HOW WE GOT
THE BIBLE
Part III: The
Translators & their Hymns
In 1526
Hans Schlaffer in Germany was baptized by immersion based on what he read in
the Bible for himself, then preached against infant baptism saying it was never
commanded in the scriptures. The following
year he was arrested. In prison he
wrote this hymn in part:
But Jesus
Christ has died, and satisfied
The guilt
that was mine own.
Early the following year, he and 20 others were beheaded at
Schwatz.
John
Leopold, a tailor of Augsburg, was arrested for his beliefs in baptism based on
the Bible he had been able to read. He
wrote this hymn:
My God,
thee will I praise
When my
last hour shall come,
And then
my voice I’ll raise
Within the
heavenly home.
O Lord,
most merciful and king,
Now
strengthen my weak faith,
And give
me peace of mind.
On April 25, 1528, he was executed for his beliefs.
In 1528,
Christiern Pedersen translated the New Testament from Latin and German into the
language of his Danish people.
Huldreich Zwingli, translated the Bible into the Swiss language. In 1523 Ludwig Hetzer translated the Old
Testament into German. Among several
hymns written by him was
Fred not
thyself, O pious heart,
Tho evil
men surround thee.
Finally in Bischolszell, Switzerland, he was arrested. On February 3, 1529, he was beheaded.
George
Blaurock, a former monk, was baptized by immersion according to the Bible, and
associated with the Brethren. Amidst
his preaching, he wrote this hymn:
Daily
renew us and make us steadfast in persecution.
Leave us
not, thy children, from now on to the end.
Extend to
us thy fatherly hand, that we may finish our course
In Tyrol, Switzerland, he was arrested and burned at the
stake in 1529.
In 1531 Martin Maler and six
others were arrested in Schwabia, Germany, for preaching the Word, especially
about baptism. While imprisoned, he
wrote:
In deep
distress I cry to thee;
My prayer,
O God, attend.
He was tortured on the rack, but refused to recant. Thereupon his was executed.
Englishman,
William Tyndale, tried to publish the New Testament into the common English of
the people but it was not allowed. So
he went to the Continent where he printed his first edition in 1526. He spent the next decade trying to get his
Bible to as many people as possible.
But he was finally arrested and burned at the stake in Brussels,
Belgium, October 1536.
The Dutch
translation was completed in 1532, as was a new Italian translation. In 1533, Paul’s Epistles were translated
into Hungarian. In 1534 J. Dietenberger
translated the Bible into German. In
1535 Olivetan translated the Bible into French. In 1539, the Great Bible was translated into English and later
edited by Coverdale. He began printing
it in Parish, but was run off by the French inquisition, and finished printing
it in Londin in 1539.
The
Waldenses, who had always had the New Testament in their language, now got the
Old Testament translated. When Rome
threatened them, they sent back a message which in part said they valued the
King of kings more than any earthly ruler.
Thereupon one of their ministers, Jeffery Varnagle, was burned at the
stake. Others were hanged, drowned,
stabbed, pierced, throw off cliffs, burned, crucified upside down, thrown to
mad dogs, or racked to death. Those who
could, escaped to caves in the Alps.
At this
time, this hymn appeared in the Genevan Psalter:
Out of the
depths I cry, Lord. O Lord, please hear
my call.
Let your
ears be attentive; I beg for mercy, Lord.
O Lord,
the enemy pursues me;
My life
lies broken where I’ve fallen.
Let God
arise and by his might
Put all
his enemies to flight
With shame
and consternation.
For when
the Lord God shall appear,
He will
consume, afar and near,
With fire
and desolation.
Between 1540
and 1570, nearly one million people who wanted to go just by the Bible ~ mostly
French Waldenses ~ were put to death in an effort to exterminate them. In 1540, a man named Kugelmann wrote this
hymn:
Do not be
silent, Lord God;
The wicked
speak against my life….
You see,
my Lord, how fearful, how spent I am,
Like mere
debris. Tormentors mock my frailty.
In 1541, J.
Erdosi translated the New Testament into the Hungarian language. And this hymn appeared in the Genevan
Psalter:
Pain and
distress o’erwhelm me, I cry all night for mercy.
My bed is
wet with tears, my eyes can weep no longer,
My enemies
seem stronger, my awful foes and fears.
