Bible translations by language

From Textus Receptus

Revision as of 08:41, 3 January 2011

Bible translations have been made into 2,479 languages, one of the two Testaments in 1,168 languages, and the full Bible in 451 languages.

Sanskrit Bible

Abenaki • Afrikaans • Albanian • Aleut • Alutiiq • Amharic • Apache • Arabic • Aramaic • Armenian • Arapaho • Azeri • Belarusian • Bulgarian • Burmese • Catalan • Cebuano • Cherokee • Chinese • Cornish • Cree • Croatian • Czech • Dakota • Dogrib • Dutch • English • Esperanto • Finnish • French • German • Gothic • Greek • Gullah • Gwich'in • Haida • Haitian • Hawaiian • Hawaiian Pidgin • Hebrew • Hopi • Hungarian • Icelandic • Ilocano • Inupiaq • Irish • Italian • Japanese • Jèrriais • Kazakh • Konkani • Korean • Koryak • Koyukon • Latin • Lisu • Lithuanian • Macedonian • Malayalam • Manx • Maori • Micmac • Mohawk • Navajo • Norwegian • O'odham • Ojibwa • Oromo • Pashto • Persian • Pipil • Polish • Portuguese • Romani • Romanian • Russian • Seneca • Serbian • Shawi • Shor • Slavonic • Slovene • Spanish • Swahili • Swedish • Tagalog • Upper Tanana • Tewa • Thai • Tibetan • Tlingit • Tongan • Tsimshian • Turkish • Ukrainian • Uyghur • Vietnamese • Wakhi • Welsh • Wampanoag • Yup'ik • Yupik • Zulu • Zuñi

References

Abenaki

St Mark's Gospel, translated inro Abenaki by Wzokhilain (Paul Pierre Osunkhirhine), was printed in 1844.<ref>Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906</ref>

Aleut

Matthew was translated by Russian Orthodox St. Innocent Veniaminov & St. Jacob Netsvetov. This was published first in 1840, and later 1896.

Mark, Luke, and John were translated into Atkan Aleut in 1861 by Fr. Laurence Salamatov.

Fr. Innocent Shayashnikov translated Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts into Eastern Aleut in 1872. They were published between 1902 and 1903.

• Digital PDF's of Texts

Alutiiq

Matthew, translated by Ilya Tyzhnov (Elias Tishnoff) of the Russian Orthodox Alaska mission, was published in St. Petersburg, in 1848.

• Digitally Typeset Edition (pdf)

Arapaho

The first Bible portion in Arapaho was translated by John Kliewer, a mennonite missionary, he translated Matthew 9:1-8. This was published with commentary in a ten page pamphlet by Wm. J. Krehbiel in 1888.

The first book was done by John Roberts, an Episcopal missionary, and Michael White Hawk who translated the Gospel of Luke into the Arapaho language for the American Bible Society in 1903. Distributed Proofreaders is working on digitizing it [1].

Kliewer Pamphlet Online

Avar

The Bible is being translated into Avar by the Institute for Bible Translation. The first portion in Avar, John, was published in 1979, Mark followed in 1996, Luke and Acts in 2000, Proverbs in 2005, and the complete New Testament in September of 2008. Work on the Old Testament continues.

Azeri

The first Azerbaijani translation by Mirza Farrukh and Feliks Zaręba was the Gospel of Matthew, published in 1842 in London by Basel Missionary Society. The complete New Testament was fully translated and published in 1878 in London and the Old Testament in 1891. In 1982, the Russian Institute for Bible Translation released a revised Azeri translation, which is currently used in Azerbaijan. In 1983 Mirza Khazar's translation was published, being reprinted five times in subsequent years. The most recent New Testament edition, the sixth, is of 1998, while the Old Testament's one is of 2004. Azeris in Iran follow a slightly different translation.Template:Fact

Comparison

External links

• YeniHeyat.com
• azerincil.net
• Sound Bible

Belarusian

The first translation into Belarusian was by Francysk Skaryna. He printed his first book entitled The Psalter, in the Old Belarusian language on August 6, 1517 in Prague. He continued his printing work in Vilnius. The culmination of his life's work was a printing of the Bible in Old Belarusian. From 1517 to 1519 he printed 23 books of the Bible. Skaryna laid the foundations of the Belarusian literary language. Belarusian bible was the first translation in an Eastern Slavic language and one of the first among European languages.

