Read "The Bible as Literature" by Marilyn Green Faulkner by clicking here.

Pick up your Bible and let’s take a look at it together. First of all, the fact that you can easily lay your hands on a Bible in your own language is a miracle in itself. For centuries after the Bible was compiled and canonized, it was protected by the clergy, which believed that the “common people” should not have access to its sacred passages.

As early as 700 A.D. certain parts of the scripture (the creation story, the birth of Jesus, etc.) were translated into Anglo-Saxon by traveling bards, but such liberties with the sacred word were frowned upon. When John Wycliffe, in a tremendous act of courage, translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into Anglo-Saxon English, one critic wrote, “The jewel of the Church is turned into the common sport of the people…and thus the pearl is cast abroad and trodden under the feet of swine.” [i] But wiser men, such as Wycliffe, believed that the social ills of the day could be best addressed by making the word of God available to everyone.

Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible, completed in 1382, stood as the standard translation for over two centuries. Over one hundred and fifty hand-written copies still exist, including those used by Queen Elizabeth and Edward VI. [ii]   Its use helped the English language develop an identity separate from the other European tongues.

In the century after Wycliffe there was a great resurgence in classical scholarship. Greek and Hebrew began to be studied in Universities, and scholars began to question the accuracy of the Latin Vulgate Bible, from which Wycliffe worked. A second development in that century was the invention of the printing press with movable type. Gutenberg’s Bible was printed in 1455, and for the first time it was worthwhile for the common man to learn to read, for books became widely available. Literacy was on the rise and with it the desire grew in people to know the scriptures for themselves.

William Tyndale, Translator and Martyr

William Tyndale was the next great Bible translator, and the first to use Greek and Hebrew documents.  In 1523 he began a new translation, but encountered such opposition that he was forced to flee to Europe to complete it. The Tyndale Bible was published in 1534, and two years later Tyndale was put to death by strangling and his body was burned. He is the true father of our version of the Bible, since over eighty percent of his Old Testament and ninety percent of his New Testament were transferred to our current version.

One scholar wrote of Tyndale’s inspired translation: “The peculiar genius which breathes through it, the mingled tenderness and majesty, the Saxon simplicity, the preternatural grandeur, unequaled, unapproached, in the attempted improvements of modern scholars, all are here, and bear the impress of the mind of one man, William Tyndale.” [iii] Remember that scholars of the day wrote in Latin and considered English a vulgar tongue. Tyndale built upon the foundation laid by Wycliffe, and fixed English once and for all as a true language. His bold statement to one church dignitary serves as a fitting epitaph: “If God spare my life,” he said, “ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth a plow shall know more of the Scriptures than thou dost.” [iv]

Luther’s reformation in Germany and Henry VIII’s split with the Catholic Church in England furthered the cause of a Bible for all people. Scholarship was increasing along with a strong sense of national pride in England, which made it a natural center for Protestant reform. Several editions of the Bible competed for prominence when, in 1604, King James I called a conference of the leading churchmen of his day. Though a weak and unimpressive monarch, James was a dedicated scriptorian, and at the end of the conference he proposed a new translation of the Bible, to be undertaken by 54 of the best Bible scholars of the realm. These he divided into six companies and set them to work in three different cities, Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster. Scholarship and character were the foremost considerations in the choosing of these men; they represented a wide variety of theological positions. The Bible was divided among these six groups, and when each had finished its part, it was sent by courier to the other groups for review. Finally a small committee reviewed the entire work for consistency. [v]

A Work for All Time

These fifty-odd men were paid very little money and labored at great personal sacrifice. Like the founding fathers of our American nation, they were inspired by a higher power, and knew it. Three years were spent on the original translation, then three more on revisions and marginal references. Finally in 1611 the King James Version appeared. A quick comparison between the flowery, fawning preface (a dedication to the king) and the text of the Bible itself makes it immediately clear that this translation is something very special.

While the dedication is written in a very high, formal tone, the Bible is not. The vast majority of the words (excluding proper names) are of one or two syllables. A great effort was made by the translators to find a middle ground between the formal language of court and scholarship and the vulgar, slang-filled vernacular of the workingman. Somewhere in the middle, it was felt, would be an appropriate meeting ground for a book that was, after all,  “appointed to be read in churches.” The result is a unique linguistic style that, while it may not represent how people actually talked in the early seventeenth century, does represent the best use of the English language in history.

The goal of the translators was two-fold. First, they wished to give as accurate a translation of the original documents as possible. For this reason, many words in our King James Version are italicized. This is not for emphasis; it is to alert the reader that the word in question cannot be directly translated. Often alternative translations are suggested in the footnotes. Though some of the translators were Puritans and some were High Churchmen, they resolutely translated the words as accurately as possible. Controversial words like congregation, church, and the myriad names of God, were carefully considered and translated, no matter whose “side” they seemed to support. A word like baptism, which could be interpreted many ways, was simply transliterated - baptism is a Greek word - thus avoiding the controversy over the form.

