The Old Testament Hebrew Massoretic, Greek Septuagint (LXX), Latin Vulgate, and Luther German texts, in four columns; the New Testament in Greek and Latin and German, the last column annotated with critical notes and variants. 1863. (link to Archive.org)
It's not the Complutensian Polyglot but it is an interesting source, especially if one knows a bit of older German or Latin better than one knows Greek or Hebrew. In any event, a helpful resource for comparing Luther's translation to the Vulgate, the LXX, and the original texts.
-TurretinFan
Showing posts with label Bibles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bibles. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Non-English Reformation-Era Bibles - Index Page
The Reformation in the British isles was quite remarkable. In fact, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that other nations and tongues in Europe also experienced the Reformation. That said, I thought I'd try to track down some Reformation-era Bibles in other languages than English and provide those to the interested reader.
Olivetan (French) (Google Books - 1616 Printing)
Diodati (Italian) (Google Books - 1877 printing)(New Testament - 1665 Printing)
Reina (Spanish)
Luther's Bible of 1545 (German) (Modern Letter Version)
Dutch Authorized Version - 1637
- TurretinFan
Olivetan (French) (Google Books - 1616 Printing)
Diodati (Italian) (Google Books - 1877 printing)(New Testament - 1665 Printing)
Reina (Spanish)
Luther's Bible of 1545 (German) (Modern Letter Version)
Dutch Authorized Version - 1637
- TurretinFan
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Groves / Sarna to be Cut Down
In a ridiculous mess, pagans in India are complaining about the fact that the Bible commands believers to destroy the places of false worship (link). The errors in the article and in the pagan reaction are legion:
1. The article notes that the translation is "Protestant" and claims that the translation is faulty.
This is not the case. The translation is accurate. It conveys the intended meaning of commanding the destruction of worship groves.
2. The pagans have reacted to the Bible's comments by burning a Roman Catholic cardinal in effigy.
This is inappropriate both because the cardinal isn't responsible for the translation and because the cardinal doesn't represent the religion of the Bible.
3. The Bible society has apologized for the translation.
This is sad. The truth of Scripture must not be compromised. If and when it offends the native religions, that's a good thing.
4. It took the tribes 8 years to notice this issue.
This is also sad. I cannot complain too much, though, because I have done nothing to preach the gospel to those tribes. Nevertheless, their false religion should have been brought to their attention years ago, if possible.
All in all, it is sad sight to see. Yes, the pagan religions of India, both the major religions and the tribal religions are false religions. Their groves ought to be cut down, their idols smashed, and their hearts turned to the unseen God.
May God's Kingdom Come!
-TurretinFan
1. The article notes that the translation is "Protestant" and claims that the translation is faulty.
This is not the case. The translation is accurate. It conveys the intended meaning of commanding the destruction of worship groves.
2. The pagans have reacted to the Bible's comments by burning a Roman Catholic cardinal in effigy.
This is inappropriate both because the cardinal isn't responsible for the translation and because the cardinal doesn't represent the religion of the Bible.
3. The Bible society has apologized for the translation.
This is sad. The truth of Scripture must not be compromised. If and when it offends the native religions, that's a good thing.
4. It took the tribes 8 years to notice this issue.
This is also sad. I cannot complain too much, though, because I have done nothing to preach the gospel to those tribes. Nevertheless, their false religion should have been brought to their attention years ago, if possible.
All in all, it is sad sight to see. Yes, the pagan religions of India, both the major religions and the tribal religions are false religions. Their groves ought to be cut down, their idols smashed, and their hearts turned to the unseen God.
May God's Kingdom Come!
-TurretinFan
Friday, October 03, 2008
How Times Change!
A Bible reading marathon was "too Catholic" according to a rabbi quoted in this article (link), although several Muslims were taking part in the marathon that will be kicked off by the current pope, Benedict XVI.
Nehemiah 9:3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
-TurretinFan
Nehemiah 9:3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
-TurretinFan
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Ancient Christians and their Bibles
A common myth that we hear from time to time from a number of different directions, is that Bibles were in essence Gutenberg's invention: a testimony to Northern European printing ingenuity, but not an ancient practice. Of course it is true that printed Bibles necessarily followed the development of printing, but Bibles were being made long before then. Likewise, others will claim that even if Bibles existed before the Reformation, they were so extraordinarily scarce that ordinary people could not possibly have them.
Indeed, I recently had the pleasure of interacting with a lay apologist for Catholicism who, buying into the myth, apparently believed that people didn't have Bibles before the sixteenth century. He didn't say so, but I think he was somewhat surprised to discover just how many European and non-European languages the Bible had already been translated into before Luther ever nailed his 95 theses to Wittenburg door on October 31, 1517. He seemed to have a mental picture of the Bible surviving from the apostles to the reformers in Latin copy locked away in bishops' chambers.
