Wednesday, April 25, 2007

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Last week the seminary library had a book sale. I picked up the Hexapla for $1. It weighs about 10 lbs. I love the book sales... I am going to miss them.

The English "Hexapla" (from the root word "hex" meaning "six", such as a six-sided "hexagon") was printed in 1841 by Samuel Bagster and Sons of London, England. This wonderful resource of textual comparison is something no Christian's library should be without. The English Hexapla Parallel New Testament has been called "a Bible collection in one volume."

It contains the six most important English language translations of the New Testament, all arranged in parallel columns for easy textual comparison of any passage. Each left-hand page shows: The Wycliffe version of 1380 (the first English scripture), The Tyndale version of 1534-1536 (the first English printed scripture), and Cranmer's Great Bible of 1539 (the first Authorized English Bible). Continuing across each right-hand page is: The Geneva “1557” - translation actually completed in 1560, (the Bible of the Protestant Reformation), The Rheims 1582 (the first Roman Catholic English version), and the 1611 King James First Edition... all side-by-side, and also laid out so the passages roughly match-up top-to-bottom as well.

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