In 2000 a translation from an Old-Slavic Bible was executed by well known Byelorussian slavist and translator Vasiliy Sergeevich Semukha, with the help of Metropolitan of Byelorussian Authokefal Orthodox Church Nickolaj and missionary of Global Missionary Ministries George Rapetsky (Canada).

Burmese

Adoniram Judson made the first translation of the Bible into Burmese, completed in 1834.

External links

• Online Burmese Bible
• Online Burmese Bible Compatible with Burmese Wikipedia

Cheyenne

Rodolphe Petter, a Swiss linguist, and Mennonite missionary, translated the New Testament and part of the Old Testament into Cheyenne. His translation of the New Testament was "from the original Greek, with comparison to the Latin Vulgate and other translations". The first portion of the Bible published were some small translations in the Cheyenne Reading Book, published in 1895. Luke and John were printed together in 1902. The complete New Testament was first published in 1934.

In 1975 Wayne and Elena Leman, of Wycliffe Bible Translators, started a translation of the Bible from the original languages into colloquial Cheyenne. (Petter's translation is in a more formal, literal style). There translation has the complete text for Luke, Philippians, 1 Peter, 1 John as well as portions from other books. It was dedicated on 28 January 2007.

Cherokee

In 1824 the first portion of the Bible was translated into the Cherokee language: John 3, translated by a native Cherokee, At-see (also known as John Arch). It was circulated in manuscript, and received with wonderful avidity, being copied hundreds of times.<ref>Foster, Biography of Se-Quo-Yah, p. 120</ref> The complete New Testament was translated in 1825 by David Brown, also a native Cherokee; this was also circulated in manuscript form, as a type for the Cherokee syllabary had not yet been created.

The first actual printing of a Bible portion in Cherokee appeared in the Missionary Herald of December, 1827, and consisted of the first verse of Genesis, translated by Samuel Worcester. In 1828, David Brown, together with a man named George Lowrey, translated Matthew. This was printed in the Cherokee Phoenix from April 3, 1828 till July 29, 1829. It is uncertain whether this translation was ever published in book form or not.

Samuel Worcester, and Elias Boudinot, editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, published a revised translation of Matthew in 1829. This was published by the Cherokee National Press, New Echota. In the second edition, published in 1832, there is a statement that this translation had been "compared with the translation of George Lowrey and David Brown."<ref>Early Bibles of America, by John Wright, pg. 278</ref> A third edition was printed by the Park Hill Mission Press in 1840.

Worcester and Boudinot continued with translation, publishing Acts in 1833 and John in 1838. Worcester, together with Stephen Foreman, published John 1–3 in 1840, 1 and 2 Timothy in 1844, James in 1847, 1 and 2 Peter in 1848, Luke in 1850, Exodus in 1853, Genesis in 1856, Mark in 1857, and Romans through Ephesians in 1858. With the assistance of Charles C. Torrey, they published Philippians through 2 Thessalonians, Titus through Hebrews and Jude through Revelation in 1859. Besides the first three books translated together with Boudinot, Matthew (1829), Acts (1833), and John (1838), which were published in New Echota, Georgia, all the rest of Worcester's texts were published by the Park Hill Mission Press. In the meantime, Evan and John B. Jones had published Mark 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Titus, Jude, and Philemon in 1847, and Galatians through Colossians, 1 and 2 Peter in 1848 and Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Hebrews and Revelation in 1849. Their work was published by the Cherokee Baptist Mission.<ref name=autogenerated1>Eric North, Eugene Nida, The Book of a Thousand Tongues, United Bible Societies, 1972</ref> The full New Testament was published by the American Bible Society in 1860.

With the help of Stephen Foreman, Worcester also translated portions of Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah.<ref>Early Bibles of America: Being a Descriptive Account of Bibles Published in the United States by John Wright</ref>

Jonah, translated by Amory N. Chamberlain, was published in Tahlequah in 1888. Joshua was at an advanced stage of translation, and was perhaps even completed<ref>The Missionary Herald, pg. 241 http://books.google.com/books?id=o5MUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA241&dq=Jonah+Cherokee&as_brr=1&ei=L9vwSc6iIIjAlQTt9fn8CQ</ref> but was never published.

