鉁濓笍 Bible and History
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Bible history 路 Module 103

馃摉 The History of the Bible

How the Bible came to us, from the Old Testament scribes, the Masoretes, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint, through the New Testament papyri and great codices and the forming of the canon, to the Latin Vulgate, the Old English and Wycliffite Bibles, Erasmus and the Textus Receptus, Tyndale, the Geneva Bible and the King James Version of 1611. Then the textual debate verse by verse, the Revised and American Standard Versions, the NASB and the NKJV, the NIV and dynamic equivalence and the case that it and similar versions fall short (with the counter view), the modern paraphrases and gender-neutral editions, and how to choose a Bible and check it against the Hebrew and Greek.

16 lessons 路 about 13.5 hours 路 about 193,200 words 路 Updated October 28, 2026 路

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How to read this module

The module follows the text of the Bible from the scribes to the modern versions. Lessons 1 to 3 cover the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and the canon, lessons 4 to 7 the Latin and English Bibles to the King James Version, lesson 8 the textual debate verse by verse, lessons 9 to 12 the Revised and American Standard Versions, the NASB, the NKJV and the NIV, lesson 14 the paraphrases and gender-neutral editions, lesson 15 a method for choosing a Bible, and lesson 16 the timeline and review.

Lesson 13 argues a case. It sets out, verse by verse, why the NIV and similar versions are weaker translations, and closes with a section headed The counter view that gives the defenders' case in their own words. Every other lesson reports what each translation committee said it was doing, in its own words, and then what the record shows. Facts about manuscripts, dates and wording are checked the same way in every lesson.

Quotations: public domain texts (the KJV, Tyndale, the Geneva Bible, the ASV, the World English Bible, the Berean Standard Bible and others) are quoted freely. Copyrighted versions (the NASB, NKJV, NIV, ESV and others) are quoted only a verse or two at a time for comparison, each credited to its publisher. Popular claims are rated in each lesson's "Claims checked" section.

Status: built and fact checked October 28, 2026. Every lesson was checked by an independent checker against primary sources; quotations and verse wording were matched word for word against the editions named. Each lesson ends with a short "Still being checked" list of points not yet confirmed.

