Translations of the Bible

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Translations of the Bible Only very few people
can read the Bible in its original languages
Hebrew and Greek. Furthermore, the Latin
translations that were generally used in the
Middle Ages can only be used by an extremely
limited number of people. Most people can only
read the Bible in the form of a translation in
their mother tongue. Editions of the Hebrew
Scriptures in other languages than Hebrew have
existed for a long time. They existed many
centuries before Christ. When the Jewish exile
came to an end in 537 B.C.and the Jews could
return to their own land, many Jews stayed
behind in the countries in the Middle East to
which they had been moved. They stuck together
and kept themselves separated from the peoples
of their new countries. They formed separate
Jewish communities that came together in their
synagogues on the Sabbaths to read and discuss
the Hebrew Scriptures. In the course of the
centuries, the Jews forgot the Hebrew language
and started to speak the languages of the
countries where they lived. By the 3rd century
before Christ, koine Greek had become the
international language that was spoken and
understood throughout the Middle East. Many Jews
spoke and understood this kind of Greek far
better than the Hebrew of their
ancestors. Around 280 before Christ, about 70
Jewish scholars came together in Alexandria
(Egypt) to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into
Greek. They produced the Septuaginta translation
that is still very well-known today. In the days
of Jesus, this Septuaginta translation was so
popular and generally used in Jesus' own country
and among his own disciples that almost every
time when the Bible writers of the 1st century
after Christ (the authors of the Greek
Scriptures) quoted texts from the Hebrew
Scriptures, they used the phrasing of the Greek
Septuaginta translation. Something similar
occurred in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries after
Christ. Koine Greek, the international language,
was increasingly replaced by Latin, the language
of the greatest world power in those days. As
more and more people in the immense territory of
the Roman Empire became Christians, there was an
increasing demand for a Bible edition that
people could read and understand. Between 390 and
405 after Christ, the very educated Hieronymus
accepted the challenge. He was well-versed in
both Hebrew and Greek and was determined not to
make a a translation based on existing
translations. He translated directly from the
original languages into the vulgates Latin of
his days. Just like koine Greek is a simplified,
internationally accepted version of the
classical Greek, vulgates Latin is a simplified,
internationally
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accepted version of classical Latin. The
translation by Hieronymus, still generally known
as the Latin Vulgate, was the generally accepted
and used text of the Scriptures in the Middle
Ages for about a thousand years. From the time
of the invention of the art of printing and the
Reformation, translations of the Scriptures were
made all over Europe in all the various European
languages - English, German, French, Dutch, etc.
These translations have played a tremendous part
in European history, culture, and
scholarship. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the
Roman Catholic and the Protestant Churches in
Europe and in America founded Bible societies
that set out to translate the Bible into
non-European languages and to spread the Bible on
other continents. These Bible societies have
been extremely successful. By the year 1900, the
Bible had been translated into some 600
languages. About 1930, it was available in
approximately 900 languages. By the end of the
20th century, the Bible had been translated into
over 2000 languages. These are famous Bible
translations in English, German, French, and
Dutch, with the years in which they appeared and
the name they used to refer to God. Famous
translations in English
The King James Bible The Emphasized Bible The
American Standard Version The New
Jerusalem Bible
appeared in 1611 appeared in 1902 appeared in
1901 appeared in 1985
refers to God with Lord refers to God with
Yahweh refers to God with Jehovah refers to God
with Yahweh
Famous translations in German appeared in
Luther
refers to God with Herr refers to God with
Jehova refers to God with Herr and Jahwe
1534 appeared in 1872
Elberfelder
Einnheitsübersetzung appeared in 1974
Famous translations in French
Crampon
appeared in 1904
refers to God with Jehovah
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Jerusalem
appeared in 1954 appeared in 1973
refers to God with Yahvé refers to God with
Yahvé
Osty
Famous translations in Dutch
Statenvertaling
appeared in 1637 appeared in 1939 appeared in
1951 appeared in 1975
refers to God with Heere refers to God with
Jahweh refers to God with Here refers to God with
Jahwe
Petrus Canisiusvertaling NBG vertaling
Willibrordvertaling