lecture 2 history of bible translations. 1. early greek translations of the hebrew bible. 2. gothic...

Lecture 2 History of Bible translations

1. Early Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible. 2. Gothic Bible. 3. Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome. 4. Vespasian Psalter. 5. Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages. 6. John Wycliffe's translation of the Bible. 7. Martin Luther's Bible. 8. English translations of the Bible in the 16th-17th centuries. 9. Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18th -20th centuries.

Early Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible The most ancient translation of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament is known as the Septuagint (from Latin septuaginta seventy). The Septuagint has its origin in Alexandria, Egypt and was translated in the 3rd-2nd c. BC.

Early Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible According to the Letter of Aristeas, 70 to 72 Jewish scholars were commissioned during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (king of Egypt 283-246 BC) to carry out the task of translating the Hebrew text of the Torah (the first five books of Moses' Law) into Greek.

Early Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible The Letter of Aristeas records that the royal librarian expressed an interest in filling gaps in his special collections and also in the conservation and linguistic accessibility of his acquisitions: The Books of the Law of the Jews, with some few others, are wanting. For it happens that these books are written in the Hebrew script and language, but, according to the evidence of the experts, have been somewhat carelessly committed to writing and are not in their original form; for they have never had the benefit of royal attention. It is important that these books, duly corrected, should find a place in your library, because this legislation, in as much as it is divine, is of philosophical importance and of innate integrity.

Early Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible The style of the translation is not uniform, because of the different translators involved and the different times of the various translations. The Septuagint is noteworthy for its popular, limited, and simple vocabulary.

Early Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible The influence of the Septuagint on the tradition of Bible translation: The Christian Fathers down to the late fourth century AD regarded the Septuagint as the standard form of the Old Testament and seldom referred to the Hebrew. The Septuagint rather than the original Hebrew Bible was the main basis for the Old Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic, and some Arabic translations of the Bible.

Early Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible In the 2nd c. AD a Jewish scholar named Aquila of Sinope was dissatisfied with the Septuagint translation and undertook to produce a Greek rendering of the Hebrew Bible that would represent each Hebrew word with a corresponding Greek word. The result was a slavishly literal rendering which was often unintelligible to a reader who did not know Hebrew as well as Greek.

Early Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible Toward the end of the 2nd c. CE another Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible was prepared by Symmachus the Ebionite, a Christian of Jewish background. His theory and method were the opposite of that of Aquila, as his aim was to make an elegant Greek rendering. To judge from the scattered fragments that remain of his translation, Symmachus tended to be paraphrastic in representing the Hebrew original. He preferred idiomatic Greek constructions in contrast to other versions in which the Hebrew constructions are preserved. Generally, scholars remark on the purity and idiomatic elegance of Symmachus' Greek.

Gothic Bible In the 4th c. CE the Bible texts were translated into Gothic. Today the Codex Argenteus, a 6th century copy of a 4th century Bible translation, is the primary source of our knowledge of this extinct East Germanic language.

Gothic Bible The translation was done by the Gothic bishop Ulfila. In order to translate the Scriptures into Gothic Ulfila had to invent an alphabet, as up to that point Gothic had been strictly a spoken language. Ulfila created an alphabet of 27 characters, using Greek and Latin letters. He also added some runes, borrowed from ancient Scandinavian alphabets.

Gothic Bible Ulfila worked from the Greek text, scrupulously following its word order and syntax. He was often forced to coin new words or phrases.

