OV1 – The Bible’s origins, contents, and translations into other languages
© Jeff Stacey | Last updated: 8 April 2025
OV1(a) What is in the Bible?
The Bible is divided into two parts called the “Old Testament” (OT) and
The OT contains 39 of these books and is about 75% of the Bible. It mainly refers to the formation and history of the ancient nations of Israel and Judah, in the times before the coming of Jesus Christ. The NT contains 27 books and deals with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and of His followers during His lifetime and for the first generation afterwards.1
OV1(b) Authors and original languages of the biblical books
Many authors were involved, some unknown. There is also evidence of later editing and compiling of various books from prior historical sources, again by unknown persons and processes. Two of the books (Psalms, Proverbs) are collections of separate writings, by several authors.
The books were originally written in three languages. The OT was in ancient Hebrew except for a few short passages in Aramaic (or “Chaldean”). The NT was all in the common everyday Greek as spoken across the Roman Empire in first century AD.
OV1(c) Ancient manuscripts of the biblical books
The original manuscripts of the Bible’s books are known to have been authentic ancient documents. Those in the OT were written probably in the period 1400-250BC in various parts of the Middle East. The NT books were written in about 45-90AD, mostly in the eastern Roman Empire.
Many ancient copies of the Bible books’ original manuscripts have survived as hand-written documents on papyrus, parchment (skins)
There still exist over 6000 ancient copies of parts or all of the OT books, both in Hebrew and translations into other languages. The oldest copies of individual OT books in Hebrew are from about 70AD (the “Dead Sea Scrolls”). Complete copies of the Hebrew OT (the “Masoretic Text”) exist from about 800AD.
More than 5000 ancient copies of parts or all of the NT books still exist, the oldest fragments being from about 130-180AD. Complete copies of the Greek NT (the “Codex Sinaiticus” and “Codex Vaticanus”) are from about 400AD.
OV1(d) Accuracy of the oldest copies of the original manuscripts
The original manuscripts were carefully copied by hand, as new “manuscripts”. Then for
OV1(e) Summary of origins
To summarise, the origins of the Bible were spread over different authors, locations and languages and across long periods of time Jeremiah 36:1-2, Hebrews 1:1. Obviously the historical and cultural settings of the various writers differed greatly. These are significant issues to be considered when interpreting each book. It cannot just be assumed that the authors’ circumstances and ways of expressing their thoughts were all the same, or no different to our own.
OV1(f) Translation of the Bible into other languages
A major factor in understanding the Bible is that readers have to rely on translations into their own language [see CA7 and CA8]. Language translation always faces limitations in finding ways to exactly and fully transfer the meaning and “mood” of the original language into the “receptor” language. There are often no equivalent words, the grammar is always different and even the form of writing may not be the same.
A basic issue is whether a translation should reproduce the “equivalent” meaning of words and sentence structures in the original languages? Or should the aim be to convey the meaning of the original language by using quite different words and sentence structures that are more “natural” in the translated language? Conflict often results between concerns for theological accuracy and the freedom of language used. This can become a debate about whether a Bible version is a “translation” or a “paraphrase”? Or is it “too literal”, or even “too free and inaccurate” and so distrusted?
OV1(g) Early Bible translations
After about 300AD, Christianity spread further across the Roman empire around the Mediterranean, into areas where Greek and especially Hebrew were less known. Some translations of parts of the Bible were done into Egyptian (“Coptic”) and Syriac. Jerome took 20 years to produce a complete Bible in Latin (the “Vulgate”), which became the dominant version across Western Europe for over 1000 years. By 600AD there were hundreds of translations of Bible portions, including into Arabic and Chinese.
From 1300 to 1600AD there was a surge of Bible translations into Europen languages. A major factor was Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, ending 1000’s of years of handwritten copying. His first product was the Vulgate in 1456. By 1480 printed versions were completed in Italian, Dutch, Spanish
OV1(h) Translations of the Bible into English
The first translations of the whole Bible into English were by John Wyclif (c.1380) and Miles Coverdale (1535).
There are multiple English translations in use today. The earliest of these is usually the King James (KJV) or Authorised (AV) Version, translated by 54 scholars and published in 1611. Several revisions of the KJV were made, mainly the Revised Version (RV, 1881) and
There are obvious variations between different English Bibles. The translators have chosen different English words and sentences to try and transmit
So rather than argue about which is the “best” Bible version, it is usually more helpful to study a Bible passage in several versions, to get more aware of the range of meaning and “tone” of the original.
I have generally assumed that the vast expert research involved in translating the Bible into English has produced versions that can be relied on for accuracy. Yet comparisons of different translations for words and verses that are hard to understand can still be required.
OV1(j) The New Living Translation (NLT) of the Bible in English
I have used the NLT (2007 revision) in the LOGOS windows throughout this project.2
The most widely used Bible version in English is now the New International Version (NIV, 1978, with later revisions published in 1984 and 2011). The Preface to the NIV gives a summary of the breadth of viewpoints and church traditions of its more than 100 international translators. It also outlines the vast amount of research they did, managed under a long and complex process of drafts and discussions that began in 1965.
Occasionally I have used the NIV or other translations for particular verses where they seem better than the NLT for what I am trying to explain.