Second, the translators wished to serve God with the translation. In other words, they wished to teach, inspire and promote the gospel of Jesus Christ through their labors. This they did by using all of their skills to communicate the beauty and emotional power of the scripture through their translation. That they accomplished this goal is evidenced by the fact that the King James Version of the Bible is still unsurpassed as a translation. Macaulay called the English Bible, “a book which if everything else in our language should perish would alone suffice to show the extent of its beauty and power.” [vi]

Tools of the Translators

In the first part of this article, we talked about the tools that Hebrew writers used to communicate both prophetically and poetically. Tools such as hyperbole, wordplay, parallelism, chiasmus, and symbolism bring abstract concepts to life. The narrative style of the Hebrew scriptures, or the way the stories are told, is unique and fresh. The details are selective; we are given certain details in a story that drive the moral, and are spared details that might lead us away from the point. How did the inspired translators of the Authorized Version convey the sense of Hebrew or Greek poetry and narrative in English?

First, they used poetic devices that were subtler than end rhymes. Though Shakespeare, Marlow and others of the day used end rhymes extensively in sonnets and epic poems, rhyme did not convey the sense of Hebrew poetry, which does not rhyme, but relies on structure and wordplay for poetic effect. Instead, the translators made extensive use of internal rhyme, or rhymes within the words.  Internal rhyme is easy to miss, but it is everywhere in the scriptures, and contributes much to the joy of reading them. I just opened my Bible and found an immediate example in Psalm 57:6:

            They have prepared a net for my steps;
            My soul is bowed down:
            They have digged a pit before me,
            into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves.

In addition to internal rhyme, such devices as alliteration (prince of peace), assonance and consonance,  (vowels or consonants occurring several times in one verse) and onomatopoeia  (words that sound like what they mean) are used extensively in the more poetic passages, yet because our ears are attuned to poetry that rhymes we may miss them. In addition, the translators decided to divide all of the scriptures, whether prose or poetry, into numbered verses, which further obscures the poetic structure. (A poem like Psalm 23 is presented in exactly the same structure as a prose passage, such as an epistle of Paul’s.) In the eighteenth century the subtle nuances of Hebrew poetic structure came to be appreciated, and subsequent translations render the poetic passages in stanza form, making it easier to see the parallelism.

Dragging Out the Big Guns

When these inspired translators, with their extensive training in classical languages and poetic form, came to some of the most important passages in the scriptures, they knew what to do. God had prepared a group of men with both the skill set and the spirituality to create poetry and prophetic prose that soars.

As one critic writes of this translation: “Its qualities are those of grace, stateliness, scale and power.” [vii] So that you can appreciate the craft that goes into such writing, I’ll use italics to point out several poetic devices in our beloved 23^rd Psalm. Along with the beautiful metaphors, similes and the parallel structures, take a moment to appreciate the internal rhymes, repetitions of consonants and vowels, and the stately, measured meter of the verse. These combine to make the message musical as well as meaningful. Also, notice how the whole passage hinges on the simple couplet: I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. These two phrases, each five simple words in length, encapsulate the meaning of the poem, this time without any poetic images at all. They act as a hub of a wheel of imagery that circles the central message.                     

      The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.
      He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
      He leadeth me beside the still waters.
      He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the
      Paths of righteousness for his name sake.
      Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
      I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
      Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
      Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
     Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
     Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
     And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Next time: We’ll take a look at the great Bible stories and the parables of Jesus.

The Best Books Club: What are you reading?

For March, I recommend a wonderful little novel titled The Final Solution, by Michael Chabon. If you love Sherlock Holmes, you won’t want to miss it.  It’s just out in hardback, and is also available on tape, read by Michael York. It's a good mystery, beautifully written by one of our most talented authors today.

Members of the Best Books Club have written to share favorite books from our selections, and offer some new ideas. Here are some of their comments:

Have you read "Random Family?"  How about  “The Elegant Universe," by Brian Greene?  I'd love to get into either or both of those.  Kathy

There are several nonfiction books I've been hearing a lot about recently that may be of interest to your group.  One is a New York Times' bestseller called God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It.   It's written by a minister and is about the need for moderates in both political camps to work together; it discusses the fact that "moral values" shouldn't be restricted to talking about gay marriage or abortion, as the right wing has done, but should embrace other moral/Christian values that are often ignored in our society--such as fighting poverty, caring for the sick, etc.   This is a big topic of conversation in both major political parties right now.   Miriam

I am almost finished reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I read it as part of a free class offered on the Barnes and Noble University site. It is beautifully written and offers an in-depth look at France during the Medieval Age. Themes of innocence, justice, religion and art are interwoven. It is a true masterpiece of literature. Has this been one of your past selections?

I also recently read Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. Criticized and banned when it was first published it offers insights to the institutions of education and marriage. I enjoyed it, but it is quite a despairing read.

Our neighborhood book group's selections this year are: The Kite Rider (young adult book),Vanity Fair (thanks to your review); Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (James Joyce); Reading Lolita in Tehran, The Piano Tuner (Mason); Kristin Lavransdatter (second book), among others.

I always look forward to your selections. Thanks for sharing some great books with us. Our book group has read several of your suggestions.   Suzanne

My husband has been reading a book he thoroughly enjoys.  It is called Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham.  Sue