Gothic Bible Of the original 336 pages of the Codex Argenteus, 188 have been preserved, containing the translation of the greater part of the four gospels. A part of the Codex is on permanent display at the library of the University of Uppsala, Sweden. The manuscript is written in gold and silver ink on red parchment.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome St. Jerome (?348 420), the patron saint of translators, is one of the best known translators of all time. Jerome is known for his Vulgate (from Latin vulgata (editio) '(edition) prepared for the public'), or standard Latin Bible.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome While studying in Rome, Jerome acquired a knowledge of classical literature, pagan philosophy and the law, which he intended to practise. At the age of 19 he was baptized. During a journey to Trier (in present-day Germany) Gerome learned about the lives of Egyptian monks and decided to follow their example. He abandoned his career in the Roman imperial civil service, gave up his worldly goods and left for the East. He discovered Christian literature as he was studying Greek in Antioch. Attracted by the monastic life he moved to a desert in Syria. Since that time, Jerome devoted himself entirely to the study of Christian literature and the Bible.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome In 382 he returned to Rome and served as a secretary, interpreter and theological advise to the Pope. By this time, Jerome was a trilingual scholar, familiar with Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The Pope commissioned him to translate and revise the Bible. Jerome began by translating the New Testament and the Psalms, working from accepted Greek texts.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome After the death of his protector Pope Damasus I in 384 Jerome fell out of favour and was driven from Rome by the many enemies whom he had criticized for not being zealous Christians. Jerome took refuge in Bethlehem and continued to work as a translator. After completing one translation of the Old Testament from Greek, he translated it anew from Hebrew. Jerome was the first to have translated the Old Testament into Latin directly from the original Hebrew, rather than from the Septuagint. Jerome left a substantial body of commentaries and other writings that have contributed to the tradition of biblical scholarship in the West. In over hundred prefaces, numerous letters and prologues to his translations of the Scriptures, he also set out well- developed ideas on translation.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome The Latin Vulgate was used for centuries by the Roman Catholic Church and was declared the official version of the Church at the Council of Trent in 1546.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome Jerome was canonized in the 8th c. and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church (Doctor doctorum) in the 13th c., along with three other fathers of the Roman Church, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine and Gregory the Great. St. Jerome is regarded as having worked on his translation of the Bible under divine inspiration and this has secured protection for his version of the Bible.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome St. Jerome makes distinction between translation of Holy Scriptures and that of non-sacred texts. He criticizes literalists, at the same time affirming that in the case of the Scriptures the actual words and even their order and significance are to be observed.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome From the Preface to Chronicles of Eusebius 12 (380)... it is difficult, when following the text of another language, not to overstep the mark in places, and hard to keep in the translation the grace of something well said in the original. [... ] If I translate word for word, it sounds absurd; if from necessity, I change something in the word-order or in the language, I am seen to abdicate the responsibility of a translator. [... ] I pray you that whatever you find disordered in this work, you read with the eye of a friend and not of a critic.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome From the Preface to Chronicles of Eusebius 12 (380) If there is anybody who does not believe that the power of a language is changed in translation, let him translate Homer literally into Latinor rather, let him translate Homer into prose. Then he will see a laughable bit of work, and the greatest of poets scarcely able to speak.

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome From Letter 57, To Pammachius, On the Best Method of Translating Not only do I admit, but I proclaim at the top of my voice, that in translating from Greek, except from Sacred Scripture, where even the order of the words is of Gods doing, I have not translated word by word, but sense for sense. [... ]

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome From Letter 57, To Pammachius, On the Best Method of Translating There is nothing extraordinary about this procedure in secular or ecclesiastical writers, when the translators of the Septuagint, the evangelists and the apostles, did the same thing in the sacred books. In St Mark, we read that the Lord said: Talitha cumi. This is commented in the text: Which is translated: My girl, I say to you, get up [Mark 5: 41]. Dare you accuse the evangelist of lying because he adds I say to you, when all we have in the Hebrew is, My girl, get up? But to make it more emphatic and to translate the nuance of urgent command he added, I say to you. [... ]

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome From Letter 57, To Pammachius, On the Best Method of Translating The opening words of the Hebrew text of Psalm XXI are the very words Christ spoke on the cross: Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani. This means: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me [Ps. 21: 2; cf. Matthew 27: 46]. Let them state the reason why the Septuagint adds look at me, for it reads: My God, my God, look at me, why have you abandoned me? They will reply that there is no distortion in the sense if two or three words are added. Let them also realize that the stability of the Church is not threatened if, in the heat of dictation, I leave out a few words. It is a long job to detail how much the Septuagint adds, how much it leaves out. [... ]

Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome From Letter 57, To Pammachius, On the Best Method of Translating However, it is not for nothing that the Septuagint has become the official church text: it was adopted either because it was the first and was produced before the coming of Christ, or because it was used by the apostles, at least where it did not differ from the Hebrew.

