20thC. BCAbraham hears God's callFrom what is now Iraq, he follows this to Canaan. Abraham's story and those of the other founders of Israel will be preserved by word of mouth before they are incorporated into the first five books of the Old Testament ("the Law" or "Pentateuch"). |
10thC. BCBiblical writing beginsThe earliest written parts of the Bible and sources on which it draws are thought to have been composed. |
13th C. BCTen CommandmentsGod reveals the ten commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai. Play the Bible Society Moses and the Tablets of Stone game! |
10th - 2nd C. BCOld Testament compiledThe books of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) are compiled. These draw on a variety of sources that includes written and spoken narratives, court archives, personal memoirs, eye-witness accounts, genealogies, laws and poetry. Some, such as Chronicles and Kings, are probably written gradually over generations, close to the events they describe. Most are completed by the mid-5th century BC, the era when Jewish exiles had returned to Jerusalem. The book of Daniel, usually dated to C.164 BC, is generally thought to be the latest. |
4thC. BC4thC. BC Pentateuch finishedBy this time if not before the final shape of the Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy) is fixed. |
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3rd & 2ndC. BC3rd & 2nd C. BC Old Testament in GreekThe first translation of the Old Testament into Greek is known as the Septuagint and is made by Jewish scholars at Alexandria in Egypt. |
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2ndC. BCOld Testament "A" ListBy 150 BC the accepted books of the Old Testament are the same as those we know today. This list ("canon") is fixed by 100 AD. |
1stC. BCDead Sea ScrollsThese scrolls, which include the Old Testament, are written near Qumran between 250 BC and AD 70. They will survive as the oldest known copies in Hebrew. When they are rediscovered in 1947, they will help to confirm the accuracy of manuscript copies made 1000 years later. |
1stC. ADPaul's letters to churchesThe Apostle Paul writes many letters of instruction and encouragement to churches. Scholars generally agree that these were the first New Testament books to be written. The letters are kept by the churches that received them, but other churches soon want copies. Before the end of the 1st century AD, they are collected together, copied and circulated along with some other New Testament letters, the Gospels and Acts, and Revelation. |
Mid-late 1stC. ADGospels and other writingsAs the eye-witnesses who can recount the stories of Jesus grow old, written accounts to preserve his teaching and life are created. The Gospels draw on personal memories of Jesus' inner circle and contemporaries and on other writings that have not survived. Mark's Gospel is probably the first (AD 60s) and John's Gospel is written last (around AD 90). Acts, recounting the spread of the Church, is probably written in the 70s. Further letters to churches and individuals and the vivid Book of Revelation, which urges a persecuted Church to continue in its faith, are also completed in the second half of this century. |
2ndC. AD2ndC. AD The message spreadsThousands of copies of New Testament manuscripts are made, first in Greek and then in other languages including Latin, Syriac and Egyptian as the Church spreads beyond Greek-speaking peoples. Fragments survive from the 2nd century to the 21st century. The oldest surviving complete New Testament (Codex Sinaiticus) will be from the 4th century. |
2ndC. AD2nd C. AD First Good "Book"The first "codex" or book form editions of the Bible are made, in preference to the more cumbersome sets of scrolls. By the close of 2nd century the four Gospels and Book of Acts are in official use throughout the churches as trusted records and sources of Christian teaching and Paul's 13 letters are viewed in the same way. Other books take longer to gain universal acceptance though this is generally to do with their suitability for public reading. The criteria for including books is apostolicity (i.e. written by an apostle or close associate); usage (i.e. accepted by lots of churches); and orthodoxy (true to the agreed teaching of the Church). |
Mid 4thC. ADLatin VulgatePope Damascus commissions an official version to be used by the Church throughout the Latin-speaking Empire. Jerome, his secretary, sets about revising the existing texts of the Gospels by comparing them with the Greek. He produces his version in AD 383. In 386 he starts a translation of the Old Testament from the Greek Septuagint but abandons it to translate direct from the Hebrew, and studies the language with the help of a Jewish Rabbi. It is called the Latin "Vulgate" meaning "common" or "belonging to the people". |
4thC. ADContents of New Testament fixedIn 367 St Athanasius compiles a list of accepted Bible books identical to today's. This settles the matter for Greek-speaking (Eastern) churches. The list is accepted by North African churches in 397 and confirmed for the Latin-speaking western churches by Papal decree in 405. The Syrian churches refuse for some centuries to be bound by these decisions. |