A "corrected version" of old Testament portions, prepared by M.A. Pearson, was published in 1953 by the American Bible Society.

Revisions of John (1948) and the New Testament (1951) were published in Westville, Oklahoma.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

In 1965 the Perkins School of Theology published a translation of Haggai by Jack and Anna Kilpatrick.<ref>The book of Haggai translated into Cherokee [WorldCat.org]</ref>

External links

• CherokeeNewTestament.net Online Text of the New Testament

Cornish

The Cornish language has died out in its traditional form but is being revived again. Two chapters of St Matthew’s Gospel survive from the hand of William Rowe of Sancreed (fl. 1650-1690). Henry Jenner translated John 5:1-14 , which was published in 1918, and in 1936 A. S. D. Smith produced his own translation of St Mark’s gospel, a revised edition being published by Talek (E.G. Retallack Hooper) in 1960. St Matthew’s Gospel was translated by D. R. Evans, appearing in 1975 and a version of St John’s Gospel was translated by John Page, published in 1984. Ray Edwards published his translation of Revelation and of a number of epistles in 1986, and St Luke appeared in 1989. Furthermore the Cornish version of the order for Evensong contains a translation of I Corinthians 13 by R. M. Nance. The complete New Testament (Common Cornish version) was published in 2004 and a complete Bible is due in 2010

Cree

In the Cree, William Mason's work comprises several editions of the Gospel of St John made between 1851 and 1857, the complete New Testament in 1859, and the whole Bible in 1861-62.

Archdeacon Hunter's version of three of the Gospels in the same language appeared in 1853-55 (reprinted in 1876-77).

Bishop Horden's Four Gospels in Cree was printed in 1859, and his complete New Testament in 1876.<ref>Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906</ref>

Czech

See Also Bible of Kralice

The first translation of the whole Bible into Czech, based on the Latin Vulgate, was done in 1360. The Bible is called the "Bible of Dresden". This manuscript was lost during World War I. Many other translations followed this Bible of Dresden, and from the linguistic point of view they can be divided in four different redactions. The last one was finally printed.

The first printed Czech New Testament is the "New Testament of Dlabač", printed in 1487. The first printed complete Bible is the "Bible of Prague" from 1488. Another Czech Bible printed before the year 1501 is the "Bible of Kutná Hora", printed in 1489. All these texts were translated from the Vulgate.

The first translation from the original languages into Czech was the Bible of Kralice, first published in years 1579–1593. The translation was done by the Unity of the Brethren. The third edition from 1613 is considered classical and is one of the most used Czech Bible translations.

Comparison

Dakota

The Dakota Bible translation was started with Thomas Williamson and, Joseph Renville, a fur trader of French and Dakotan descent. Williamson first modified the Latin alphabet to "work" for Dakota, he then spent day after day for two or three winters in Renville's warehouse, reading verse by verse from his French Bible. Renville would then give the Dakota, and Williamson would write it down. They finished Mark and John this way. In 1837 Williamson was joined by Stephen Riggs, and both of them learned Dakota, and then compared the tentative translation with the original Greek.

In 1843 they offered a corrected gospel to the American Bible Society to be printed. It took nearly 40 years before the full Bible was translated. Williamson never lived to see it finished, as he died in 1879. Their work was revised by Williamson's son, the Rev. John Williamson.<ref>The Centennial History of the American Bible Society By Henry Otis Dwight, pg. 359</ref>

Sample Texts

External links

• Dakota Bible Digitization, and re-Orthogriphication Project
• Dakota Wowapi Wakan (text form, not scanned, of some of the Old and New Testaments with plans in the future to update it to modern Lakhota)
• Dakota Wowapi Wakan Kin (Scan of the New Testament in Dakota on Google Books)

Dogrib

Wycliffe Bible Translators has had teams working in the Dogrib language off and on since the 1960s. Jaap and Morine Feenstra, the fourth team on the project, began to work on the Dogrib project in 1985. Wycliffe Bible Translators Vic and Anita Monus joined them later. The entire New Testament was drafted, community checked and rechecked by a consultant between 1995 and 2000.

