Lessons of 2026
Lesson No. Thirty-Eight

William Tyndale and His Unmatched Gift to the English Speaking World

Two inspired geniuses, both named William, were born in England 39 miles and 70 years apart. William Shakespeare is well remembered and often read and quoted. The almost forgotten William Tyndale has great and ongoing impact on everyone who loves and reads the Bible in English.

William Shakespeare, born in 1564 at Stratford – Upon – Avon, wrote many well-known phrases such as tongue-tied, green-eyed jealousy, the crack of dawn, without rhyme or reason, to budge an inch, laughingstock, slept not a wink, and the long and short of it. Shakespeare lived comfortably and was admired and accepted during his life. Shakespeare’s burial site in Stratford is well maintained and frequently visited.

William Tyndale, born in 1494 created many inspiring words and phrases that changed lives. A few of these include Atonement, Jehovah, mercy seat, the still small voice, let there be light, in my Father’s house there are many mansions, a man after his own heart, with God all things are possible, be not weary in well doing, the powers that be, I stand at the door and knock, eat, drink and be merry, if any man lack wisdon let him ask of God, and the Lord’s Prayer.

Tyndale’s life “is filled with heroes and villains, secrecy, exile, loving friends, and scheming betrayers….He tasted the salt of shipwreck and braved the despair of lost manuscripts…he knew imprisonment and loneliness….He drew Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Martin Luther, and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey into the magnetic circle of the intensity of his belief. Enemies went to all ends to stop him; friends went to the stake for his cause….He altered the world more than any of his contemporaries, and in doing so he brought all of us closer to God” (Michael Wilcox, Fire in the Bones, in this Lesson I draw much from this book). Tyndale died by strangulation and his body was burned at the stake.

Nephi saw in vision the founding, colonization, and establishment of the United States. In 1 Nephi 13:12-19 Nephi saw the voyage of Columbus (vs 12). He saw the pilgrims on the May Flower and the early settlers who followed (vs 13). He saw “many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise.” These Gentiles would make the United States a melting pot of people from many nations and cultures (vs 14). Nephi saw that these Gentiles did prosper in the promised land (vs 15). He saw that these Gentiles “did humble themselves before the Lord and the power of the Lord was with them (Vs 16). Nephi saw the Revolutionary War and that the colonists “were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations” (vs 17-19).

Nephi saw that the Bible and the Book of Mormon would play an important role in the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Regarding the Bible Nephi say that it was “carried forth among [the Gentiles” (vs 20). That it “ proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew” (vs 23), and when the Bible was originally written “it contained a fulness of the gospel of the Lord of whom the twelve apostles bear record” (vs 24, 25). Many plain and precious teaching were later purposely taken out of the Bible which caused the Gentiles to stumble, “insomuch that Satan hath great power over them” (vs 26 - 30). The Lord will not allow the Gentiles to remain in “that awful state of blindness…” (vs 32). The Lord will be merciful to the Gentiles (Vs 33 – 39), and He prepared The Book of Mormon to “establish the truth of the [Bible]” (vs 40 – 42).

William Tyndale was an instrument the Lord used so the Bible could be read in English. In 1536 Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake for publishing the Bible in English. Then things began to change. In 1539 Henry VIII allowed the English Bible in every parish church in England. In 1611 the King James Bible, which included much of Tyndale’s work, was published. In 1620 the English speaking, Bible believing pilgrims on the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. From then to this very day the words Tyndale used in translating the Bible into English have been revered by English speaking, Bible loving people.

William Tyndale was one of the martyrs spoken of in Revelation 6: 9-11: “I saw under the alter the souls of them that were killed for the word of God, and they cried with a loud voice saying How long….And long white garments were given unto every one of them. And it was said unto them that they should rest for a little season until the number of their fellows, and brethren, and of them that should be killed as they were, were fulfilled” (William Tyndale translation of Revelation 6:9-11 in his 1526 translation). William Tyndale is among those who have been given “long white (temple) garments.

“I have seen those Martyrs” (Joseph Smith, 1834). In 1834 while traveling in Michigan Joseph was shown a copy of John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs which was owned by Edward Stevenson. Joseph asked to borrow it. On returning this book Brother Stevenson recorded what Joseph said: “I have by the aid of the Urim and Thummim, seen those martyrs. They were honest, devoted followers of Christ, according to the light they possessed. They will be saved.”

Testimony. The Lord used William Tyndale to help prepare the English speaking world for the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tyndale, himself, had a notion of this. Tyndale’s work of translating the Bible into English was often challenged. On one occasion he responded to a learned man saying: “If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than thou dost.”

“Three hundred years later, a fourteen-year-old ploughboy in Palmyra, New York, would reflect over and over on the testimony of James – a testimony put into heart-riveting English by William Tyndale” (Michael Wilcox, Fire in the Bones). Tyndale’s words, that so moved Joseph, were: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). Joseph read those words, and the world was forever changed.

Released on October 18th. 2026.