Church History · 1526 and 1536

William Tyndale's English New Testament

In 1526 William Tyndale printed the first English New Testament translated straight from the Greek and smuggled it into England. He was strangled and burned in 1536, and most of the King James New Testament is his wording.

Read it in the Bible: Psalm 119:105 Romans 10:17 Acts 17:11 2 Timothy 3:16-17

In 1526 William Tyndale printed the first English New Testament ever translated straight from the Greek. It was printed in Worms, Germany, and smuggled into England hidden in bales of cloth, because owning it there was a crime. Ten years later, in 1536, Tyndale was strangled and burned near Brussels. His last prayer, as it was reported, was Lord, open the King of England's eyes. Today, most of the New Testament in the King James Bible is Tyndale's own wording.

Who Was William Tyndale?

Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire, England, around 1494. He studied at Oxford and later at Cambridge and was gifted with languages. He knew Greek, Hebrew, Latin and several modern tongues. At the time, the only English Bibles were handwritten copies of John Wycliffe's translation from the Latin, and owning one without a bishop's permission was against the law in England.

John Foxe tells a famous story about Tyndale arguing with a learned churchman who said it was better to be without God's law than the pope's. Tyndale answered that if God spared his life, he would cause a boy that drives the plow to know more of the Scripture than the churchman did. That was his life mission in one sentence.

How Did Tyndale Make His New Testament?

In 1523 Tyndale asked the Bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall, to support a translation. The bishop said no. So in 1524 Tyndale left England for good. He went to Germany and probably spent time in Wittenberg, where Luther had just published his German New Testament.

He began printing in Cologne in 1525, but an enemy found out and the press was raided. Tyndale grabbed the pages and fled up the Rhine to Worms. There in 1526 the printer Peter Schöffer finished the complete New Testament. He worked from Erasmus's Greek text, with help from Luther's German and the Latin.

Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

How Did It Get Into England?

Merchants hid the little books in sacks of grain and bales of cloth and shipped them across the sea. Bishop Tunstall bought up as many copies as he could and burned them in London in 1526. One old story says the money the bishop paid for copies to burn ended up paying for the next printing. Only three copies of the 1526 edition are known to survive today.

Tyndale kept going. In 1530 he published the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, translated from Hebrew. In 1534 he released a revised New Testament. He also wrote books defending his beliefs, which led to a fierce written debate with Sir Thomas More.

How Did Tyndale Die?

In May 1535 an Englishman named Henry Phillips befriended Tyndale in Antwerp and then betrayed him to the authorities of the Holy Roman Empire. Tyndale was locked in the castle of Vilvoorde near Brussels for about a year and a half. In prison he asked for warm clothing, a lamp and his Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar and dictionary so he could keep working. He was tried for heresy and condemned.

In early October 1536 he was tied to a stake, strangled, and then his body was burned. The traditional date is October 6, though records suggest it may have been a few weeks earlier. John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, first printed in 1563, is the earliest source for his last words.

Lord, open the King of England's eyes.

That prayer was answered faster than anyone expected. Within about a year, King Henry VIII allowed an English Bible to be printed and sold, and it was mostly Tyndale's work under another name. You can read that story in the article on Coverdale, Matthew's and the Great Bible.

How Much of the King James Bible Came From Tyndale?

A lot. One careful study found that about 83 percent of the King James New Testament is Tyndale's wording, and a large part of his Old Testament work also survived. Other scholars give a lower figure, but all agree his voice runs through it. Many phrases we still use came from him or were made famous by him:

Let there be light
Am I my brother's keeper?
The salt of the earth
The powers that be
Fight the good fight
Passover and scapegoat

Tyndale also helped give us the word atonement, meaning at one with God. Not bad for a man on the run. You can read his work for yourself in the Tyndale New Testament on this site.

Why It Matters for You Today

Tyndale gave his life so a farm boy could read the Bible. Today you can read it on your phone in a dozen translations before breakfast. That is a gift worth not wasting.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

Every English Bible since, including the Berean Standard Bible used in The Owner's Manual, stands in his debt.

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Questions People Ask

When did Tyndale translate the New Testament?

Tyndale's complete English New Testament was printed in 1526 in Worms, Germany, after a first attempt in Cologne in 1525 was stopped. He published a revised edition in 1534.

Why was William Tyndale killed?

Tyndale was condemned for heresy by the authorities of the Holy Roman Empire for his Protestant beliefs, after being betrayed in Antwerp in 1535. He was strangled and burned at Vilvoorde, near Brussels, in early October 1536.

What were Tyndale's last words?

According to John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Tyndale cried out at the stake, Lord, open the King of England's eyes. Foxe's account of 1563 is the earliest source for the words.

How much of the King James Bible is Tyndale?

Scholars estimate that a large share of the King James New Testament, about 83 percent in one well known study, keeps Tyndale's wording. Some put the figure lower, but all agree he shaped it more than anyone else.

Sources

← The Anabaptists and Believer's Baptism Luther's Complete German Bible →

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