The translation team (including Mary Louise Bouvier White, Elizabeth Mackenzie, Mary Siemens, and perhaps others) was headed by Jaap Feenstra of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

The complete New Testament in Dogrib was dedicated on August 23, 2003 in Rae, Northwest Territories. Genesis has also been translated.

It is the first full translation of the New Testament in a Northern Athabascan languages to be completed in over 100 years. The last being McDonald's translation into the Gwichin language.

Esperanto

The initiator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof, translated the entire Hebrew Bible into Esperanto. A monograph by Douglas B. Gregor, La Esperanta traduko de la Malnova Testamento, compares Zamenhof's translation in some detail with a wide variety of major versions in other languages. A committee, consisting primarily of British clergy and scholars, was formed to translate the New Testament and review Zamenhof's translation for eventual publication by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The New Testament was published in 1910. A translation of the entire Christian canon, often referred to in Esperanto as the "Londona Biblio", was published in 1926. The most recent printing of the "Londona Biblio", issued in 2003, includes the Berveling translation of the Catholic deuterocanonical books.

An Esperanto organization devoted to Biblical and Oriental Studies, the Internacia Asocio de Bibliistoj kaj Orientalistoj, beginning in the 1960s, attempted to organize the translation of a new, ecumenical Esperanto Bible version, but this project eventually lapsed, with only Gerrit Berveling's translation of Numbers (Nombroj, 1999) published. Dr. Berveling (a Dutch Free Church theologian and classical linguist) has, however, translated most of a new version of the New Testament, eschewing the syntactically overliteral tendencies of the B&FBS version, which is perhaps most akin among English versions to the Revised Version of 1881. His gospels have been published as La bona mesaĝo de Jesuo: laŭ X [X = Mateo, Marko, Luko, Johano, all 1992], and the first volume of his projected New Testament has appeared as Leteroj de Paŭlo kaj lia skolo (2004). He has also published a three-volume edition of the Deuterocanonical Books (La duakanonaj libroj), the first two of which (those included in the Catholic Canon) are incorporated in the latest printing of the Londona Biblio.

There have also been other translations of specific books of the Bible and of shorter portions.

External links

• Online text of La Sankta Biblio ("Londona" text)

Gothic

The only translation of the Bible into the extinct Gothic language was made by the bishop Ulfilas and is preserved in one hand-written copy, known as the Codex Argenteus.

Greek

Ancient Greek

The Greek word for bible is "bibilia" which means "books"

The Septuagint (LXX), the ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible into Koine Greek (3rd–1st centuries BC), was the very first Bible translation in any language. It was widely disseminated among ancient Hellenistic Jews, and later became the received text of the Old Testament in the church and the basis of its canon.

Modern Greek

In 1901, Alexandros Pallis translated the Gospels in Modern Greek. The publishing of the translation in a newspaper caused riots in Athens, known as Evangelika (Ευαγγελικά).

Today the most common translation in Greek is the Neophytus Vamvas Translation (known also as Modern Greek). A revisioned NVT is the New Vamvas Translation of Spyros Filos.

The New Bible Version is recognized by the Orthodox Church.

Gullah

The effort to translate the Bible into Gullah, a creole language spoken by residents of the Sea Islands off the eastern coast of the southern United States, began in 1979 with a team of Gullah speakers from the Penn Center. They were assisted by Pat and Claude Sharpe, translation consultants for Wycliffe Bible Translators. Pat Sharpe died in 2002, and was replaced by David and Lynn Frank. The gospels of Luke and John were released in 1995 and 2003, while the New Testament was released in 2005.

External links

• Press release on the Gullah New Testament
• Photos from the Gullah NT blessing service
• Lansing State Journal on the translation

Gwich'in

The first portions of the Bible available in Gwich'in was the Gospels and 1-3 John. This was translated by Archdeacon Robert McDonald of the Church Missionary Society in 1874. The whole New Testament, also McDonald's translation, was printed in 1884. In 1886 he proceeded with the Old Testament. A small edition of Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus was published in 1890 by Archdeacon (afterwards Bishop) Reeve, and the Pentateuch was completed in 1891. In 1892 Joshua to Ruth, edited by Rev. C. G. Wallis (C.M.S.), was published, and in 1895 1'st Samuel was added. In 1897 the whole Bible was in the press under the care of McDonald, but owing to delay in communication printing only reached Job in 1898, when McDonald came home to see it through<ref>The Bible in Klondyke, by Archdeacon McDonald, [BFBS?] Monthly Reporter, 1899, p. 36</ref>. First consignment of 100 Bibles, 100 Old Testaments, and 100 New Testaments were shipped to Bishop Bompas in February 1899, and the rest of the edition was taken with him by Archdeacon McDonald on his return in the same year.<ref>In Our Tongues, By George Anthony King, British and Foreign Bible Society, pg. 156</ref>

