbidden books. Having God’s word available to the public in English would have meant disaster to the church. No longer could they control access to the scriptures. If people were able to read the Bible in their own tongue, the church’s income and power would crumble.
1536 - Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake. Before dying, he prayed, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
Bibles were smuggled into England in bales of cotton and sacks of flour. Ironically, Tyndale’s biggest customers were the King’s men, who would buy up every copy available to burn them...and Tyndale used their money to print even more! In the end, Tyndale was caught: betrayed by a friend. He was incarcerated for 500 days before he was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. Tyndale’s last words were, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
1539 - King Henry VIII finally allowed (and even funded) the printing of English Bibles.
Tyndale’s prayer would be answered just three years later in 1539, when King Henry VIII finally allowed (and even funded) the printing of English Bibles.
1611 - The KING JAMES Bible was printed.
In 1611, the King James Bible was printed. One year later, normal-size printings of the Bible were produced, so individuals could have their own personal copy of the Bible.
I delight in your decrees; I will not NEGLECT your word (Psalm 119:16).
