The ''Eliot Indian Bible'' ( Massachusett: ; also known as the ''Algonquian Bible'') was the first translation of the Christian

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

into an indigenous American language, as well as the first Bible published in

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

. It was prepared by English

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

missionary John Eliot by translating the

Geneva Bible The Geneva Bible, sometimes known by the sobriquet Breeches Bible, is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the Douay Rheims Bible by 22 years, and the King James Version by 51 years. It was ...

into

Massachusett The Massachusett are a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...

. Printed in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, the work first appeared in 1661 containing only the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

. An edition including both the Old and New Testaments was printed in 1663. The inscription on the 1663 edition's cover page, beginning with ', meaning in literal translation, ''The Whole Holy His-Bible God, both Old Testament and also New Testament. This turned by the servant of Christ, who is called John Eliot.'' The preparation and printing of Eliot's work was supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, whose governor was the eminent scientist

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, Alchemy, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the foun ...

History

America's first printing press

Printed sources have been produced in Spanish America since the sixteenth century.

Stephen Daye Stephen Daye (c.1594 – December 22, 1668) emigrated from England to the English colony of Massachusetts Bay and, likely with the help of his son Matthew, became the first printer in colonial America, under indenture to Elizabeth Glover, owner ...

of England contracted Jose Glover, a wealthy minister who disagreed with the religious teachings of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, to transport a printing press to America in 1638. Glover died at sea while traveling to America. His widow Elizabeth (Harris) Glover, Stephen Daye, and the press arrived at

, where Mrs. Glover opened her print shop with the assistance of Daye. Daye started the operations of the first American print shop which was the forerunner of

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

. The press was located in the house of Henry Dunster, the first president of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

where religious materials such as the

Bay Psalm Book ''The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre'', commonly called the ''Bay Psalm Book'', is a metrical psalter first printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Colony of Massachusett ...

were published in the 1640s. Elizabeth Glover married president of Harvard College Henry Dunster on 21 June 1641.

Act of Parliament

In 1649 Parliament enacted ''An Act for the Promoting and Propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England,'' which set up a Corporation in England consisting of a President, a Treasurer, and fourteen people to help them. The name of the corporation was " The President and Society for the propagation of the Gospel in New England," but it was later known simply as the New England Company. The corporation had the power to collect money in England for missionary purposes in New England. This money was received by the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England and dispersed for missionary purposes such as ''Eliot's Indian Bible''. Thomas, 1874, Vol. I, p. 67

Arrival of John Eliot

Eliot came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony from England in 1631. One of his missions was to convert the indigenous

to Christianity. Eliot felt that the Indians would be more comfortable hearing Christian scriptures in their own language than in English (a language they understood little of). Eliot thought it best to translate the English Christian Bible into Massachusett rather than teach the Massachusett Indians English. He then went about learning the Algonquian Indian language of the Massachusett people so he could translate English to the Natick dialect of the Massachusett language. Eliot translated the entire 66 books of the English Bible in a little over fourteen years. Eliot had to become a grammarian and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

to devise an Algonquian dictionary and book of grammar. Local Massachusett Indians, including

Cockenoe Cockenoe (also known as Cockeno, Cockenow, Chachaneu, Cheekanoo, Cockenoe, Chickino, Chekkonnow, Cockoo) (born before 1630 and died after 1687) was an early Native American translator from Long Island in New York where he was a member of the Mon ...

John Sassamon John Sassamon, also known as Wussausmon (), was a Massachusett man who lived in New England during the colonial era. He converted to Christianity and became a praying Indian, helping to serve as an interpreter to New England colonists. In Janu ...

Job Nesuton Job Nesuton (died 1675) was a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American translator who translated large parts of the Eliot Indian Bible, the first Bible printed in America. Job Nesuton was a Massachusett people, Massachusett active in Joh ...

, and James Printer, assisted him and facilitated the translation. Eliot made his first text for the ''Corporation for the propagation of the Gospel in New England'' into the Massachusett language as a one volume textbook primer

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

in 1653, printed by Samuel Green. He then translated and had printed in 1655-56 the Gospel of Matthew, book of Genesis, and Psalms into Massachusett. It was printed as a sample run for the London Corporation to show what a complete finished Massachusett Bible might look like. The Corporation approved the sample and sent a professional printer, Marmaduke Johnson, to America in 1660 with 100 reams of paper and eighty pounds of new type for the printer involved to print the Bible. To accommodate the transcription of the

phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...

s in the Massachusett language, extra "Os" and "Ks" had to be ordered for the printing press. Johnson had a three-year contract to print the entire Protestant Bible, containing both the Old Testament and New Testament. In 1661, with the assistance of the English printer Johnson and a

Nipmuc The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian languages, Eastern Algonquian language, probably the Loup language. Their historic territory Nippenet, meaning 'the f ...

person named James Printer, Green printed 1,500 copies of the New Testament. In 1663 they printed 1,000 copies of the Bible in a 1,180 page volume. The costs for this production was paid by the Corporation authorized by the Parliament of England by donations collected in England and Wales. John Ratcliff did the binding for the 1663 edition.