Richard J. Mueller, from Wycliffe Bible Translators produced a modern translation of Acts. Since then Pierre DeMers and Judy Erick have translated a few other books, and the complete New Testament has been translated. It is currently being typeset.

Haida

The first portion of the Bible in Haida, 500 copies of Matthew, became available in 1891. It was translated by the Rev. C. Harrison, a Church Missionary Society missionary at Masset. Harrison was sent out in 1882, and returned to England in 1891--being succeeded by the Rev. John Henry Keen. In 1897 Keen's version of the Acts was published: till then Matthew was the only printed book in the language. Keen also prepared Luke, John, 1 Corinthians, Psalms, and parts of Genesis.<ref>In Wake of the War Canoe, pg 262, by Collison, William Henry. 1915</ref> (see account of his method of translation, Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1898, p. 317); Luke and John were published in 1899.<ref>In Our Tongues, By George Anthony King, British and Foreign Bible Society, pg. 60</ref> It is unclear what happened to Keen's manuscripts for Genesis, Psalms, and 1 Corinthians, as they were never published.

Haitian Creole

One Haitian Creole Bible "Bib La", sponsored by the Societe Biblique Haitienne (Haitian Bible Society; part of the United Bible Societies), was published in 1985 by the American Bible Society in hardcover (ISBN 1585160725), and a leather bound edition was published in 1999 (ISBN 1585167193).

External links

• Old and New Testaments

Hawaiian

A Hawaiian translation was done by New England Christian missionaries and the Reverend Hiram Bingham in the early 1800s<ref name=abs>Information gathered by Wikipedia user Hoshie based on a phone call to Jacquelyn Sapiie, Supervisor of Library Services at the American Bible Society on January 14, 2004.</ref>. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were translated in 1828<ref name=abs/>. The rest of the New Testament was translated in 1832, the Old Testament was translated in 1839, and the translation was revised in 1868<ref name=abs/>.

External links

• The Hawaiian Bible Project
• Hawaiian Bible joins modern age

Hawaiian Pidgin

A translation of the New Testament in Hawaiian Pidgin, titled Da Jesus Book, was published in 2000 by Wycliffe Bible Translators. It was translated by a retired Cornell University linguistics professor Joseph Grimes, who worked with 26 Pidgin speakers 12 years on it.

Hebrew

Apocrypha

The books of the apocrypha were not preserved in the Jewish tradition (as reflected in the Hebrew masoretic text). Though many of them were originally composed in Hebrew, they have reached us only in Greek form, as found in the Septuagint and preserved by the church. In modern times there has been renewed Jewish interest in these books, which has resulted in a few translations into Hebrew.

In the 19th century most of the apocrypha was translated by Yizhak Zelik Frankel in Ketuvim Aharonim (Warsaw, 1885), and the rest of the books by other authors. The Hebrew-language website Da`at, which collects texts related to Jewish education, has published an online version of these public domain Hebrew translations in digital form. The online translations have been formatted and slightly modernized. Scanned versions of the original editions may be found at the HebrewBooks.org website: here (1830) and here (1863).

Two major annotated Hebrew translations of the apocrypha were published in the twentieth century. Both editions include commentaries by the editors, both are vowelized, and both of them incorporate parts of the original Hebrew for Ben Sira that were found in the Cairo Geniza and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

• Avraham Kahana, ed. and trans., Ha-Sefarim ha-Hitsonim. Tel-Aviv: Hotsaat Meqorot, 1937 (2 vols.), most recently reissued in 1959. The first two volumes of this edition are now available for free download at the HebrewBooks.org website: Volume I (apocryphal books related to the Torah), and Volume II (books related to Nevi'im and Ketuvim.
• Eliyah Shemuel Hartom (aka. Elia Samuele Artom), ed. and trans., Ha-Sefarim ha-Hitsonim. Tel-Aviv: Yavneh, 1965-69.

