The executed translator whose words still fill the English Bible

William Tyndale printed the first English New Testament translated directly from the Greek in 1526, and was executed for heresy in 1536. His phrasing endured: much of the wording of the 1611 King James Bible follows Tyndale — one common estimate puts its New Testament at roughly 83% his — and everyday English expressions such as “the powers that be,” “the salt of the earth,” and “a law unto themselves” trace to his translation.

One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.