Description

Eliot was determined to give the Christian Bible to the Massachusett Indian Nation in their own language. He learned the Natick dialect of the Massachusett language and its grammar. Eliot worked on the Indian Bible for fifteen years before its publication. England contributed about £16,000 for its production by 1660. The money came from private donations in England and Wales; the New England colonies did not provide any funding for the book. While working as a missionary, Eliot encouraged Massachusett converts to pray and read the Bible as methods of strengthening faith in Christ. Eliot's translation made reading the Bible possible for non-English speaking Massachusett people. Some ecclesiastical questions given to Eliot by the Natick Indians that were to be answered by the new Algonquian Bible and Indian religious learning were: * ''If but one parent believe, what state are our children in?'' * ''How doth much sinne make grace abound?'' * ''If an old man as I repent, may I be saved?'' * ''What meaneth that, Let the trees of the Wood rejoice?'' * ''What meaneth that, We cannot serve two masters?'' * ''Can they in Heaven see us here on Earth?'' * ''Do they see and know each other? Shall I know you in heaven?'' * ''Do they know each other in Hell?'' * ''What meaneth God, when he says, Ye shall be my Jewels?'' * ''If God made hell in one of the six dayes, why did God make Hell before Adam had sinned?'' * '' Doe not Englishmen their souls, to say a thing cost them more then it did? and is it not all one as to steale?''

Legacy

In 1664 an especially prepared display copy was presented to King Charles II by

, the Governor of the New England Company. Many copies of the first edition (1663) of ''Eliot’s Indian Bible'' were destroyed by the British in 1675–76 by a war against

Metacomet Metacomet (c. 1638 in Massachusetts – August 12, 1676), also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip,Samuel Kneeland. Newgass, 1958, p. 32 Eliot's translation of the complete Christian Bible into Massachusett was supposedly written with one pen. This project was the largest printing project done in 17th-century

Colonial America The colonial history of the United States covers the period of European colonization of North America from the late 15th century until the unifying of the Thirteen British Colonies and creation of the United States in 1776, during the Re ...

. The Natick dialect of Massachusett, in Eliot's Bible was written, is no longer spoken in the United States. Eliot's Bible is notable for being the earliest known example of both translating and printing a complete Bible in a previously unwritten language. In 1709, excerpts from Eliot's Bible were used by

Experience Mayhew Experience Mayhew (1673–1758) was a New England missionary to the Wampanoag Indians on Martha's Vineyard and adjacent islands. He is the author of Massachusett Psalter (a rare book like the Bay Psalm Book and Eliot Indian Bible). Experience wa ...

to prepare a bilingual edition of

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

and the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...

, with the Massachusett words in one column and the English words in the opposite column. It was used for training the local Massachusett Indians to read the scriptures. The 1709 Algonquian Bible text book is also referred to as ''The Massachuset psalter''. Like Eliot's Bible, this 1709 edition is based on the King James Bible. A second edition printing of Eliot's Bible was an instrumental source for the

Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project Jessie Little Doe Baird (also Jessie Little Doe Fermino, born 18 November 1963) is a linguist known for her efforts to revive the Wampanoag (Wôpanâak) language. She is the co-founder of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project. She lives i ...

, where it was compared to the King James Bible in order to relearn Wôpanâak (

Wampanoag The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...

) vocabulary and grammar.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ;Further reading * *

External links

{{Commons category, Eliot Indian Bible
Complete Eliot Indian Bible 1663Complete Eliot Indian Bible 1685
* ttps://archive.org/details/massachusetpsalt02elio Psalms of David with the Gospel according to John, in columns of Indian and Englishbr>Education And Harvard's Indian CollegeA Sketch of the Life of the Apostle Eliot: Prefatory to a Subscription for Erecting a Monument
1661 non-fiction books 1663 non-fiction books 1685 non-fiction books 1661 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1663 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1685 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1661 in Christianity 1663 in Christianity 1685 in Christianity 17th-century Christian texts Early printed Bibles History of Christianity in the United States Massachusett language Wampanoag History of Cambridge, Massachusetts Christianity in Massachusetts New England Puritanism