But this picture of the world is far from the reality that Bibles were the treasured possession of the faithful since the time of the early church. Even in Europe, before Luther, Wycliffe and his followers produced manuscript (hand-written) English Bibles for the laity in an era and religious climate in which such production could get one killed. Others produced Bibles in the common tongue long before that, with Jerome publishing the Bible in Latin not to place out of reach of the common man, but to place it into the common tongue.
But even if someone is well-versed in the fact that Jerome produced a Bible - one may wonder whether his monumental task of producing a Latin Bible from copies of the the Greek and Hebrew originals was the first time that the Bible had been assembled as such. It was not.
Codex Vaticanus and Siniaticus represent essentially complete "codex" forms in which the whole Bible was assembled as a collection. They are normally dated to the 4th century.
Even earlier, the notable papyrus P72 (which is often dated to the 3rd century) contains what appear to be page numbers at the top, which indicate that the books contained in it were at some point bound together into a book form. It's less impressive in the case of P72, because in that case Scripture was bound together with other books that are plainly not Scripture.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to note something even more significant than the page numbers: the heading of the section of the papyrus at which 2 Peter begins reads: "Peter's Epistle 2" using the Greek letter Beta to represent the number two. That single character, Beta, has an important significance for the issue of the canon of Scripture. That single character demonstrates the fact that at least a mental and/or implicit canon of Scripture already existed in which there were (at least) two epistles of Peter.
That is page Kappa Gamma (23). On the facing page, Kappa Beta (22), we have the end of Peter's first epistle, which is similarly indicated at the foot of the epistle by "Peter's Epistle 1" using the Greek letter Alpha to represent the number one. Thus, we can see not only that the books were identified by the designations A and B, but they were even bound in that order.
We may take that kind of designation for granted, because we are used to Bibles today with their handy table of contents (canon). Nevertheless, that kind of designation demonstrates already in the earliest documents that we have, a recognition of the fact that there was more than one epistle of Peter, and that apparently as early as A.D. 200 there was already an established convention as to which epistle was A (1 Peter) and which was B (2 Peter), such that someone would use such an abbreviation in the heading of the book. P72 is interesting because, although it is no longer complete, it contained both epistles of Peter as well as the epistle of Jude, which further serves to demonstrate that the epistles did not simply circulate as individual letters in the early church.
Furthermore, P46 (dated to about 250 A.D.) contains a collection of Paul's epistles, while P45 (of similar date) contains a collection of the gospels and Acts. The only early physical copy of the New Testament is a single fragment (P52) that is from John's gospel, but which is too small to determine whether it was part of a larger codex.
In short, the physical documents we have speak to the fact of the recognition of the canon by the earliest Christians, and attempts by early Christians to bind the canonical books together into Bibles.
With that archaeological background we should not be surprised to hear Augustine testify:
Nor should our ears be shocked to hear Chrysostom telling his congregation:
Of course, we will gladly acknowledge that Bibles in the ancient world were not as cheap and easy to get as Bibles are today. Praise be to God for the printing press and the Internet! And surely in many places today, the population is literate to a greater degree than ever before. Praise be to God for this advance in education! But recall what the solution was in the days of Caesarius, bishop of Arles (470-543):
And even before Christ, the Word of God was read to the people of God, even if there was not then a full scroll in every hand, Scriptures says that they read from the Scriptures:
Nehemiah 9:2-3
2And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 3And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
For this is God's command and the way to preserve the faith:
Deuteronomy 11:16-21
16Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. 18Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
-TurretinFan
Indeed, I recently had the pleasure of interacting with a lay apologist for Catholicism who, buying into the myth, apparently believed that people didn't have Bibles before the sixteenth century. He didn't say so, but I think he was somewhat surprised to discover just how many European and non-European languages the Bible had already been translated into before Luther ever nailed his 95 theses to Wittenburg door on October 31, 1517. He seemed to have a mental picture of the Bible surviving from the apostles to the reformers in Latin copy locked away in bishops' chambers.
But this picture of the world is far from the reality that Bibles were the treasured possession of the faithful since the time of the early church. Even in Europe, before Luther, Wycliffe and his followers produced manuscript (hand-written) English Bibles for the laity in an era and religious climate in which such production could get one killed. Others produced Bibles in the common tongue long before that, with Jerome publishing the Bible in Latin not to place out of reach of the common man, but to place it into the common tongue.
But even if someone is well-versed in the fact that Jerome produced a Bible - one may wonder whether his monumental task of producing a Latin Bible from copies of the the Greek and Hebrew originals was the first time that the Bible had been assembled as such. It was not.