New Testament

The Greek New Testament has been translated into Hebrew several times since the nineteenth century. These versions are widely distributed by missions groups to Jews, often in bilingual editions.

• The translation by Franz Delitzsch (1813-1890), first published in 1877. Available online in two versions (with and without vowel points).
• The translation by Isaac Salkinson (c. 1820-1883) and edited by Christian David Ginsburg (1831-1914), first published in 1885 and distributed by the Trinitarian Bible Society. Now distributed by The Society for Distributing Hebrew Scriptures. Background information on the translation is available here; a revised version by Eri S. Gabe (2000) is available in a vowelized online version here (PDF) and here (HTML). The translation is issued in bilingual editions (such as Hebrew-English on facing pages).
• Modern Hebrew translation by The Bible Society in Israel, 1976 (revised 1991). Available online in two versions (with and without vowel points). Apparently based on the Delitzsch translation (above).

Hopi

Part of the Bible was published for the first time in 1929. The New Testament was first published in 1972. It seems to mainly have been the work of Jonathan Ekstrom.

Hungarian

The first significant Bible translations into Hungarian are as follows:

• Hussite Bible (probably 1436–1439, only fragments remained)
• New Testament (1541, János Sylvester): the first full New Testament in Hungarian
• Gáspár Károli's translation (also known as Vizsolyi Biblia and its translator as Károlyi, 1590, Protestant): the first complete version in Hungarian, which gained wide popularity and is occasionally used even today as the "classic" translation (similarly to the KJV in English)
  • Revised last time in 2003
• György Káldi's translation (1626, the first full Catholic version)
  • Revised in 1835, 1851, 1865, 1934, 1973, and 1997
• Magyar Bibliatársulat új fordítású Bibliája: Protestant translation by the Hungarian Bible Society
• Szent István Társulati Biblia: Saint Stephen Society Bible; Catholic translation
• Szent Jeromos Bibliatársulat: Saint Jerome Bible Society; Catholic. Based on Káldi's translation and the Nova Vulgata

Comparison

External links

• Review of the history of the Hungarian Bible editions (in Hungarian)
• Comparison of the existing Hungarian versions (in Hungarian)
• Hungarian Bible translations online (Protestant and Catholic)
• Károli's translation online

Icelandic

The New Testament was the first book printed in Icelandic. It was translated by Oddur Gottskálksson (whose father was Norwegian) and published in 1540. 44 years later the whole Bible was printed in Icelandic thanks to Guðbrandur Þorláksson, a Protestant bishop at Hólar. The current publisher of the Icelandic Bible is Hið íslenska Biblíufélag (The Icelandic Bible Society). The latest full translation was published in 2007.

Inupiaq

The complete Bible has been translated into two of the dialects of Inupiaq (Greenland and Labrador). The New Testament and portions have been translated into others.

Greenland Dialect

The Norwegian missionaries, Hans and Paul Egede, were the first to translate any part of the Bible into the Inuit language. Their version of the New Testament in the Greenlandic was printed in part in 1744, and as a whole in 1766.

A revision of this translation, by Otto Fabricius, was twice printed before the close of the 18th century; and in 1822 the Moravian Brethren brought out a new translation, which ran through several editions. Nearly three-quarters of the Old Testament was printed in the same language from 1822. It took 150 years to complete the whole Bible, but it was eventually done (prior to 1902).

The Danish Bible Society translated the whole Bible into a modern Greenlandic dialect, which was completed in 1999.

Labrador Dialect

In the Labrador the earliest printed Bible text was the Harmony of the Gospels, which appeared in 1800. This was followed by the Gospel of St. John in 1810, the complete New Testament in 1840, and all of the Old Testament between 1834 and 1867.

In Labrador Eskimo some New Testament extracts in 1878 and the Four Gospels in 1897, translated by E. J. Peck.