Vespasian Psalter The earliest existing English translation of any portion of the Bible is the Vespasian Psalter (London, British Library).

Vespasian Psalter It is an Anglo-Saxon illuminated Psalter produced in the second or third quarter of the 8th century in southern England. The Psalter contains the Book of Psalms together with letters of St. Jerome and hymns. The text was written on vellum in Latin and accompanied with an interlinear gloss in Old English, which is a literal, word-for-word translation of the Latin text.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages In 862 Rastislav, a Christian prince from Moravia (today Czech Republic) asked Byzantine Emperor Michael III to send missionaries to preach the Christian faith in the Slavic language and educate the people. The prince also expressed the wish that, like the Greeks, Romans and Goths, his people have the sacred texts translated into their language.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages The Emperor and the patriarch Photius chose the brothers Cyril (827 or 828 869) and Methodius (?825 885) to perform the mission.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages Natives of Thessaloniki in Macedonia, they had an excellent knowledge of the Slavic dialect spoken in that part of Greece. Methodius had been the commander in chief of a Slavic province in Macedonia and in 860 he and his brother had taken part in a diplomatic mission among the Khazars, inhabitants of the lower Volga region. Cyril was one of the most prominent scholars of Constantinople. He was exceptionally gifted in languages and took a particular interest in philology and archaeology.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages When Cyril learned he was being sent to Moravia, he asked the Emperor whether the Moravians had a system of writing. If not, he said, it would be like trying to "write on water", and he would surely be considered a heretic, as the Roman clerics believed that only Hebrew, Greek and Latin could be used in prayer. He was told that if he invented a writing system, the Almighty would come to his aid, since "God gives to those who ask in good faith and opens the door to those who knock". Thus Cyril obtained the approval of the Emperor and the patriarch for his undertaking.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages In Constantinople, Cyril produced the "Glagolitic" alphabet, named for glagol, meaning word in Old Slavonic. This forty-character writing system was derived from the Greek alphabet to which the translator added signs he had made up himself or borrowed from Oriental languages.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages At that time various Slavic languages spoken throughout central Europe were rather homogenous, so the Old Slavic system could be adopted by all members of the linguistic group. With a writing system at their disposal, Cyril and Methodius were able to undertake the translation of the Holy Scriptures. The first words translated using the new Glagolitic alphabet were: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God." (Gospel according to St. John). These words marked the birth of Slavonic literature.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages Cyril recorded the ancient language of the Slavs with astonishing precision; his translations, based on a sound methodology, were clearly superior to all other medieval translations.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages After Cyril's death in 869, the work of Christianization and translation was continued by Methodius. He devoted the last years of his life to completing the Slavonic translation of the Bible and to translating canon law and several books of the Church Fathers.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages "Cyrillic" alphabet was not invented by Cyril, but adapted from Glagolitic. Cyrillic alphabet is a simpler form of Glagolitic, consisting of 43 characters.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages The Catholic Slavs continued to use Glagolitic longer than the Orthodox Slavs, who replaced it with Cyrillic in the 13th c. The Russian, Byelorussian, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Serbian alphabets derive from Old Cyrillic.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages The first complete collection of Biblical books in the Church Slavonic language originated in Russia in the last decade of the 15th century. It was completed in 1499 under the auspices of Archbishop Gennady of Novgorod (1484-1504), and the Old Testament was translated partly from the Vulgate, and partly from the Septuagint. The New Testament is based upon the old Church Slavonic translation.

Church Slavonic translations of the Bible in the Middle Ages That Bible, called the Gennady Bible (Gennadievskaia Biblia) is now housed in the State History Museum in Moscow.

