My Soul Delighteth in the Scriptures

I Thank Thee For All Those Who Made Today's Bible Possible

Fires of Faith

     I really liked this three part series about the Bible that I finished watching this morning.  

Yearning For The Word

Martyrs For A Book

The King James Bible

     I am thankful for the sacrifices of these individuals, as well as others, who helped us secure the blessings we enjoy today:

John Wycliffe, whose body was exhumed, burned, and the ashes cast into the River Swift.

Thomas Bilney, who was burned to death at Lollards Pit on August 19, 1531.

John Frith, who was burned at the stake on July 4, 1533.

William Tyndale, who was tied at the stake, strangled to death, and burned in the autumn of 1535.

John Rogers, who was burned at the stake on February 4, 1555.

Thomas Cranmer, who was burned at the stake on March 21, 1556.

Thank You William Tyndale

     It has been 400 years since the publication of the King James Bible, with significant contributions from William Tyndale, a great hero in my eyes.

     The clergy did not want the Bible published in common English. They hounded Tyndale from place to place. He said to them, “If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scripture than thou.”¹

     Tyndale was betrayed and confined to a dark, freezing prison in Brussels for over a year. His clothing was in rags. He begged his captors for his coat and cap and a candle, saying, “It is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark.”² These were denied him. Eventually, he was taken from prison and before a large crowd was strangled and burned at the stake. But William Tyndale’s work and martyr’s death were not in vain.

--Boyd K. Packer

1. In David Daniell, introduction to Tyndale’s New Testament (1989), viii.   

2. In Daniell, introduction to Tyndale’s New Testament, ix.