Resources Menu Links

Bible Translation Timeline

Note from Mary:  There are now over 400 English Versions!

taken (with permission) from WWW.GREATSITE.COM

1400 BC: The first written Word of God: The Ten Commandments delivered
to Moses.

500 BC: Completion of All Original Hebrew Manuscripts which make up
The 39 Books of the Old Testament.

200 BC: Completion of the Septuagint Greek Manuscripts which contain
The 39 Old Testament Books AND 14 Apocrypha Books.

1st Century AD: Completion of All Original Greek Manuscripts which make up
The 27 Books of the New Testament.

315 AD: Athenasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, identifies the 27 books of
the New Testament which are today recognized
as the canon of scripture.

382 AD: Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Manuscripts Produced which contain All 80 Books
(39 Old Test. + 14 Apocrypha + 27 New Test).

500 AD: Scriptures have been Translated into Over 500 Languages.

620 AD: LATIN was the Only Language Allowed for Scripture.

995 AD: Anglo-Saxon (Early Roots of English Language) Translations of
The New Testament Produced.

1384 AD: Wycliffe is the First Person to Produce a (Hand-Written) manuscript
Copy of the Complete Bible; All 80 Books.

1455 AD: Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press; Books May Now be
mass-Produced Instead of Individually Hand-Written.
The First Book Ever Printed is Gutenberg’s Bible in Latin.

1516 AD: Erasmus Produces a Greek/Latin Parallel New Testament.

1522 AD: Martin Luther’s German New Testament.

1526 AD: William Tyndale’s New Testament; The First New Testament printed in
the English Language.

1535 AD: Myles Coverdale’s Bible; The First Complete Bible printed
in the English Language (80 Books: O.T. & N.T. & Apocrypha).

1537 AD: Tyndale-Matthews Bible; The Second Complete Bible printed in English.
Done by John “Thomas Matthew” Rogers (80 Books).

1539 AD: The “Great Bible” Printed; The First English Language Bible
Authorized for Public Use (80 Books).

1560 AD: The Geneva Bible Printed; The First English Language Bible
to add Numbered Verses to Each Chapter (80 Books).

1568 AD: The Bishops Bible Printed; The Bible of which
the King James was a Revision (80 Books).

1609 AD: The Douay Old Testament is added to the
Rheims New Testament (of 1582)
Making the First Complete English Catholic Bible;
Translated from the Latin Vulgate (80 Books).

1611 AD The King James Bible Printed; Originally with All 80 Books.
The Apocrypha was Officially Removed in 1885 Leaving Only 66 Books.

1782 AD: Robert Aitken’s Bible; The First English Language Bible (KJV)
Printed in America.

1791 AD: Isaac Collins and Isaiah Thomas Respectively Produce the
First Family Bible and First Illustrated Bible Printed in America.
Both were King James Versions, with All 80 Books.

1808 AD: Jane Aitken’s Bible (Daughter of Robert Aitken);
The First Bible to be Printed by a Woman.

1833 AD: Noah Webster’s Bible; After Producing his Famous Dictionary,
Webster Printed his Own Revision of the King James Bible.

1841 AD: English Hexapla New Testament; an Early Textual Comparison
showing the Greek and 6 Famous English Translations
in Parallel Columns.

1846 AD: The Illuminated Bible; The Most Lavishly Illustrated Bible
printed in America. A King James Version, with All 80 Books.

1885 AD: The “English Revised Version” Bible;
The First Major English Revision of the KJV.

1901 AD: The “American Standard Version”;
The First Major American Revision of the KJV.

1971 AD: The “New American Standard Bible” (NASB) is Published as a
“Modern and Accurate Word for Word English Translation” of the Bible.

1973 AD: The “New International Version” (NIV) is Published as a
“Modern and Accurate Phrase for Phrase English Translation”
of the Bible.

1982 AD: The “New King James Version” (NKJV) is Published as a
“Modern English Version Maintaining the
Original Style of the King James.”

2002 AD: The English Standard Version (ESV) is Published as a translation
to bridge the gap between the accuracy of the NASB
and the readability of the NIV.