“William Tyndale is often referred to as the father of the English Bible.

He was responsible for translating the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek texts into English for all to read it. He actually became a criminal for this act.

He spent most of his life fleeing from the officers of The Church of England.

In 1524 he fled from England to Germany. In Wittenberg he spent years translating the Scriptures before slipping to Worms where he printed the Bible into English. From there it was smuggled back into England.

He dedicated his entire life to this monumental task of translating the Scriptures into English.

In his defiance of the prominent clergymen in England, he once said, “I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life, ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost.”

He did just that!

Because of his courage many of the people in the small towns and communities of England and Europe had a copy of the Bible in their hands.

Despite his efforts to flee, the religious authorities finally caught up to him and put him in prison. He was betrayed by Henry Phillips, an English spy, who befriended him before turning him in to the religious leaders.

A band of men took him to Brussels and imprisoned him in a dark castle of Vilvorde, where he would live for a little over a year and a half in horrible conditions.

Prior to his execution, he sent this letter to the king:

“Wherefore I beg of your lordship, and that by The LORD Jesus, that if I am to remain here through the winter you will request the commissary to have the kindness to send me from the goods of mine which he has a warmer cap, for I suffer greatly from the cold in the head and am afflicted by a perpetual catarrh (cough), which is much increased in this cell.

A warmer coat also, for this which I have is very thin. A piece of cloth, too, to patch my leggings. My overcoat is worn out. My shirts are also worn out.

He has a woolen shirt, if he will be good enough to send it. I have with him also leggings of thicker cloth to put on above. He also has warmer night caps.

And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening. It is indeed a wearisome to sit alone in the dark.

But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be with the commissary that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in that study.

In return may you obtain that which you most desire so only that it be for the salvation of your soul.

But if any other decision has been taken concerning me to be carried out before winter, I will be patient.
Abiding the will of God to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ, whose Spirit I pray may ever direct your heart. Amen.

William Tyndale.”

On the morning of October 6, 1536, Tyndale was taken to the stake, strangled and burned.

His last words, reportedly by John Foxe were, “Oh Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”

His prayers were answered three years later when King Henry VIII published the English “Great Bible.”

Furthermore, one hundred years after his death, 90% of the King James Bible Version was from his translation.”

See also: William Tyndale Biography