29 May 2026

Being able to understand God’s deeds of power was very important to the Reformers. The old Latin Vulgate was superseded with versions of the Bible written in the vernacular.

John Wycliffe translated the Latin Vulgate into Middle English at the end of the fourteenth century. William Tyndale translated the New Testament and much of the Old from the original languages into English.

This was the precursor to the Authorised Version. It is estimated that 90% of the Authorised Version  has come from Tyndale’s translation and about a  third of the text is word for word.

He introduced new words into our language like ‘Passover’ and ‘atonement’ and ‘scapegoat’. Phrases like ‘Let there be light.’ and ‘the powers that be’  and ‘the signs of the times’ and filthy lucre’ all came from Tyndale’s quill.

The Authorised Version, which was read in Scottish kirks for four  hundred years, has been superseded by a plethora of modern translations. Tyndale would have agreed. His purpose was to bring the Gospel to the ploughboy!