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8thC. AD8thC. AD John's Gospel in Anglo-SaxonThe Venerable Bede, abbot of the monastery at Jarrow near Newcastle-on-Tyne, translated part of John's Gospel into Anglo-Saxon. |
10thC. AD10thC. AD Critical Hebrew textThe Masoretic text of the Old Testament in Hebrew is completed by the 10thC. AD. The Masorites, over a period of more than 300 years, work to remove all ambiguities so the meaning in the Bible is clear to all who read it. They develop the most comprehensive system of punctuation ever seen, with every single word in the whole Bible punctuated to show where it sits in the sentence so the meaning is crystal clear. Thousands of Rabbis work on the text and ben Asher and ben Naphtali put it together. This text is to be the main point of reference for Bible translators and scholars in the future. |
14thC. AD14thC. AD Wycliffe translationIn England John Wycliffe and his followers translate the complete Bible from Latin into English, so that ordinary people can read and understand it. This is the first complete Bible in English. Although laboriously copied by hand, many copies are circulated: about 170 copies will survive to the 21st century. |
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1516 ADErasmusDesiderius Erasmus compiled the first Greek New Testament manuscript to be printed. This made the New Testament widely available to translators in its original language. The manuscript runs to many editions and the third edition printed by Robert Estienne becomes known as the Textus Receptus (the received text). This will be the main text used for the King James Version of the English Bible. |
1522 ADLuther's New Testament publishedMartin Luther, the most important name in German Bible translation, believes that a good Bible translation must be made directly from the original languages and in words everyone can understand. His Old Testament appears in sections over the next few years and in 1532 the whole Bible is published. It will remain the standard German Protestant Bible (with revisions from time to time). |
1526 ADTyndale's New Testament appearsIn England, in common with Catholic Europe, Scriptures are only permitted in Latin. Tyndale's English translation has to be smuggled in by sympathetic merchants in bales of wool and wine casks with false bottoms. Tyndale starts translating the Old Testament, but only manages to finish the Pentateuch and Jonah before he is betrayed, arrested, tried, and finally burned for heresy at Vilvorde in Belgium in 1536. His New Testament revision (1534) is used in many of the later English translations. |
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1535 ADPrinted Bible in EnglishThe New Testament and Pentateuch in Coverdale's Bible are based on Tyndale's work and the rest is translated from Latin and German. The Church of England has been established since Henry VIII broke with Rome (1534). Now he commands that a Bible revised by Coverdale should be available in all the country's churches. |
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1569 ADSpanish translation publishedCassiodoro de Reina's Spanish translation of the full Bible is published in Basel, Switzerland. Although Bible portions already exist in Spanish, the Spanish Inquisition's decision (1551) to prohibit vernacular Bibles means they cannot be widely circulated. De Reina completes his work outside of Spain, in England, the Netherlands and Germany. |
1580-1602 ADDe Reina's translation revisedCipriano de Valera begins revising de Reina's translation and by 1596 he finishes the New Testament. In 1602 the whole Bible is published in Amsterdam. The Reina-Valera version will become the standard Spanish Protestant Bible. |
1604 AD1604 AD King James versionA new revision of the English Bible is proposed, and welcomed by King James I. Fifty translators are appointed to work in six groups, each responsible for a section of the text. Their work is submitted to a committee for final editing and published in 1611. Because James I has commanded it, it becomes known as the King James or Authorised Version. Although it will go through many revisions, for more than 300 years it will remain the most widely read book in the English language. |
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1661 ADFirst Bible produced in the AmericasJohn Eliot has sailed with the Puritans to the newly colonised East Coast of America to find religious freedom and worked for over 50 years with the Massachusetts indigenous Americans. His New Testament translation is now published, followed in 1663 by the whole Bible. |
18thC. AD18thC. AD Growth of missionary tanslationWilliam Carey teaches himself Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French and Dutch and sails from England to Bengal in 1793. In 30 years, Carey and his colleagues translate and print in 45 languages - in 35 of these they are the first to print Scriptures. Carey himself learns Sanskrit, Bengali, Marathi, and some Sinhalese - spoken in what is now Sri Lanka. He translates, or helps to translate, into over 20 languages, of which his Bengali Bible will become the most famous. Joshua Marshman is particularly interested in Chinese and with the help of John Lassar, an Armenian born in Macao, in China, he begins translating the Bible into Chinese. Matthew's Gospel is published in 1810 and the whole Bible finished by 1822. Robert Moffat is one of the first missionaries to South Africa. Most of his work is in what is now Botswana and his most famous achievement is the translation of the Bible into Setswana. |