John Wycliffes translation of the Bible John Wycliffe (or Wyclif, c.1320-1384) and his followers the Lollards produced the first complete version of the Bible in English on the basis of the Latin Vulgate. Though relatively few people could read at this time, Wycliffes idea was to translate the Bible into the vernacular.

John Wycliffes translation of the Bible Wycliffe's Bible appeared over a period from 1382 to 1395. It was the chief inspiration of the Lollard movement, a pre-Reformation movement that rejected many of the distinctive teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. John Wycliffe got the name of the "Morning Star of the Reformation". Although unauthorized, Wycliffe's Bible was popular. Over 250 manuscripts of the book survive.

John Wycliffes translation of the Bible Wycliffe's Bible was probably the most important translated work of the 14th century in England. It has been criticized for repetitions, imperfections and excessively literal style, but this first complete translation of the Bible laid the basis for English Bible translation and left its mark on the English language in general.

John Wycliffes translation of the Bible Wycliffe and his associates introduced over a thousand words of Latin origin into the English language. Many of these words had technical meanings, with endings like able, -ible, -ent, - al, -ive, which are now common elements in English derivatives.

John Wycliffes translation of the Bible The Church prohibited the use of Wycliffe's Bible. In 1428, forty-five years after his death, Wycliffe's body was exhumed, burned and ashes thrown into the Swift River.

Martin Luthers Bible Martin Luther (1483 1546), Augustinian monk and theologian, was the German leader of the Reformation.

Martin Luthers Bible In his ninety-five theses, nailed to the door of Wittenberg University in 1517, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the penitential system of the Roman Catholic Church.

Martin Luthers Bible A talented publicist and great writer of treatises, with a rugged popular style, Luther emphasized original writing in the vernacular. Through his translation of the Bible (the New Testament, published in 1522, and the Old Testament, in 1534) he established a norm for written German, and had a radical and lasting influence on German language and literature. The mass distribution of Luther's Bible was facilitated by the movable printing type, developed by Gutenberg eighty years earlier.

Martin Luthers Bible Luther tried to use forms of speech which enjoyed widespread regional usage and which also had a broad social basis. He sought increasingly to improve his own linguistic competence, but he also paid particular attention to the language spoken by the people.

Martin Luthers Bible Luther studied languages intensively, not only Latin but also Greek and Hebrew, the two original languages of the Bible. In order to arrive at the most appropriate and effective renderings, he consulted experts in Greek, Hebrew and Latin, and also professional people such as foresters, game wardens and so on to solve specific terminological problems. However, Luther's own creativity and poetic sensitivity were unsurpassed. All these factors contributed to the broad influence that Luther's translation has enjoyed to this day.

Martin Luthers Bible Luther's linguistic achievements were grounded in certain translation principles: 1) he advocated the return to the original languages of the Bible: Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament (without, however, completely neglecting the Latin Vulgate). This was an innovative philological approach which resulted from the influence of humanist philosophers.

Martin Luthers Bible Luther's linguistic achievements were grounded in certain translation principles: 2) target-culture approach. Luther reformulated the text of the Bible as a German text, i.e. the historical text was rewritten to fit the mentality and spirit of his time. Luther recognized that semantic equivalents alone were not sufficient.

Martin Luthers Bible Luther's linguistic achievements were grounded in certain translation principles: 3) Luther tried to formulate his translation in accordance with the rules of the target language.

Martin Luthers Bible Luther's linguistic achievements were grounded in certain translation principles: 4) Luther believed that the word should follow the meaning of the text, and not the other way round. It required courage on Luther's part as he was dealing with a sacred text. He believed that translation was always interpretation, to some extent at least.

Martin Luthers Bible Luther's linguistic achievements were grounded in certain translation principles: 5) Luther believed that translators should strive for moral and situational appropriateness, and for this purpose he believed that they should be educated in philosophy and theology and have pastoral experience.

