I. Do you recognize the following inscription?:
Faedr ure,
( This is a portion of the "Lord's Prayer" in Old English)
II. Before one surveys the earliest English translations of the Bible, it's important to recognize just how rich and changeable our language is. English has an illustrious history marked by conquests, intrigue, and pure chance. Our language is founded upon a Germanic base with significant strands of French, Latin, and Greek thrown in. The term English comes from the word Angle-ish, which is a reference to the Angles and Saxons (Two Germanic tribes which invaded England in the mid-400's). Following are sample English words of different origins:
German Origin French Origin Latin Origin Greek Origin eat army solar photograph sleep navy dormitory phobia bread government cordial philosophy drink tax expectorate school meat sculpture illuminate chrome
III. Before the Norman Conquest (1066) there was no English translation of the entire Bible in all of Britain. The Catholic viewpoint of the time did not encourage the translation of God's Word into the common language of the people (
See I Tim. 2:3-4; Eph. 3:3-4; John 8:31-32; 2 Tim. 2:15).A. Pope Innocent III (in 1199) said, "The secret mysteries of the faith ought not to be explained to all men in all places, since they cannot be everywhere understood by all men."
(History of the English Bible, Encyclopedia Americana, III:671).B. As late as 1414 "Christian" England passed a law which provided that anyone found guilty of reading the Bible In English must "forfeit land, cattle, life, and goods from his heirs forever.