Usually
when the term “Hexapla” is used, it refers to a project of the third-century
theologian Origen in which the text of the Old Testament books was arranged in
six columns, presenting (1) the Hebrew text, (2) a Greek transliteration of the
Hebrew text, (3) the Greek version prepared by Aquila, (4) the Greek version
prepared by Symmachus, (5) the Septuagint version, and (6) the Greek version
prepared by Theodotion.
The English Hexapha (1841) is
different: instead containing six Old
Testament texts, it presents six English translations of the New
Testament: (1) Wycliffe’s version (based
mainly on a manuscript from 1388), (2) Tyndale’s version of 1534, (3) Cranmer’s
version, also known as The Great Bible, of 1539 (4) the Geneva version of 1557
(5) the Rheims version of 1582, and (6) the King James Version of 1611.
Thus, in a
single volume, readers are equipped with the means to consult most of the major
English versions of the Reformation period.
Some differences in different versions are thus detectable even
without knowledge of the base-texts used by the translators.
The English Hexapla also includes a
valuable and informative review of the history of the Bible in English up to
the publication of the King James Version in 1611. This review is divided into three parts.
Part 1
concisely reviews Caedmon, Bede, Aelfric, Alfred the Great, and Richard Rolle
and their contributions to the spread of the written Bible in English, in a
single chapter. The next five chapters
pertain in one way or another to the Wycliffe (or Wycliffite) Bible; chapter 3
features some interesting data about the Comma
Johanneum.
Part
2 describes the work of Tyndale, and the ecclesiastical and political milieu in
which his translation made its
debut. There are some interesting and
moving accounts about people who were martyred in England for the crime of possessing
and reading the New Testament, as well as an account of Tyndale’s own
martyrdom.
Part 3
describes the sequel of Tyndale’s work, especially the determined efforts of
Myles Coverdale, whose efforts to spread the English text of the Bible involved
not only studiousness and erudition but also exploits of the most dangerous
sort. Coverdale studied the translations
that had preceded his work, and stated “Sure
I am, that there commeth more knowledge and understandinge of the scripture by
theyr sondrie translacyons, than by all the gloses of our sophisticall
doctors.” The English Hexapla also
reports the reasons – some clear historical facts, some likely deductions – for
Henry VIII’s change of heart on the subject of whether the Bible should be
circulated in English. The rise of
translators’ freedom in England during the reign of Henry VIII, the influence
of Oliver Cromwell, the dangerous reign of Mary Queen of Scots, amd the more
peaceful reign of Elizabeth, is documented, and the backgrounds of the English
versions presented in The English Hexapla
are all described.
Besides
details about the background of the work of Tyndale, Cranmer, and Coverdale,
there is an interesting section on the significance of the mysterious initials
that accompanied portions of the Bishops’ Bible published in 1568: the authors believes them all to be initials
of the scholars who prepared the text, and in addition to their names he
provides brief biographies.
The Rheims version of 1582 is then described,
although perhaps roasted would be a
better term. The author mentions a
composition which appeared the same year, in which Gregory Martin objected to
various features of the earlier Protestant English versions; Dr. Willian Fulke
promptly composed a response; this exchange may account for some of the
differences between the KJV and the English Protestant versions which preceded
it.
The King
James Version is the focus of the last chapter of the review of the history of
the English Bible before the Hexapla itself begins. If you are unfamiliar with what the Millenary
Petition was, or if you would like to know a few specific readings that Dr.
John Reynolds found objectionable in previous English versions, or if you want
to learn which marginal notes in the Geneva Bible were especially opposed by
King James, and similar details that led to the launch of the great
translation-project in 1604, this chapter must surely be a priority. And if you want to read the fourteen rules
that the translators were instructed to follow, this, to, can be learned in
this chapter. The names of the members
of each company of translators are also provided, with some brief biographical
details.
Two brief
and helpful supplements appear before the sixfold comparison itself
commences:
a description of the format
in which the six versions are presented, and a collation of the Greek
compilation prepared by
J. M. A. Scholz (published in 1830-1836)– which
accompanies the English translations’ text on every page – and the collation
made by Griesbach in 1805.
Although
Scholz’s compilation was denigrated by Metzger (cf.
The Text of the New Testament, p. 124), and
Scholz himself later
assigned greater value to some Alexandrian readings, it is not drastically different from Griesbach’s compilation:
all of the differences between Scholz’s compilation (proof-read and
revised especially for
The English
Hexapla) and Griesbach’s compilation are listed (even trivial differences
in the spelling of the word “Moses”) in just four two-column pages.
(Although modern editions tend to agree with
Griesbach more often than with Scholz, this is only a
tendency.) If you want an example of the results of textual criticism before Westcott and Hort introduced a transmission-model that drastically favored the Alexandrian Text (and before the discovery of the papyrus copies used in Egypt), you have come to the right place.
Those who
possess a copy of The English Hexapla
not only have a detailed account of the development of the English Bible, but
also accurate transcriptions of the New Testament books as they appear in six
of the most important English Bibles of the Reformation period, and a generally excellent
Greek New Testament.