Martin Luthers Bible Luther's linguistic achievements were grounded in certain translation principles: 6) When translating, Luther always took the sound of the spoken language into account. In this he relied on his experience as a preacher.

Martin Luthers Bible As a translator, Luther was distinctly reader- oriented; his aim was to put together a Bible text for the general public. His translation, characterized by a combination of popular speech and poetic dignity, became for many Northern Europeans a new original, and served as the basis of some Bible translations into the Scandinavian languages.

Martin Luthers Bible Through his translation of the Bible, Luther helped bring about the enrichment and standardization of the German lexicon, and contributed to the development of a balanced syntax. His main contribution is, however, in the field of stylistics. Clarity, general understanda- bility, simplicity and vividness were the most important stylistic features of Luther's Bible.

Martin Luthers Bible Luthers Open Letter on Translation (1530) is an important text in the history of translation theory.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The most influential Bible translator in English was William Tyndale (c.1494 1536). A humanist and theologian, educated at both Oxford and Cambridge, he was determined, in the spirit of the Reformation, to make the Bible widely available in the vernacular to both laymen and clergy.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries Tyndale was accused of heresy and after failing to get the support of the bishop of London in his plan to translate the Bible into English, Tyndale left England for the Continent and lived there as a fugitive.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries In 1524, Tyndale visited Luther in Wittenberg and worked on his translation of the New Testament. The work was completed in 1525. Tyndale worked from the Greek and Hebrew source texts. The first English New Testament to be printed, Tyndales translation was smuggled into England in 1526. Tyndale also began work on the Old Testament. Eventually he was betrayed to agents of Charles V, strangled and burned at the stake in 1536.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries Tyndales Bible translation was the dominant stylistic and scholarly influence in the history of English biblical translation. Its mark on the Geneva Bible, and the King James Bible is decisive, although, for doctrinal reasons, not acknowledged.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries According to some modern scholars, Tyndale achieved for the English language what Newton did for physics.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries In Tyndale's time, Latin was still the language for anything serious or official. In 1600, only 30 of the 6,000 volumes in the Oxford University Library were in English. Tyndale's decision to write in English was to a great degree motivated by the Lollard movement and the example of Luther. Tydale believed that both Hebrew and Greek translated much more easily into English than into Latin and that English better reflected the wide range of styles contained in the Old Testament.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The principal feature of Tyndale's language is its clarity. His skills derived from his Oxford logical and rhetorical training, his knowledge of eight languages including Greek and Hebrew, his experience as a preacher and his awareness of a native English tradition of writing. Tyndale translated into the language people spoke, not the way the scholars wrote. At a time when English was struggling to find a form that was neither Latin nor French, Tyndale gave the nation a Bible language that was English in words, word order and rhythm.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries Tyndale made use of plain, monosyllabic vocabulary and coined many new words which have now become part of the language: Passover, scapegoat, and even the word Jehovah itself. He created phrases which have become part of the English-speaking mentality: eat, drink and be merry the salt of the earth the spirit is willing...

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries Using simple, straightforward syntax, Tyndale forged memorable lines such as this passage from the parable of the prodigal son: "this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found."

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries By contrast with the enormous Bibles produced on the Continent, Tyndale's Bibles were pocket sized. This was important: the Bible could be easily smuggled (the English Church was still opposed to reading the Bible in the vernacular) and carried around and read by ordinary readers. The only complete surviving copy of his 1526 New Testament, newly acquired for the sum of one million pounds, was exhibited at the British Library in 1994, on the occasion of Tyndale's 500th birthday.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries W.T. To the Reader: Tyndales Story of His Translation (the preface to Tyndales translation of Genesis in his Pentateuch, printed in 1530)

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries Henry VIII was hostile to Tyndale's Bible - both because of Tyndale's preference for non-ecclesiastical vocabulary, and also on account of his attacks on Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon - and in 1530 Tyndale's New Testament was banned by royal proclamation. Henry then promised that an officially authorised English Bible would be prepared by learned and catholic scholars.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The Great Bible (or the Cromwell Bible) was prepared by Myles Coverdale, working under commission of Sir Thomas Cromwell, Secretary to Henry VIII. In 1538, Cromwell directed the clergy to provide "one book of the Bible of the largest volume in English, and the same set up in some convenient place within the said church that ye have care of, whereas your parishioners may most commodiously resort to the same and read it."

