Modern Versions.
Luther’s.—The principal German version of the Bible was made by the leader of the Protestant Reformation. On account of its superior literary merits and its large circulation it is, next to our Authorized Version, the most important of the Protestant versions. Luther placed the Apocryphal books in an appendix at the end of the Old Testament, and the books of the New Testament which he rejected in an appendix at the end of the New.
Wicliffe’s.—The translation of Wicliffe, which appeared in the latter part of the fourteenth century, was the first English translation of the Bible.
Tyndale’s.—Tyndale commenced his English translation of the Bible about the same time that Luther commenced his German translation. He did not live to complete it, and a portion of the Old Testament was translated by others.
King James.—The Authorized English Version, commonly called the King James Bible, was published in 1611. It was made by forty-seven English scholars, working in six companies—two at Oxford, two at Cambridge, and two at Westminster. The basis of this version is Tyndale’s translation. The Apocryphal books, which were not accepted as canonical by the English church, were placed in an appendix. They are now generally omitted. The King James Bible is admittedly one of the most incorrect versions; but dressed in the strong, quaint English of Shakespeare’s time it possesses considerable literary merit. It has been translated into nearly every tongue, and has had a larger circulation than all others combined.
New Version.—The new or Revised Version of the Bible is a revision of the King James version. The revision was made by a Committee of twenty-seven English scholars, whose work was revised by an American committee. It was begun in 1870 and finished in 1882. In this version the matter is divided into paragraphs instead of chapters and verses.
Douay.—The Douay Bible is an English translation of the Vulgate. It is the standard English version of the Roman Catholic church.
The foregoing are but a few of the numerous versions of the Bible, ancient and modern, that have appeared. Nearly every nation of Europe has from one to a score. Luther’s version is nearly 400 years old, and yet Germany had seventeen translations, and consequently seventeen versions, before Luther’s was published. England had many versions besides those named.
CHAPTER V.
AUTHORSHIP AND DATES.
Upon the authenticity of the books of the Bible depends in a large measure their value as authorities. These books are filled with strange and marvelous stories. Are these stories true or false? If true, we should accept them; if false, reject them. From whence do these writings come?
If you hear a startling statement on the street your disposition to accept or reject it will depend largely upon the character of its author. If he is a reputable person you will be disposed to accept it; if it does not come from a reputable person, or if you are unable to discover its author, you will be disposed to reject it. Christian priests demand the acceptance of these books as infallible truth. What evidence do they adduce to justify this demand? Where did they obtain these books? When were they written? Who wrote them? What is the reputation of their authors for intelligence and veracity? Were they learned and astute men, or were they weak and credulous men? Were they good men, or were they bad men? If able men wrote them, may they not have been impostors? If good men wrote them, may they not have been mistaken?
These priests claim to have a knowledge of the authorship of all, or nearly all, the books of the Bible. With one or two exceptions, they have assigned authors to all the books of the Old Testament, and to these exceptions they have even assigned “probable” authors. They also claim a great antiquity for them—claim that they were written from four hundred to fifteen hundred years before the Christian era. The books of the New Testament, they affirm, were all written in the first century, and by those whose names they bear.
The following table gives the authorship and date of composition, according to orthodox authorities, of the books composing the Protestant canon. It is not claimed that every book was written in the year assigned for its composition, but that it was written in or prior to the year assigned.