OV1(k) Massive increase in translating of the Bible into the languages of the whole world
Bible translating into other world languages expanded after 1800. This was due to the discovery and
This increased dramatically after 1930 with the development of the science of descriptive linguistics. It is used for the analysis
In 1999, Wycliffe Bible Translators launched “Vision 2025”. This aimed to coordinate Bible translating by all involved organisations, to achieve the goal of commencing work by 2025 in all remaining languages (then about 1500, spoken by 170 million people). Strong acceleration has resulted, especially due to the increased use of information technology, including AI.
By 2024 there were translations of all or some of the Bible into most of the world’s known languages, as follows:
Total world languages requiring a Bible translation (6265 languages, approx 7.5 billion speakers)
Current position (progress of Bible translations):
Full Bibles completed (756 languages, 6 billion speakers)
New Testaments completed (1726 languages, 835 million speakers)
Portions of the Old and New Testament completed (1274 languages, 468 million speakers)
Bible translation in progress, but no completed portions yet (1524 languages, 136 million speakers)
Bible translation needed, but none yet started (985 languages, 29 million speakers)
OV1(m) Is there any significance in these rates of progress of Bible translating, and their likely times of completion?
Shortly before Jesus was condemned and crucified, His disciples privately asked Him two huge questions. What would signal “the END of the world”? And, when would He return? Matthew 24:3.
Jesus began His reply by outlining a sequence of three disturbing future world situations that would happen before “the END” would come Matthew 24:4-6, 7-8, 9-12.
Jesus then indicated when the END and His return would occur. These would be preceded by another hugely significant key event. This would be when the Good News about the Kingdom had actually “been preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it” Matthew 24:14. Could the completion of this worldwide communication of the Gospel be closely related to the completion of Bible translation into all the languages of the world? Very likely!
The original New Testament Greek word translated as “nations” is ethnos. If this word is understood to mean ethnic communities rather nation states, it could mean every people group where all speak the same language. For example, the indigenous tribal groups in the nation of Papua New Guinea speak more than 800 unique languages! Anyway, this would surely be a more appropriate meaning than the modern usage of “nations”, which commonly includes people who cannot understand even the national language(s). They would not “hear” the Gospel if only communicated in those languages. It must also be done in their own ethnic language.
Jesus also implied what this END was to be, by referring initially and several times later to people making deceptive “timing” claims that He had already returned Matthew 24:4-5,11,23-26. But when it does happen, His return will not be “secret” ! Matthew 24:27,30. So by referring to “the END” Jesus was definitely declaring the timing of His return. For this reason He kept stressing the need for all His followers to remain faithful until the End, despite deceptions and persecutions Matthew 24:13. He did this also by repeatedly warning them to be aware of significant world events that would closely precede the END Matthew 24:28,32-33. Such events were meant to warn them not to be deceived Matthew 24:5,13,23-26.
The key point was that they must always be ready for the possibility of His sudden return Matthew 24:37-39, 42,44, 25:13. He went on to extensively stress and illustrate this key point by many “parables” Matthew 24:37-39,40-41,43-44,45-51, 25:1-12,14-30,31-46. Jesus had in fact told His followers to be aware of and recognise any trends or “signs” in world affairs that could be indicating anything He had mentioned as being associated with the END.
However, Jesus later indicated that no-one but God the Father can know the specific date and hour when His return will occur Matthew 24:36. Jesus had briefly described several future worldwide disruptive trends Matthew 24:5-6a,7,12 as well as severe persecutions of faithful Christians Matthew 24:9-10. Yet He implied that there would be nothing “basically new” in all of these Matthew 24:8. And of course, similar things have often recurred in various ways ever since. There would be only one truly significant and reliable “time signal” that His return was actually imminent Matthew 24:14.
The current rate of progress of Bible translation into world languages suggests that it could be completed during the 2030’s. How neat it would be if 2033 were the year, being 2000 years since the often accepted year of the death and resurrection of Jesus! But no one knows the date and time except God the Father. So the call for us all is not to speculate about specific dates, but always “to be about our Father’s business”. Thus we will be ready if He did suddenly return “early” – in our lifetime!
In fact, is it potentially dangerous to even mention any “possible” future time period for Jesus’ return? Could this so easily encourage some Christian people to slacken off in their commitment to fully obey the Lord daily? Just like the bad servant in Jesus’ parable Matthew 24:48-50,51?
Instead, any apparent “strong indicators” of His likely soon return, should only spur us on to be even more diligent in trusting and serving Him.
FOOTNOTES
1. The Douay-Rheims Bible used by the Roman Catholic Church contains 9 additional OT books, plus 5 additions to the OT books of Esther (1) and Daniel (4). These are known as “The Apocrypha”. They were mostly written later than the OT books, in the period from about 400BC to 100AD. Generally t
2. The “Note to Readers” in the front of the 2007 edition of the NLT states:
“The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, was first published in 1996. It quickly became one of the most popular Bible translations in the English speaking world. While the NLT’s influence was rapidly growing, the Bible Translation Committee determined that an additional investment in scholarly review and text refinement could make it even better. So shortly after its initial publication, the committee began an eight year process with the purpose of increasing the level of NLT’s precision without sacrificing it’s-easy-to-understand quality. This second-generation text was completed in 2004 . . . An additional update with minor changes was subsequently introduced in 2007.
The goal of any Bible translation is to convey the meaning and “mood” of the ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts as accurately as possible to contemporary readers. The resulting translation is easy to read and understand, while also accurately communicating the meaning and tone of the original biblical texts . . . ” (Return to reading)