"In order to properly answer the question, which is the best English translation of the Bible, this episode addresses the background of English translations of the Bible from the 14th to early 16th centuries. In 1380 John Wycliff translated the New Testament into English from the Latin Vulgate. The following century was a perfect storm of developments that spurred on direct translation of the Bible into English from Greek manuscripts. The rallying cry of the Renaissance, ""ad fontes,"" or ""back to the sources,"" coupled with the arrival of Greek scholars fleeing the fall of Constantinople in 1453, both gave impetus to translating the Bible directly from the original languages. Additionally, the concurrent invention of the printing press, together with emergence of nationalism and its emphasis on the vernacular, the language of the people (not Latin)--all these developments naturally promoted English translations of the sacred Scriptures culminating in the King James Version in 1611.