Old Testament.
| BOOK | AUTHOR | DATE |
| Genesis | Moses | B.C. 1451 |
| Exodus | | |
| Leviticus | | |
| Numbers | | |
| Deuteronomy | | |
| Joshua | Joshua | 1426 |
| Judges | Samuel | 1049 |
| Ruth | (?) | |
| 1 Samuel | | |
| 2 Samuel | Gad & Nathan | B.C. 1016 |
| 1 Kings | Jeremiah | 600 |
| 2 Kings | | |
| 1 Chronicles | Ezra | 456 |
| 2 Chronicles | | |
| Ezra | | |
| Nehemiah | Nehemiah | 433 |
| Esther | Mordecai (?) | 440 |
| Job | Job | 1520 |
| Psalms | David | 1020 |
| Proverbs | Solomon | 980 |
| Ecclesiastes | | |
| S. of Solomon | | 1016 |
| Isaiah | Isaiah | 700 |
| Jeremiah | Jeremiah | 585 |
| Lamentations | | |
| Ezekiel | Ezekiel | 575 |
| Daniel | Daniel | 534 |
| Hosea | Hosea | 780 |
| Joel | Joel | 800 |
| Amos | Amos | 785 |
| Obadiah | Obadiah | 588 |
| Jonah | Jonah | 856 |
| Micah | Micah | 700 |
| Nahum | Nahum | 698 |
| Habakkuk | Habakkuk | 600 |
| Zephaniah | Zephaniah | 609 |
| Haggai | Haggai | 583 |
| Zechariah | Zechariah | 520 |
| Malachi | Malachi | 420 |
New Testament.
| BOOK | AUTHOR | DATE |
| Matthew | Matthew | A.D. 40 |
| Mark | Mark | 63 |
| Luke | Luke | |
| John | John | A.D. 97 |
| Acts | Luke | 63 |
| Romans | Paul | 57 |
| 1 Corinthians | | |
| 2 Corinthians | | |
| Galatians | | 55 |
| Ephesians | | 62 |
| Philippians | | |
| Colossians | | 61 |
| 1 Thessalonians | | 52 |
| 2 Thessalonians | | |
| 1 Timothy | | 64 |
| 2 Timothy | | 65 |
| Titus | | |
| Philemon | | 61 |
| Hebrews | | 62 |
| James | James | |
| 1 Peter | Peter | 64 |
| 2 Peter | | |
| 1 John | John | 68 |
| 2 John | | |
| 3 John | | 69 |
| Jude | Jude | 64 |
| Revelation | John | 96 |
The names and dates given in the foregoing table are, with a few exceptions, paraded as established facts. And yet the greater portion of them are mere assumptions, without even the shadow of proof upon which to base them. Many of them are self-evidently false—are contradicted by the contents of the books themselves. The authorship of at least fifty books of the Bible—thirty in the Old Testament and twenty in the New—is unknown.
These books are not as old as claimed. The books of the Old Testament, instead of having been written from 1520 to 420 B.C., were probably written from 1000 to 100 B.C. The books of the New Testament, instead of having all been written in the first century, were, many of them, not written until the second century.
In regard to this subject, Prof. George T. Ladd of Yale College writes: “The authorship and date of most of the Old Testament writings, and of some of the New Testament, will never be known with certainty” (What Is the Bible? p. 294).
The following six chapters will be devoted to an examination of the question of the authenticity of the books of the Bible. I shall attempt to show that the greater portion of these books, including the most important ones, are not authentic—were not written by the authors claimed, nor at the time claimed; that they are anonymous documents, written or compiled for the most part at a later age than that in which their reputed authors are supposed to have lived.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PENTATEUCH.
The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—collectively called the Pentateuch—are the most important books of the Old Testament. The three great Semitic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism, are all, to a great extent, based upon them.
These books, orthodox Christians affirm, were written by Moses at least 1,450 years before the Christian era. “This sacred code,” says Dr. Adam Clarke, “Moses delivered complete to the Hebrews sometime before his death.” In modern versions of the Bible, Genesis is styled the First Book of Moses; Exodus, the Second Book of Moses; Leviticus, the Third Book of Moses; Numbers, the Fourth Book of Moses, and Deuteronomy, the Fifth Book of Moses. Their very high authority rests upon the supposed fact of their Mosaic authorship and great antiquity. To disprove these—to show that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, nor at this early age, but centuries later by unknown writers—is to largely impair, if not entirely destroy, its authority as a religious oracle. And this is what modern criticism has done.