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The Great Bible includes, with the objectionable features revised, the New Testament and the Old Testament portions that had been translated by William Tyndale. The remaining books of the Old Testament had been translated by Myles Coverdale, who used mostly the Latin Vulgate and German translations as sources rather than working from the original Greek and Hebrew texts.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The Great Bible's New Testament revision is chiefly distinguished from Tyndale's source version by the addition of numerous phrases and sentences found only in the Vulgate. For example, here is the Great Bible's version of Acts 23:24-25: "...And delyver them beastes, that they maye sett Paul on, and brynge him safe unto Felix the hye debyte (For he dyd feare lest happlye the Jewes shulde take hym awaye and kyll him, and he hym selfe shulde be afterwarde blamed, as though he wolde take money.) and he wrote a letter after thys maner."

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries During the reign of Queen Mary I of England (1553 1558), a number of Protestant scholars fled from England to Geneva in Switzerland, where John Calvin provided the primary spiritual and theological leadership. Among these scholars was William Whittingham, who began the translation of the Bible now known as the Geneva Bible.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The first full edition of this Bible, with a further revised New Testament, appeared in 1560. The Geneva Bible was translated from scholarly editions of the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Old Testament. The English rendering was substantially based on the earlier translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale (80-90% of the language in the Geneva New Testament is from Tyndale). However, the Geneva Bible was the first English version in which all of the Old Testament was translated directly from Hebrew.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into the English language. It was the primary Bible of the 16th century Protestant movement and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, John Knox, and John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim's Progress. It was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower, and it was still respected by Oliver Cromwell's soldiers at the time of the English Civil War.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries For the very first time, a mechanically printed, mass- produced Bible was made available directly to the general public. It contained a variety of study guides and aids (collectively called an apparatus), which included verse citations which allowed the reader to cross- reference one verse with numerous relevant verses in the rest of the Bible, introductions to each book of the Bible which summarized the material that each book would cover, maps, tables, woodcut illustrations, indexes, as well as other included features all of which led to the reputation of the Geneva Bible as history's very first study Bible.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries Elizabeth's archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker, set out to have another official version of the Bible made. He selected a revision committee, with instructions to follow closely wherever possible the Great Bible, and to make such a version that it might be freely, easily, and naturally read. The result is known as the Bishops' Bible (issued in 1568).

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The intention was for this Bible to be used in church as a pulpit Bible. The version was more elevated in style than the Geneva Bible. The first edition was exceptionally large and included 124 full-page illustrations. The text lacked most of the notes and cross-references in the Geneva Bible, which contained much controversial theology, but which were helpful to people among whom the Bible was just beginning to circulate in the vernacular.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries In January 1604, King James I of England convened the Hampton Court Conference where a new English version of the Bible was proposed in response to some problems of the earlier translations detected by the Puritans, a faction within the Church of England.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries James gave the translators instructions intended to guarantee that the new version would conform to the theology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England. The translation was done by 47 scholars, all of whom were members of the Church of England and all except one were the clergy.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries In common with most other translations of the period, the New Testament was translated primarily from Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts, although with secondary reference both to the Latin Vulgate, and to more recent scholarly Latin versions. The Authorized King James Version was completed in 1611.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The main concern of the translators was to produce a Bible that would be appropriate and dignified in public reading. In a period of rapid linguistic change, they avoided contemporary idioms, tending instead towards forms that were already slightly archaic.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries Conservative features of the Authorized King James Version : use of the pronouns thou and you as singular and plural respectively possessive its, first recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1598, is avoided and his is usually used, as for example at Matthew 5:13: "if the salt haue lost his sauour, wherewith shall it be salted?" use of -eth for the third person singular present form of the verb, as at Matthew 2:13: "the Angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dreame". preference of which to who or whom as the relative pronoun for persons, as in Genesis 13:5: "And Lot also which went with Abram, had flocks and heards, & tents"

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The translators also tended to enliven their text with stylistic variation, finding multiple English words or verbal forms, in places where the original language employed repetition.