Codex Vaticanus and Siniaticus represent essentially complete "codex" forms in which the whole Bible was assembled as a collection. They are normally dated to the 4th century.
Even earlier, the notable papyrus P72 (which is often dated to the 3rd century) contains what appear to be page numbers at the top, which indicate that the books contained in it were at some point bound together into a book form. It's less impressive in the case of P72, because in that case Scripture was bound together with other books that are plainly not Scripture.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to note something even more significant than the page numbers: the heading of the section of the papyrus at which 2 Peter begins reads: "Peter's Epistle 2" using the Greek letter Beta to represent the number two. That single character, Beta, has an important significance for the issue of the canon of Scripture. That single character demonstrates the fact that at least a mental and/or implicit canon of Scripture already existed in which there were (at least) two epistles of Peter.
That is page Kappa Gamma (23). On the facing page, Kappa Beta (22), we have the end of Peter's first epistle, which is similarly indicated at the foot of the epistle by "Peter's Epistle 1" using the Greek letter Alpha to represent the number one. Thus, we can see not only that the books were identified by the designations A and B, but they were even bound in that order.
We may take that kind of designation for granted, because we are used to Bibles today with their handy table of contents (canon). Nevertheless, that kind of designation demonstrates already in the earliest documents that we have, a recognition of the fact that there was more than one epistle of Peter, and that apparently as early as A.D. 200 there was already an established convention as to which epistle was A (1 Peter) and which was B (2 Peter), such that someone would use such an abbreviation in the heading of the book. P72 is interesting because, although it is no longer complete, it contained both epistles of Peter as well as the epistle of Jude, which further serves to demonstrate that the epistles did not simply circulate as individual letters in the early church.
Furthermore, P46 (dated to about 250 A.D.) contains a collection of Paul's epistles, while P45 (of similar date) contains a collection of the gospels and Acts. The only early physical copy of the New Testament is a single fragment (P52) that is from John's gospel, but which is too small to determine whether it was part of a larger codex.
In short, the physical documents we have speak to the fact of the recognition of the canon by the earliest Christians, and attempts by early Christians to bind the canonical books together into Bibles.
With that archaeological background we should not be surprised to hear Augustine testify:
Call this fancy, if it is not actually the case that men all over the world have been led, to believe in Christ by reading these books.(NPNF1, Vol. IV, Reply to Faustus the Manichaean, Book XVI, Section 20.)
Nor should our ears be shocked to hear Chrysostom telling his congregation:
Wherefore I exhort you both to obtain Bibles, and to retain together with the Bibles the sentiments they set forth, and to write them in your minds.(NPNF1, Vol. XIV, Chrysostom's Homlies on the Gospel of John, Homily 53.)
Of course, we will gladly acknowledge that Bibles in the ancient world were not as cheap and easy to get as Bibles are today. Praise be to God for the printing press and the Internet! And surely in many places today, the population is literate to a greater degree than ever before. Praise be to God for this advance in education! But recall what the solution was in the days of Caesarius, bishop of Arles (470-543):
Moreover, since what a man procures in this life by reading or good works will be food of his soul forever, let no one try to excuse himself by saying he has not learned letters at all. If those who are illiterate love God in truth, they look for learned people who can read the sacred Scriptures to them.(Fathers of the Church, Vol. 31, Sermon 8.1 of Caesarius of Arles)
And even before Christ, the Word of God was read to the people of God, even if there was not then a full scroll in every hand, Scriptures says that they read from the Scriptures:
Nehemiah 9:2-3
2And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 3And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God.
For this is God's command and the way to preserve the faith:
Deuteronomy 11:16-21
16Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. 18Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
-TurretinFan
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Chinese Government Distributing Bibles
I ran across this interesting blog post at the Theologica blog(link). The post explains that the Chinese government (!) will be distributing 10,000 bilingual Chinese/English Bibles in the Olympic village. I hope that many of those Bibles will not make back home, but will be redistributed to the billion or so Chinese folks who have not read it. I know 10,000 is an insignificant number among so many people, but it is a start.
Praise be to God for this concession from the government of the world's largest nation,
-TurretinFan
Praise be to God for this concession from the government of the world's largest nation,
-TurretinFan
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Two Bad Bible Versions
The Bayly Brothers (in particular, Tim, I think) have a good rerun of an article they previously posted (in 2004) on why "The Living Translation" and "Today's New International Version" are bad. (link) It's really a must-read, if you want a reasonable critique that - in my opinion - thoroughly obviates the need to purchase a copy, except for reference purposes.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Bibles.org.uk
I recently came across a an interesting web site that appears to have as its primary focus the propagation of the Bible. One of the most interesting aspects of the web site is that it has a number of resources available both via its own website but also via the self-publishing website LuLu. According to the information on the website, the LuLu publications are at the cost set by LuLu, which entails no royalties for Bibles.org.uk. Obviously, there is no way for me to verify this, but the costs are very low in most cases.
