Bible (Early Wycliffe)/Introduction to this Edition

About the Wycliffe Translation
The Wycliffe Translation was made from the Latin Vulgate, rather than the original texts of the books of the Bible and so takes some translation errors from the Vulgate. It was made by or under the supervision of John Wycliffe, whoose name it is called by, and finished in 1384. The attribution of the translation to Wycliffe caused his body, after his death, to be exhumed and cremated, the ashes scattered in the river(a superstition at that time was that people whoose bodies were cremated could not go to heaven). His bible started modern bible translation, but had very little influence on other translations, except for a little influence on the Douay-Rheims translation, and other bibles that were influenced by the Douay-Rheims translation. The Wycliffe bible's language is difficult for the modern reader because it is so archaic; that and the fact that it was translated from the vulgate, at times very literally and not good english, makes it not very good as anybody's primary bible, and so the rest of the introduction will assume that your main translation is not this one. The epistle to the Loadaciens is taken from a later version of the translation edited by John Purvey in about 1400.

About the Language and Spelling used here
The Middle English of this bible can be very difficult, so I have included some information about the language used here. Almost all of the words used in this translation are the forerunners of words still in use or archaic but still known in the language, while most others are compounds that are not used(but the meaning of them can be easily determined) or have or don't have a prefix or suffix that they do have in Modern English(For example, ginneth for begins. It doesn't have the prefix be- and has the suffix -eth, which makes it a little strange). There is a glossary for many of the other words. The spelling can be strange, but most of them can be understood by modern readers, even though they are strange, but some of the conventions will be helpful to a modern reader. The letters are written CAPITAL/lowercase. V/v and U/u were considered the same letter, as were I/i and J/j, and the vowel I/i could be written Y/y. The sound that we usually write with Th/th or TH/th was written with the letter thorn or þorn(Þ/þ). Gh/gh, GH/gh, and Y/y were sometimes written with the letter yogh or yoȝ(Ȝ/ȝ), and some words that have a G/g in Modern English had a yogh or yoȝ in Middle English. S could be written S/s or S/ſ(they might not display differently).