  1. 1How the Old Testament Was Written and Kept: Scribes, the Masoretes, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the SeptuagintNo original manuscript of any Old Testament book survives, so the Hebrew text reaches modern readers through a chain of copies. This lesson follows that chain: the first scribes and the silver amulets of Ketef Hinnom, the Nash Papyrus, the Masoretes and their vowel points and margins, the Aleppo and Leningrad codices, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek Septuagint quoted in the New Testament. It names each witness, its date and where it is kept, and checks the popular claims made about them.50 min
  2. 2The New Testament Manuscripts: Papyri, the Great Codices, Minuscules and What the Count ProvesHow the Greek New Testament survives: the papyri from Egypt (P52, P46, P66, P75), the great parchment codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus and Bezae, the thousands of later minuscules and lectionaries, the early translations and the church fathers' quotations. The lesson names each witness with its siglum, date and library, gives the INTF's 2023 count of 5,700 registered manuscripts with its limits, and checks what the count does and does not prove.50 min
  3. 3How the Canon Formed: The Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha QuestionWhich books belong in the Bible, and who decided? This lesson follows the Old Testament canon from the prologue to Sirach, Josephus's twenty-two books and the rabbis' debates to the Christian lists of Melito, Origen, Athanasius, Cyril and Augustine, and the Apocrypha question from the African councils, Florence and Trent to Luther's 1534 Bible, Article VI, the 1611 King James Version and the Westminster Confession. It then traces the New Testament from Irenaeus and the Muratorian fragment through Eusebius to Athanasius's list of the twenty-seven books in 367, and checks the claims about Nicaea and Jamnia.45 min
  4. 4The Latin Vulgate, the Bible in Old English, and WycliffeHow western Christians read the Bible in Latin for a thousand years, from the Old Latin and the Latin Vulgate (translated about 382 to 405 at the request of Pope Damasus I) to the Codex Amiatinus, Trent, the Clementine Vulgate and the Nova Vulgata. Then the first English renderings: Caedmon, Bede's lost John, the Psalter and Lindisfarne glosses, Alfred, the West Saxon Gospels and Aelfric, and the Wycliffite Bible of the 1380s, translated from the Latin and restricted by Arundel's Constitutions.50 min
  5. 5Erasmus, the Textus Receptus and the First Printed Greek New TestamentsHow the Greek New Testament first reached print: the Complutensian Polyglot (printed 1514, issued about 1522), Erasmus's rushed Basel edition of 1516 and its four revisions, and the editions of Stephanus, Beza and the Elzevirs whose 1633 preface gave the Textus Receptus its name. The lesson names the manuscripts behind each edition, shows where Erasmus supplied Greek from the Latin, checks the story of his 'promise' about 1 John 5:7, and explains which Greek texts the King James translators actually used.55 min
  6. 6Tyndale, Coverdale, Matthew, the Great Bible and the Geneva BibleFrom William Tyndale's Worms New Testament of 1526 to the Geneva Bible of 1560, the Bishops' Bible of 1568 and the Catholic Rheims New Testament of 1582, this lesson follows the English Bible through the sixteenth century, translation by translation. It quotes each translator's own preface and title page, shows how Coverdale, John Rogers and the Geneva exiles built on Tyndale, compares one prayer and one verse across eight versions, and checks popular claims such as the ploughboy remark, the chained Bible and the Mayflower Bible.55 min
  7. 7The King James Version of 1611: Hampton Court, the Translators, the Rules and the 1769 TextHow the King James Version was made: John Rainolds's request at Hampton Court in January 1604, the fifteen rules, the six companies of about fifty scholars, the review in London and Robert Barker's folio of 1611. The lesson quotes the translators' own preface and dedication, explains the He and She Bibles, the Wicked Bible and the question of authorization, and traces the changes from 1611 to Benjamin Blayney's Oxford text of 1769, which is the King James text most readers use today.50 min
  8. 8The Textual Debate: Textus Receptus, Majority Text, Critical Text and the Verses in QuestionEvery printed Greek New Testament is an edition, and three families of editions are argued over: the Textus Receptus behind the King James Version, the Majority Text built on the reading of most manuscripts, and the critical text behind most modern versions. This lesson sets out each position in its defenders' own words, explains how textual critics weigh evidence, and then takes eight disputed passages, from Mark 16:9 to 20 to 1 Timothy 3:16, naming the manuscripts and early writers on each side and showing how five English versions print them.55 min
  9. 9The Revised Version (1881) and the American Standard Version (1901)In 1870 the Convocation of Canterbury began the first authorized revision of the King James Version. English and American scholars produced the Revised Version (New Testament 1881, Old Testament 1885), with a new Greek text and an appendix of American preferences; Dean Burgon and others attacked it. In 1901 the American committee issued its own edition, the American Standard Version, with 'Jehovah' for the divine name, which became the parent of the RSV, NRSV, ESV, NASB and LSB.55 min
  10. 10The New American Standard Bible: Lockman, Formal Equivalence and the 1995 and 2020 TextsHow a California foundation founded by Dewey and Minna Lockman revised the American Standard Version into the NASB (John 1960, New Testament 1963, whole Bible 1971), and how it was revised again in 1977, 1995 and 2020, with the Legacy Standard Bible following in 2021. The lesson sets out the NASB's Fourfold Aim and formal-equivalence method in its own words, explains its italics, small capitals and asterisks, traces its Greek and Hebrew base texts, shows how it prints the disputed passages, and compares sample verses with the KJV and ASV.50 min
  11. 11The New King James Version (1982): Keeping the KJV's Wording and Its Greek TextThomas Nelson commissioned the New King James Version in 1975 and published the New Testament in 1979 and the complete Bible in 1982, under executive editor Arthur L. Farstad. It updated the English of the King James (pronouns, verb endings, words whose meaning had shifted) while keeping its order of words and its Greek base, the Textus Receptus, and it reports the readings of the critical text (NU) and the Majority Text (M) in footnotes. This lesson sets out the preface's aims in its own words, shows what changed and what stayed, walks through the notes on Mark 16, John 8, Acts 8:37 and 1 John 5:7, and weighs the criticism from King James Only defenders and from critical-text scholars.50 min
  12. 12The NIV and Dynamic Equivalence: The Committee, the Editions and How the Method WorksHow the New International Version came to be, from Howard Long's request in 1955 and the Palos Heights conference of 1965 to the editions of 1973, 1978, 1984, the TNIV and the 2011 NIV, told from the Committee on Bible Translation's own charter, prefaces and notes. The lesson explains Eugene Nida's formal and dynamic equivalence in his own words, shows where the NIV places itself between them, and sets verses side by side in the KJV, NASB 1995, NIV 1984 and NIV 2011. The case against the NIV is made in lesson 13.50 min
  13. 13Why the NIV and Similar Versions Fall Short, Verse by Verse (with the Counter View)A plainly argued case that the NIV and the versions that share its methods are weaker translations than the KJV and the close formal versions, with every point tied to a verse a reader can check: the Greek text and the readings it drops (some with no footnote), interpretive renderings the committee itself later reversed, the 2011 gender changes, and a handful of verses about Christ. Every NIV wording was checked against the 2011 text. The lesson closes with the counter view in the defenders' own words.55 min
  14. 14The Modern Rewrites: Paraphrases, Gender-Neutral Editions and Translation Versus ParaphraseFrom J. B. Phillips's letters for a church youth club (1947) to Kenneth Taylor's Living Bible (1971), the Good News Bible, The Message, the New Living Translation and the disputed Passion Translation, this lesson lets each paraphrase and free rendering describe itself in its own words and then sets the record beside the claim. It traces the gender-inclusive editions from the NRSV of 1989 through the TNIV, the CEB and the NRSV Updated Edition of 2021, defines translation and paraphrase, compares sample verses with the King James Version, and gives four questions to put to any preface.55 min
  15. 15How to Choose a Bible: Reading Prefaces, Comparing Passages and Using Interlinear ToolsA five-step method for judging any English Bible: read its preface, compare a passage across versions, check the Hebrew and Greek with free tools, use a concordance and lexicons, and decode the footnotes. The method is worked through on John 1:18, where the KJV reads "the only begotten Son" and most modern versions read "God," with the manuscripts, editions and committee reasoning on each side, and on almah in Isaiah 7:14.55 min
  16. 16Timeline, Glossary and ReviewThe whole module in one place: a timeline from the oldest biblical inscriptions to the Bible versions of 2021, a second timeline of English Bibles from Wycliffe to 2021, a table of which Hebrew and Greek text stands behind which version, a who's who, a glossary of the module's terms, and review questions for every lesson. Each item links back to the lesson that gives the full evidence.35 min

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