Wycliffe's Bible. John Wycliffe
Old Testament (up to "Baruch", an apocryphal book then placed before "Ezekiel"), before he was summoned to Rome to explain his actions. Threatened with death by the Synod of Black Friars, he recanted. Pope Urbanus VI sentenced him to prison, where he possibly spent two years. When a civil insurrection broke out in Rome, the rioters set all the captives free. Hereford fled back to England and resumed his work to educate the ignorant and aid the poor. Arrested again, this time his recantation stuck. Thenceforth, he worked tirelessly against his former colleagues, testifying at their trials, vociferously and vituperatively condemning the writing of the English Bible. For his efforts, the Church princes rewarded him with the position of Chancellor and Treasurer of Hereford Cathedral, as well as a lifelong stipend. Finally, after a long life of shifting alliances, of activities of both grace and perfidy, Hereford retired to a Carthusian monastery, an austere, ascetic order that embraced solitude, silence, and midnight masses. Perhaps, at long last, he felt he had said enough.
Wycliffe's
Old Testament
G E N E S I S
CHAPTER 1
1:1 In the beginning God made of nought heaven and earth. (In the beginning God made out of nothing the heavens and the earth.)
1:2 Forsooth the earth was idle and void, and darknesses were on the face of (the) depth; and the Spirit of the Lord was borne on the waters [and the Spirit of God was borne upon the waters].
1:3 And God said, Light be made, and the light was made.
1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good, and he parted the light from (the) darknesses;
1:5 and he called the light, day, and the darknesses, night. And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, one day (the first day).
1:6 And God said, The firmament be made in the midst of (the) waters, and part (the) waters from (the) waters.
1:7 And God made the firmament, and parted the waters that were under the firmament, from the waters that were on the firmament [from these that were above the firmament]; and it was done so.
1:8 And God called the firmament, (the) heaven(s). And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the second day.
1:9 Forsooth God said, The waters, that be under (the) heaven(s), be gathered into one place, and a dry place appear; and it was done so.
1:10 And God called the dry place, earth; and he called the gatherings together of waters, the seas. And God saw that it was good;
1:11 and said, The earth bring forth green herb, and making seed, and an apple tree making fruit by his kind, whose seed be in itself, on [the] earth; and it was done so. (and said, Let the earth bring forth green herbs, which make seed after their kind, and trees making fruit after their kind, whose seed be in them, all over the earth; and it was done so.)
1:12 And the earth brought forth green herb and making seed by his kind, and a tree making fruit, and each having seed by his kind. And God saw that it was good. (And the earth brought forth green herbs, which make seed after their kind, and trees making fruit, and each having seed after its kind. And God saw that it was good.)
1:13 And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the third day.
1:14 Forsooth God said, Lights be made in the firmament of (the) heaven(s), and part they the day and (the) night; and be they into signs, and times, and days, and years;
1:15 and shine those in the firmament of (the) heaven(s), and lighten they the earth; and it was done so.
1:16 And God made two great lights, the greater light that it should be before to the day, and the less(er) light that it should be before to the night; and God made (the) stars;
1:17 and setted them in the firmament of (the) heaven(s), (so) that they should shine on [the] earth,
1:18 and that they should be before to the day and (before) [to the] night, and should part (the) light and (the) darkness. And God saw that it was good.
1:19 And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the fourth day.
1:20 Also God said (And God said), The waters bring forth a reptile, either a creeping beast, of living soul, and a volatile, either a bird flying above [the] earth, under the firmament of (the) heaven(s).
1:21 And God made of nought great whales, and each living soul and movable, which the waters have brought forth in their kinds; and God made of nought each volatile by his kind. And God saw that it was good; (And God made out of nothing great whales, and each living soul that moveth, which the waters brought forth after their kind; and God made out of nothing each bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good;)
1:22 and blessed them, and said, Wax ye, and be ye multiplied, and fill ye the waters of the sea, and [the] birds be multiplied on [the] earth.
1:23 And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the fifth day.
1:24 And God said, The earth bring forth a living soul in his kind, work beasts, and reptiles, either creeping beasts, and unreasonable beasts of [the] earth, by their kinds; and it was done so. (And God said, Let the earth bring forth living souls after their kind, yea, work beasts, and reptiles, or creeping beasts, and unreasoning beasts of the earth, all after their kind; and it was done so.)
1:25 And God made unreasonable beasts of the earth by their kinds, and work beasts, and each creeping beast of the earth in his kind. And God saw that it was good; (And God made the unreasoning beasts of the earth after their kind, and the work beasts, and the reptiles of the earth, each after its kind. And God saw that it was good;)
1:26 and said, Make we man to our image and likeness, and be he sovereign to the fishes of the sea, and to the volatiles of (the) heaven(s), and to [the] unreasonable beasts of [the] earth, and to each creature, and to each creeping beast/each reptile, which is moved in [the] earth. (and said, Let us make man in our image and likeness, and be he sovereign over the fishes of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the unreasoning beasts of the earth, yea, over each creature, and over each reptile which creepeth on the earth.)
1:27 And God made of nought a man to his image and likeness; God made of nought a man, to the image of God; God made of nought them, male and female. (And so God made out of nothing a man in his image and likeness; God made out of nothing a man in the image of God; yea, God made them out of nothing, male and female.)
1:28 And God blessed them, and said, Increase ye, and be ye multiplied, and fill ye the earth, and make ye it subject; and be ye lords to the fishes of the sea, and to [the] volatiles of (the) heaven(s), and to all living beasts that be moved on [the] earth (and be ye lords, or rule ye, over the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the air, and all the living beasts that move on the earth).
1:29 And God said, Lo! I have given to you each herb bearing seed on [the] earth, and all (the) trees that have in themselves the seed of their kind, that they be into meat to you (so that they can be food for you);
1:30 and to all living beasts of [the] earth, and to each bird of (the) heaven(s), and to all things that be moved in [the] earth, and in which is a living soul, that they have (them) to eat; and it was done so. (and also for all the living beasts of the earth, and for each bird of the air, and for all the things that creep on the earth, and in which is a living soul, so that they have them to eat; and it was done so.)
1:31 And God saw all (the) things which he (had) made, and they were full good (and they were very good). And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the sixth day.
CHAPTER 2
2:1 Therefore heavens and earth be made perfect, and all the ornament of those. (And so the heavens and the earth, and all their ornaments, were finished.)
2:2 And God [ful]filled in the seventh day his work which he made; and he rested in the seventh day from all his work which he had made; (Yea, God finished his work by the