Those on an even more limited budget will find interesting the free resources available not only from the Bible.org.uk website, but also via LuLu. I've provided an index of those resources, below, for my readers' convenience.
I have linked only to the "free" items. There are other items available as well. There are also some more questionable items. For example, the web site contains a Russian translation of one of Ellen G. White's works, which is disappointing to see.
Enjoy!
-TurretinFan
Those on an even more limited budget will find interesting the free resources available not only from the Bible.org.uk website, but also via LuLu. I've provided an index of those resources, below, for my readers' convenience.
Bible Versions
Bulgarian
Bulgarian Bible based on 1940 edition, revised by Bibliata.com
Dutch
English
KJV 1613 Bible (Facsimile Edition w/Apocrypha)
French
French Bible Louis Segond Version
Gothic
Greek NT
Erasmus Greek-Latin New Testament 1522
The New Testament in the Original Greek Byzantine Textform 2005
Greek NT (Critical Editions)
Bibles.org.uk "4 in 1" Greek NT
Novum Testamentum Graece, Editio Octava Critica Maior (Vol I)
Novum Testamentum Graece, Editio Octava Critica Maior (Vol II)
Hebrew
Westminster Leningrad Codex v4.5
Westminster Leningrad Codex v4.5 (LARGE TYPE)
Salkinson-Ginsburg's Hebrew New Testament
Latin
Latin Vulgate Bible (Biblia Sacra juxta Vulgatam Clementinam)
Polyglot
Complutensian Polyglot, Vol I: OLD TESTAMENT
Complutensian Polyglot, Vol II: NEW TESTAMENT
Septuagint
Cambridge Septuagint Vol I: Genesis - IV Kings
Cambridge Septuagint Vol II: I Chronicles – Tobit
Cambridge Septuagint Vol III: Hosea - IV Maccabees
Slavonic
Ostrozhskaya Biblia 1581, Volume I
Ostrozhskaya Biblia 1581, Volume II
Swedish
Russian
Bibles.org.uk Fifth Edition of Russian Synodal Bible
Spanish
Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 Bible
Syriac
Bible: Young's Literal Translation.
Ukrainian
Yiddish
Massoretic Materials
The Massorah compiled from Manuscripts (volume I)
The Massorah compiled from Manuscripts (volume II)
The Massorah compiled from Manuscripts (volume III)
The Massorah compiled from Manuscripts (volume IV)
Apocryphal / Patristic Materials
The Book of Enoch (Greek-English-Russian)
I have linked only to the "free" items. There are other items available as well. There are also some more questionable items. For example, the web site contains a Russian translation of one of Ellen G. White's works, which is disappointing to see.
Enjoy!
-TurretinFan
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Reformed Blog in Farsi
To some extent, I have to trust my Farsi-reading viewers to confirm that the blog I'm linking to below is in fact Farsi and is in fact Reformed. Nevertheless, based on the information I have, if you are interested in the Bible and more familiar with Farsi or a related language, this blog may be for you (link). Evidentally the raison d'etre of the blog is to provide an improved translation of the Bible into Farsi.
-TurretinFan
-TurretinFan
Sunday, January 20, 2008
On-Line Bibles
I'm pleased to announce that the German Bible Society has now made publicly available, via the internet, the text of:
The Hebrew Bible (BHS)
The LXX (Rahlfs/Hanhart)
The Nestle-Aland Critical Greek NT (NA27)
The Vulgate (Weber/Gryson)
and others
Get it here (link)
Thanks to Nick Norelli for bringing it to my attention (link).
-Turretinfan
The Hebrew Bible (BHS)
The LXX (Rahlfs/Hanhart)
The Nestle-Aland Critical Greek NT (NA27)
The Vulgate (Weber/Gryson)
and others
Get it here (link)
Thanks to Nick Norelli for bringing it to my attention (link).
-Turretinfan
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Luther's New Testament (in German)
Martin Luther's New Testament (complete with the Epistle of James, no matter what you may have heard) can be found here (link). Sadly the scanning quality was not great - several pages are practically illegible, and the font used (while a traditional, noble, German font) is hard to read, especially for moderners, who are used to nice clean fonts.
Also, here is the first part of his Old Testament (link). The publisher included 666 pages of the Old Testament, which leaves the reader at the end of the Song of Solomon.
Also, here is the first part of his Old Testament (link). The publisher included 666 pages of the Old Testament, which leaves the reader at the end of the Song of Solomon.
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