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries The Authorized Version is notably more Latinate than previous English versions, especially the Geneva Bible. Several translators admitted that they felt more comfortable writing in Latin than in English. The translators of the New Testament books habitually quote Old Testament names in the renderings familiar from the Vulgate Latin, rather than in their Hebrew forms (e.g. "Elias", "Jeremias" for "Elijah", "Jeremiah").

English translations of the Bible in the 16 th -17 th centuries By the first half of the 18th century, the Authorized Version was unchallenged as the English translation used in Anglican and Protestant churches. Over the course of the 18th century, the Authorized Version supplanted the Latin Vulgate as the standard version of scripture for English speaking scholars.

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries In 1712, Tsar Peter the Great issued an ukaz ordering the printed Slavonic text of the Bible to be carefully compared with the Greek of the Septuagint and to be made in every respect conformable to it. The revision was completed in 1724 and was ordered to be printed, but the death of Peter (1725) prevented the execution of the order.

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries Under the Empress Elizabeth the work of revision was resumed by an ukaz issued in 1744, and in 1751 a revised "Elizabeth" Bible, as it is called, was published. The Elizabeth Bible is the authorized version of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries First attempts to translate books of the Bible into modern Russian language of that time took place in 16th and 17th centuries: by deacon of Posolsky Prikaz Avraamiy Firsov, pastor E. Gluk, archbishop Methodiy (Smirnov)

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries The full-scale Bible translation into Russian language began in 1813 since the establishment of the Russian Bible Society. The full edition of the Bible with Old Testament and New Testament was published in 1876. This work is called Russian Synodal Bible (Russian: ). It is a Russian non-Church Slavonic translation of the Bible commonly used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries The translation was performed by four Orthodox theological academies, in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan and Kiev. The final editorship was performed by the Synod and personally by Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow.

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries The translation of the Old Testament is based on the Jewish text while that of the New Testament is based on the Greek printed editions of that time. This decision was grounded on Filaret's 1834 note "On the need of the Russian Church for a translation of the whole Bible from the original texts to the modern Russian language".

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries The known history of the Bible translation into Ukrainian began in 16th century with Peresopnytsia Gospels, which included only four Gospels of the New Testament.

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries The major translations of Holy Scripture into Ukrainian were performed by: Pylyp Morachevskyi; Panteleimon Kulish, Ivan Nechui-Levytskyi and Ivan Pulyui; and Metropolitan Ilarion (Ivan Ohienko).

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries Pylyp Morachevskyi (1806-1879)

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries Panteleimon Kulish (1819- 1897) was the first person known to translate the whole of the Bible into the modern Ukrainian language.

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries The first unabridged Ukrainian version was published in 1903 in Vienna, as all Ukrainian translations were then banned in the Russian Empire. Panteleimon Kulish and his co-workers translated from Old Church Slavonic, so the text preserves some Church Slavonic and Greek idioms, and even words absent from the modern Ukrainian language.

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries Metropolitan Ilarion (Ivan Ohienko, 1882-1972)

Church Slavonic, Russian and Ukrainian translations of the Bible in the 18 th -20th centuries Though there have been discussions about "modernization" of Ohienko's Bible with the aim of getting rid of archaisms without changing the meaning, some scholars insist that Ohienko's text should remain "untouched" as an important monument of the biblical translation literature of Ukraine of the 30-40s of the last century.

lecture 2 history of bible translations. 1. early greek translations of the hebrew bible. 2. gothic...

Documents

original hebrew bible

history of bible translations

early greek translations

gothic bible

tradition of bible translation

hebrew word

hebrew text

hebrew script