Finally, in
1543, Enzinas Dryander translated the New Testament into Spanish. In 1546, Peter Chapot brought a number of
Bibles in the French language to France and sold them there. He was executed for it. About that time, Frenchman Louis Bourgeois,
wrote these hymns:
Protect me
from the arrogant and proud;
They scorn
and laugh at those who seek your pleasure.
Sometimes
I am depressed and sad at heart;
Revive my
soul according to your precepts.
Lord, to
you my soul is lifted. Let me never be
ashamed
That I
trust in you to keep me, though I seem to wait in vain.
All people
that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the
Lord with cheerful voice.
Serve him
with joy, his praises tell,
Come now
before him and rejoice.
Around 1550
Jan Blahoslav translated the New Testament into Czech. That same year J. Seklucyan published the
New Testament in Danish. In 1554 under
Queen “Bloody Mary” John Rogers, a close friend of William Tyndal and Miles
Coverdale who both had translated the Bible into English, was among them.
In 1553 J.
Seklucyan translated the New Testament into Polish. In 1554, the New Testament was translated into Dutch. In 1556 Cranmer who had translated parts of
the Bible into English, read it in church and openly sold it. He and probably a hundred other such leaders
were burned at the stake.
The Bible
was translated into Swiss in 1560. That
same year, the Bible was translated into a Romanish Swiss dialect called the
Upper Engadine Translation. In 1561
came the Cracow Bible, the first entire Bible published in Polish. Coresi translated the Acts of the Apostles
into Romanian. In 1562, this hymn
appeared in the Genevan Psalter:
Let us
with a gladsome mind
Praise the
Lord, for he is kind.
Sound
again his name abroad,
For of
gods he is the God.
In 1567,
William Salesbury translated the New Testament into Welsh. The bishops Bible in English was published
in 1568 England. In 1569 C. de Reyna
translated the Old Testament into Spanish.
In 1560
Nicholas Burton, and Englishman, sailed to Spain where he was illegally
imprisoned. There he explained the Word
of God to the other prisoners. For this
he was burned at the stake. For similar
reasons, Mark Brughes, an Englishman visiting Portugal, was burned at the
stake. And in 1561, William Kethe, set
this poem written by Louis Bourgeois to a tune so all could sing:
All people
that on earth do dwell,
Sing to
the Lord with cheerful voice;
Serve him
with fear, His praise forth tell;
Come ye
before Him and rejoice.
For
why? The Lord our God is good;
His mercy
is forever sure;
His truth
at all times firmly stood,
And shall
from age to age endure.
In 1582 the
Old Testament was translated into Romanian.
In 1588, the Bible was translated by William Morgan into the Welsh
language, and is still used today. In
1590, G. Karoli translated the Bible into Hungarian. And in 1592, T. Este wrote this hymn:
While
shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated
on the ground,
An angel
of the Lord came down,
And glory
shone around.
In 1607
Hans Pulsen Resent translated the Bible into Danish, and Giovanni Diodati
published the Bible in Italian. In
1611, King James’ fifty-four scholars translated the Bible into modern
English.
In 1642 the
Bible was translated into Finnish language.
The Danish translation came out in 1647, and Simion Stefan’s Four
Gospels in parallel with Romanian, Greek, Latin and Slavonic was published. In 1666, Oskan of Yerevan translated the
Bible into Armenian. In 1667 Isaac
Louis de Sacy translated the Bible into French. In 1574, and Englishman named Thomas Ken, wrote this hymn:
Praise God
from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him
all creatures here below;
Praise him
above, ye heavenly hosts,
Praise
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
And Paulus Gerhardt of Saxony, wrote this hymn:
Give to
the winds your fears, in hope be undismayed;
God hears
your sighs and counts your tears,
God shall
lift up your head.
In 1666
Oskan of Yerevan translated the Bible into Armenian, and in 1667 Isaac Louis de
Sacy translated it into French. In
1677, an unknown wrote this to perhaps sooth aching Christian hearts:
Fairest
Lord Jesus! Ruler of all nature!
O Thou of
God and man the Son!
Thee will
I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou my
soul’s glory, joy, and crown.
In 1688 a
group of Romanian scholars translated the Bible into Romanian. That same year, John Bunyan was imprisoned,
during which time he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. And in 1693, Thomas Shepherd wrote this hymn to spread courage to
those being persecuted:
Must Jesus
bear the cross alone,
And all
the world go free?
No,
there’s a cross for everyone,
And
there’s a cross for me.
‘
Then the
persecutions by imprisonment, torture and death ceased. And this is how we got the Bible.