Glossary

 * Ben
 * Archaic form of be sometimes used in the place of is/are


 * Clep
 * Call


 * Doon
 * Do, done


 * Doom/Dom
 * Judgement


 * Domeſman
 * Judge


 * Forſoþ
 * Truely


 * Gat or gate
 * Begat, got; gate is ȝate


 * Get
 * Beget, get


 * Ȝif
 * Archaic form of if


 * Han
 * Archaic form of have


 * Her
 * Her or their


 * Hem
 * Them


 * His
 * His or its


 * Hit
 * Hit or it


 * Ilk
 * Like


 * Leſe
 * Destroy, lie, do wrong, morally corrupt


 * Leſewais
 * Morally corrupt ways, sinful habits


 * Leſyng
 * Lying, lie, wrong thing, destroying


 * Mede
 * Reward


 * Riȝtwis
 * Rightful, right; used with -ness, un-, -ly, &amp;c


 * Sin
 * Archaic form of since; sin


 * Siþ
 * Archaic form of since


 * Soþ
 * Archaic word meaning truth


 * Soþfaſtnes
 * Truthfulness


 * Soþly
 * Truely


 * Sue
 * Follow


 * Wexe
 * Grow, be made


 * Wood
 * Crazy, insane, wood, forest

The Modern Names of the Books in this Translation

 * Geneſis
 * Genesis


 * Exodus
 * Exodus


 * Leuiticus
 * Leviticus


 * Numeri
 * Numbers


 * Deuteronomie
 * Deuteronomy


 * Joſue
 * Joshua


 * Judicum
 * Judges


 * Ruþ
 * Ruth


 * I. Kyngis
 * 1 Samuel


 * II. Kyngis
 * 2 Samuel


 * III. Kyngis
 * 1 Kings


 * IIII. Kyngis
 * 2 Kings


 * I. Paralipomenon
 * 1 Chronicles


 * II. Paralipomenon
 * 2 Chronicles


 * Þe Preier of Manaſſes
 * The Prayer of Manasseh


 * I. Eſdre
 * Ezra


 * II. Eſdre;
 * Nehemiah


 * III. Eſdre;
 * 1 Esdras


 * Tobie
 * Tobit


 * Judiþ
 * Judith


 * Eſter
 * Esther


 * Job
 * Job


 * Sauter
 * Psalms


 * Prouerbys
 * Proverbs


 * Eccleſiaſtes
 * Ecclesiastes


 * Songus of Songis
 * Song of Solomon


 * Wisdam
 * Wisdom


 * Eccleſiaſtici
 * Sirach


 * Iſaye
 * Isaiah


 * Jeremye
 * Jeremiah


 * Lamentacioun
 * Lamentation


 * Baruch
 * Baruch


 * Ezechiel
 * Ezekiel


 * Osee
 * Hosea


 * Joel
 * Joel


 * Amos
 * Amos


 * Abedias
 * Obadiah


 * Jonas
 * Jonah


 * Micheas
 * Micah


 * Naum
 * Nahum


 * Abacuk
 * Habakkuk


 * Sophonye
 * Zephaniah


 * Aggey
 * Haggai


 * Zacharias
 * Zechariah


 * Malachie
 * Malachi


 * I. Machabeorum
 * 1 Maccabees


 * II. Machabeorum
 * 2 Maccabees


 * Maþeu
 * Matthew


 * Mark
 * Mark


 * Luke
 * Luke


 * Joon
 * John


 * Romaynes
 * Romans


 * I. Corinþis
 * 1 Corinthians


 * II. Corinþis
 * 2 Corinthians


 * Galaþies
 * Galatians


 * Effeſies
 * Ephesians


 * Philipencis
 * Philippians


 * Colocenſis
 * Colossians


 * Laodicenſis
 * Laodiceans


 * I. Teſſalonycenſis
 * 1 Thessalonians


 * II. Teſſalonycenſis
 * 2 Thessalonians


 * I. Timoþe
 * 1 Timothy


 * II. Timoþe
 * 2 Timothy


 * Tyte
 * Titus


 * Filomon
 * Philemon


 * Ebrews
 * Hebrews


 * Actus Apoſtolorum
 * Acts


 * Þe Epiſtle of James
 * James


 * Þe firſt piſtle of Petre
 * 1 Peter


 * Þe ſecounde epiſtle of Petre
 * 2 Peter


 * Þe firſte epiſtle of Joon
 * 1 John


 * Þe ſecounde epiſtle of Joon
 * 2 John


 * Þe þrid piſtle of Joon
 * 3 John


 * Þe epiſtil of Jude
 * Jude


 * Apocalips
 * Revelation

Books in the Wycliffe Bible now Considered Apocryphal by Protestants and Catholics
Laodicenſis was considered apocryphal by the Catholics of John Wycliffe's time(before the Protestant Reformation). IIII. Eſdre(2 Esdras) is now considered apocryphal, but was not included in this translation. III. Eſdre and Þe Preier of Manaſſes were included in the Wycliffe Bible as cannonical but were later considered apocryphal when the cannons were decided on in the 1500s.

The Books of the Bible in their Modern Order
Books considered apocryphal by Protestants, but not Catholics are placed in brackets([]). Daniel and Eſter have sections that are considered apocryphal by Protestants, but not Catholics.

Geneſis

Exodus

Leuiticus

Numeri

Deuteronomie

Joſue

Judicum

Ru&thorn;

I. Kyngis

II. Kyngis

III. Kyngis

IIII. Kyngis

I. Paralipomenon

II. Paralipomenon

I. Eſdre

II. Eſdre

[Tobie]

[Judiþ]

Eſter

[I. Machabeorum]

[II. Machabeorum]

Job

Sauter

Prouerbys

Eccleſiaſtes

Songus of Songis

[Wiſdam]

[Eccleſiaſtici]

Iſaye

Jeremye

Lamentacioun

[Baruch]

Ezechiel

Daniel

Oſee

Joel

Amos

Abedias

Jonas

Micheas

Naum

Abacuk

Aggey

Zacharias

Malachie

Ma&thorn;eu

Mark

Luke

Joon

Actus Apoſtolorum

Romaynes

I. Corin&thorn;is

II. Corin&thorn;is

Gala&thorn;ies

Effeſies

Philipencis

Colocenſis

I. Teſſalonycenſis

II. Teſſalonycenſis

I. Timo&thorn;e

II. Timo&thorn;e

Tyte

Filomon

Ebrews

Þe epiſtle of James

Þe firſt piſtle of Petre

Þe ſecounde epiſtle of Petre

Þe firſte epiſtle of Joon

Þe ſecounde epiſtle of Joon

Þe &thorn;rid piſtle of Joon

Þe epiſtil of Jude

Apocalips