It was written down. However, publishing it as written would be like publishing my physics notes as written. It wasn't formally written, was written in dozens of languages, and didn't have much, if any, organization to it. The reason formalizing took so long was that mere possession of Christian scriptures was punishable by death. Once that ceased, formalizing was possible. However, it was still written in several languages, so only the most educated of linguists could even read a Bible without having to worry about mistranslations. This fact seems to escape many, which is why there are so many people arguing over the definition of 'murder' when all they really have to do is look at the Hebrew word. It's also why parts concering 'witches' and 'sorcerors' seem a bit odd. The original words meant things like poisoners, fortune tellers, and mystical scam artists. Given the already present errors in any English translation, I don't think paraphrasing is such a bad idea in many situations, and I'm especially confused by those who believe that the KJV is the only valid English translation, as it's actually the furthest from the meaning behind the original.
