William Tyndale
vers 1494-1536 16th century Feast day: October 6
Receiving the words of prayer in one's own language, and discovering that God needs no interpreter.
Who was William Tyndale?
An English priest and Greek scholar, he left his country to do what he was forbidden to do there: translate the Bible into everyone's language, from the Greek and the Hebrew. He worked in hiding in Cologne, Worms and Antwerp, and his books entered England hidden in bales of cloth. Arrested near Brussels, he was tried for heresy, stripped of the priesthood, then strangled and burned at Vilvoorde in October 1536. His wording passed almost unchanged into the King James Bible, and from there into the mouths of millions who pray.
In their own words
Evangelio (that we call the gospel) is a Greek word, and signifieth good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that maketh a man's heart glad, and maketh him sing, dance and leap for joy.
If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost.
Lord, open the King of England's eyes.
I beg that I may be allowed to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar and Hebrew dictionary, that I may spend my time in that study.