Back in 1966, the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators established a special day to honor the work of Bible translation. The US Congress proclaimed that Sept 30 of each year would be marked as Bible Translation Day. That special day is not marked on most calendars, but it is an officially recognized day set aside by Congress to highlight the importance of the work of Bible translation.

As it stands today, over 800 people groups have received the entire Bible in their own heart language. That means that about 6 billion people can read the complete Bible in their first language.

Sadly, many people groups still do not have any part of the Bible in their native languages. Our goal should be that the Bible is available to everyone on the planet in a language they understand. We should support the ongoing work of Bible translation.

We have the great privilege of reading several English language translations of the Bible. We probably don’t appreciate all the work and sacrifice that has made it possible for us to read the Bible in our own language and in a format that we can easily understand.

In previous years, we’ve looked at much of the history of the translation of the Bible into English. Today I want to focus on the people who were involved in this process. I want to consider some of the most important people who have been responsible for the most significant Bible translations.

Normally, I preach from the Bible; we typically go verse by verse through a passage of Scripture on Sunday mornings. But today, I’ll be speaking about the Bible and I’ll be highlighting some of the most important names in the history of Bible translation.

The Bible tells us that “All Scripture is given by inspiration” and that “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” God originally revealed his word to prophets and apostles in Hebrew and Greek. Under God’s providence, other people translated the Bible into various languages.

We’ll be looking at about a dozen important people in the field of Bible translation. I’m not defending all of these people or implying that I am in favor of their work. I’m not endorsing all of these people or claiming that they were exemplary Christians. I’m only saying that we should be aware of these major figures in the work of Bible translation and appreciate what they have done for us.