During the fourth century B.C.E., however, a challenge arose. Alexander the Great wanted all the world’s people to be educated in Greek culture. His conquests confirmed common Greek, or Koine, as the universal language throughout the Middle East. As a result, many Jews grew up never learning to read Hebrew and so were unable to read the Scriptures. Therefore, about 280 B.C.E., a group of Hebrew scholars were gathered to Alexandria, Egypt, to translate the Hebrew Bible into the popular Koine. Their translation came to be known as the Septuagint, Latin for “Seventy,” referring to the approximate number of translators believed involved. It was finished about 150 B.C.E.

In Jesus’ time, Hebrew was still in use in Palestine. Yet it was Koine that dominated there and in the rest of the far-flung provinces of the Roman world. The Christian Bible writers, therefore, used this common form of Greek in order to reach as many people of the nations as possible. Also, they quoted freely from the Septuagint and employed many of its terms.

Since the early Christians were zealous missionaries, they quickly became adept at using the Septuagint to prove that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. This agitated the Jews and spurred them to produce certain new translations in Greek, designed to deprive the Christians of their arguments by revising their favorite proof texts. For example, at Isaiah 7:14 the Septuagint used a Greek word meaning “virgin,” referring prophetically to the mother of the Messiah. The new translations used a different Greek word, which means “young woman.” The continued use of the Septuagint by the Christians finally moved the Jews to abandon their tactic altogether and to promote a return to Hebrew. Ultimately, this action turned out to be a boon to later Bible translation because it helped to keep the Hebrew language alive.

The spread of Christian beliefs soon created a demand for translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures as well as the Hebrew Scriptures. Numerous versions in such languages as Armenian, Coptic, Georgian, and Syriac were eventually made. Often alphabets had to be devised just for that purpose. For instance, Ulfilas, a fourth-century bishop of the Roman Church, is said to have invented Gothic script to translate the Bible. But he left out the books of Kings because he thought they would encourage the warlike tendencies of the Goths. This action did not, however, prevent the “Christianized” Goths from sacking Rome in 410 C.E.!

Latin and Slavonic Bibles

Meanwhile, Latin gained importance, and several Old Latin versions appeared. But they varied in style and accuracy. So in 382 C.E., Pope Damasus commissioned his secretary, Jerome, to prepare an authoritative Latin Bible.

Jerome started by revising the Latin versions of the Christian Greek Scriptures. For the Hebrew Scriptures, however, he insisted on translating from the original Hebrew. Thus, in 386 C.E., he moved to Bethlehem to study Hebrew and to seek the assistance of a rabbi. For this, he aroused considerable controversy in church circles. Some, including Jerome’s contemporary Augustine, believed the Septuagint to be inspired, and they accused Jerome of “going over to the Jews.” Forging ahead, Jerome completed his work about 400 C.E. By getting close to the source of the original tongues and documents and by rendering them into the living language of the day, Jerome anticipated modern translation methods by a thousand years. His work came to be known as the Vulgate, or Common Version, and it benefited people for centuries.

In eastern Christendom many could still read the Septuagint and the Christian Greek Scriptures. Later on, however, languages and dialects of the Slavonic, or Slavic, family came into common use in the eastern parts of Europe. In 863 C.E., two Greek-speaking brothers, Cyril and Methodius, went to Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. They began to translate the Bible into Old Slavonic. To do so, they devised the Glagolitic alphabet, which was later superseded by the Cyrillic alphabet, named after Cyril. This was the source of present-day Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, and Bulgarian scripts. The Slavonic Bible served people of that area for generations. In time, though, as languages changed, it became incomprehensible to the average person.

Bible Translation Meets Opposition

In 1079, Pope Gregory VII issued the first of many medieval church edicts banning the production and sometimes even the possession of vernacular versions. He revoked permission for Mass to be celebrated in Slavonic on the grounds that it would require portions of Holy Scripture to be translated. Completely contrary to the position of the early Christians, he wrote: “It [has] pleased Almighty God that holy scripture should be a secret in certain places.” With this as the official position of the church, promoters of Bible reading were increasingly considered dangerous.

Despite the unfavorable climate, the copying and translating of the Bible into common languages continued. Versions in many languages circulated clandestinely in Europe. These were all hand copied, since movable-type printing would not be invented in Europe until the mid-1400’s. But as copies were expensive and limited in number, an ordinary citizen might count himself happy to possess only a part of one book of the Bible or just a few pages. Some learned huge portions by heart, even the entire Christian Greek Scriptures!

In time, however, there were stirrings of broad movements for reform of the church. These were driven in part by renewed awareness of the importance of the Word of God in daily life. How would these movements and the development of printing affect the Bible? And what became of William Tyndale and his translation, mentioned at the outset? We will follow this fascinating story down to our own times in future issues.