1804 ADBritish and Foreign Bible Society foundedAt a time of expanding trade and missionary activity and faster book production made possible by the Industrial Revolution, the British and Foreign Bible Society is formed to encourage the wider circulation of the Scriptures worldwide. |
20thC. ADTranslation and revision continuesTranslation and revision continues Scripture translation and revision continues. The discovery of previously unknown manuscripts and greater understanding of the biblical text leads to an upsurge of new Bible translations. |
1947 AD1947 AD Discovery of the Dead Sea ScrollsThe original handwritten manuscripts of the Bible no longer exist, but what does remain are carefully hand-written copies. Hebrew scrolls, including one of the entire Book of Isaiah, are discovered in 1947 in a cave near the Dead Sea. These are 1,000 years older than any previously known Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible. |
1976 AD1976 AD Good News Bible published in EnglishThe Good News Bible is a translation which aims to give readers maximum understanding of the content of the original Hebrew and Greek texts, by presenting them in everyday English. It quickly becomes the most widely used version in England. Find out more about the Good News Bible |
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21st C. AD21st C. AD 2,261 languagesThe Bible, in complete or partial form, is now available in 2,261 languages |
Laying the foundations
Hearing of plans to provide Bibles at reduced prices for Welsh speakers, at a Religious Tract Society meeting, the Revd Joseph Hughes asked, 'If for Wales, why not for the kingdom, and if for the kingdom, why not for the world?'
This meeting - held on 7 December 1802 in London - lay the foundation for the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society the following year. The Society was launched on 7 March 1804, in the London Tavern, Bishopsgate, in the presence of around 300 people.
The story of Mary Jones
The story of a young Welsh girl who was so determined to buy a Bible that she trekked over 20 miles of mountain paths when she heard copies were available in a nearby town. When she got there, there was only one Bible left. Stories of people like Mary Jones helped inspire the formation of Bible Society.
William Wilberforce and other members of the Clapham Sect were instumental in founding Bible Society in 1804
The 18th century was marked by a number of powerful movements which weakened the influence of Christianity in society. This widespread indifference to biblical values, like justice and freedom, was such that no one was willing to tackle evils such as the slave trade. In 1787, seven years after he became an MP, Wilberforce wrote in his diary: 'God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the Reformation of Manners'. What Wilberforce actually intended was to make 'goodness fashionable' and to cause people to fall in love with the Bible - the inspiration for that goodness. Wilberforce was associated with many societies and campaigning groups, including the British and Foreign Bible Society.
International growth
Bible Society auxiliaries and other independent national Bible Society formed to conduct Bible work throughout the world - in many cases with the active encouragement and financial backing of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
A network of agents
A network of agents began to emerge, reinforced by permanent depots and the employment of traveling salesmen - called "colporteurs" - who sold Bibles all around the world. Using reindeer sledges, camels, boats and horses to reach the most remote places, the colporters often put themselves at great personal risk and braved the threat of fever, rejection, abuse and even imprisonment as a spy.
The Scriptures were sold, not given away, but as some people couldn't afford them, a barter system was adopted - instead of money, some colporteurs finished a day's sale, clutching eggs, rabbits, fans, chopsticks and even monkeys!
Click here for one of the many stories that illustrate the influence the colporteurs had...
A growing Christian Church
1850 to 1914 - a time of phenomenal expansion for the Christian Church worldwide. Missionaries of many Societies began pioneering translation work, editing, publishing and distributing Scriptures.
Circulation
1,500 colporteurs continued their work in countries outside the main areas of battle during World War 1. In 1916 a quarter and in 1917 a third of Bible Society's total circulation was achieved in China, where three million copies of the Bible were circulated in 1917.
Translation
Despite all the hazards associated with traveling and delays in communication during the war, thirty four new languages were added to Bible Society's Bible translation lists between 4 August 1914 and 11 November 1918, an average of one for every seven weeks of the war.
Newspaper reports
An article in the Daily Telegraph early in 1918 remarked, "Few indeed realise how great have been the activities of this learned and uncontroversial [Bible] Society since the first days of the war."
