Originally published under title: From ancient tablets to modern translations.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-273) and index.

The book called "The Bible." The meaning of "Bible" ; Two books in one ; The unity of the two covenants -- The books of the Bible. The books of the Old Testament ; The books of the New Testament ; The titles of the biblical books -- The languages of the Bible. The Hebrew language ; The Aramaic language ; The Greek language -- God's word written. The development of writing ; The alphabet and script of biblical books ; Writing materials -- The Old Testament canon. The writing of the books ; The presence of the books ; The collection of the books ; The canonicity of the books -- Extracanonical books. The Apocrypha ; The Pseudepigrapha -- The text of the Old Testament. The text of the Old Testament prior to A.D. 100 ; The Masoretic Text ; Manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible ; The printed Hebrew Bible -- Ancient versions of the Old Testament. The Samaritan Pentateuch ; The Aramaic Targums ; The Greek translations of the Old Testament -- The beginnings of the New Testament. The period of oral tradition ; Extracanonical literature ; Collecting the canonical books -- The New Testament canon. Shaping the New Testament canon ; The age of the councils ; The canons of collection ; Affirming the limits of the canon -- The New Testament in manuscript form. The character of New Testament manuscripts ; The classification of New Testament manuscripts ; Significant manuscripts of the New Testament -- The printed Greek New Testament. The first printed Greek New Testament ; Printings of the "received text" ; In search of the most trustworthy text ; The development of textual criticism -- Early Eastern versions of the Bible. The Syriac versions ; The Coptic versions ; The Armenian version ; The Georgian version ; The Ethiopic version -- Early Western versions of the Bible. The Old Latin versions ; The Latin Vulgate ; The Gothic version ; The Old Church Slavonic version -- English Bibles prior to 1611. The Bible of Wycliffe ; Tyndale's Bible ; Coverdale's version ; Matthew's Bible ; The Great Bible ; The Geneva Bible ; The Bishops' Bible -- The Authorized Version and its revisions. The Authorized Version of 1611 ; The English Revised Versio ; The King James II Version ; The New King James Bible -- English Bibles in the first half of the twentieth century. The Twentieth Century New Testament ; Weymouth's New Testament ; The Moffatt Version ; An American Translation ; The Knox Translation ; Phillips's Version -- English versions in the fifties and sixties. The Revised Standard Version ; The Modern Language Bible ; The New English Bible -- Versions of the English Bible in the seventies. Recent Roman Catholic versions ; The New American Standard Version ; The Living Bible ; The Good News Bible ; The New International Version -- God's word in human language. So many versions ; Choosing a Bible ; Reading the Scriptures.

There are two strands woven together in the history of the Bible and its translations. One is the development of the biblical text: its materials, texts, and translations. The second is the story of the men and women who went to great extremes, at times risking death, in order to provide their generation with the Word of God in a language that could be understood. David Ewert skillfully combines both these elements in this informative and captivating book, beginning with what "Bible" means, how the Bible is organized, and how various books were named. He explores such other matters as the development of the biblical languages, the canon and the history of the testaments, and early versions of the Bible. English translations, from the time of Wycliffe to the present, are the focus of several chapters. A General Introduction to the Bible is filled with photographs of ancient texts, pages from various Bibles, photographs of key individuals and settings -- all of which add understanding to the Bible's history. Maps and charts show the development of languages, textual families, and the relationship of various translations and revisions. There are suggested readings and an extensive glossary.