The Moravian Church in Newfoundland & Labrador and the Canadian Bible Society partnered together to complete the whole Bible in the Labrador dialect.<ref>http://labradormoravian.blogspot.com/2009/03/official-launch-of-inuktitut-bible-part_12.html</ref>. It was officially launched on January 20, 2009. A previous Labrador dialect translation was translated by The Moravian Labrador Mission and printed in 1871<ref>The Bible and the Anglo-Saxon People, by William Canton, pg. 246</ref>

North Slope (Alaska)

Roy Amaogak, together with Donald & Thelma Webster of Wycliffe Bible Translators translated the New Testament into the North Slope dialect of Inupiaq. It was published in 1967 by the American Bible Society. It was reprinted in 1992 as "Uqalugiksuat".

North West (Alaska)

Wilfried Zibell's translation of selected parts of the New Testament, "Agaayutim Ukałhi" was published in 1971. Wolf and Hildegard Seiler also of Wycliffe Bible Translators finished it, and the complete New Testament was published in 1997 by the International Bible Society as "Ipqitchuat Makpiġaat".

Inuinaktun (Copper Eskimo)

The Four gospels and Acts has been translated and published as "Godim Ukauhiit Gospelit Hitamanguyun Apostlit Havaangillu". Ruth has also been translated and published.

Eastern Arctic

The New Testament in Eastern Arctic dialect of Inuit language was published in 1992 (4,000 copies). Psalms, and Ruth are available, the rest of the Old Testament has been translated, and is being corrected, reviewed, and typeset. The translation team is made up of Benjamin Arreak (team leader), Joshua Arreak, Jonas Allooloo, and Andrew Atagotaaluk.

Bible translation into the Eastern Arctic dialect began in 1978 with a translation workshop conducted by Dr. Eugene Nida of the United Bible Societies. The work was sponsored jointly by the United Bible Societies and the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic. The translation work was done by a team of Inuit Anglican ministers trained and supervised by consultants from the UBS and later the Canadian Bible Society under the leadership of the Director of Scripture Translation, Dr. Harold Fehderau. Dr. Fehderau continued the work of training the translators and consulting on the project to ensure the accuracy of the translation until his death in 1997.

Textual Comparision

Irish

The first Irish translation of the New Testament was begun by Nicholas Walsh, Bishop of Ossory, who worked on it until his untimely death in 1585. The work was continued by John Kearny, his assistant, and Dr. Nehemiah Donellan, Archbishop of Tuam, and it was finally completed by William O'Domhnuill (William Daniell, Archbishop of Tuam in succession to Donellan). Their work was printed in 1602.

The work of translating the Old Testament was undertaken by William Bedel (1571-1642), Bishop of Kilmore, who completed his translation within the reign of Charles the First, however it was not published until 1680, in a revised version by Narcissus Marsh (1638-1713), Archbishop of Dublin.

A modern Bible in Irish, An Bíobla Naofa was translated and edited by Pádraig Ó Fiannachta.

External links

• History of Translating the Bible into Irish

Italian

The first printed translation of the Bible into Italian was the Malermi Bible in 1471 from the Latin version Vulgata.

Giovanni Diodati in 1607 translated the Bible from Latin and Jewish documents; his version is the reference version for the Italian Protestantism.

The Bible of CEI (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana) is the official version of the Italian Catholic Church. It was first printed in 1971 (editio princeps) as the work of only three translators in order to keep the text more consistent, and revised in 1974 (editio minor). A totally new version has been published in 2008, after a revision of both the Testaments started in 1997, considering newly discovered documents for the New Testament.

Jèrriais

Only selected passages from the Bible has been translated into Jèrriais, the form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, off the coast of France, in Europe.

Kazakh

Charles Fraser of the Scottish Missionary Society, was the first person to work on translation of the Kazakh Bible. His translation of Matthew was published in 1818, and the New Testament in 1820--by the Russian Bible Society. J.M.E Gottwald, a Professor at Kazan University, revised it, and this was published in 1880 by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Kazan, it was republished in 1887, and 1910. George W. Hunter, of the China Inland Mission in Urumqi, considered this translation to be "a good translation, into Astrahan-Turki"<ref>G. W. Hunter, Examples of Various Turki Dialects, Tihwafu Sinkiang, China: China Inland Mission, 1918</ref>, he did not consider it to be Kazakh. Darlow and Moule say that it was intended for Kyrgyz in the neighborhood of Orenburg, and the language was sometimes called "Orenburg Tatar"<ref>T H Darlow & Horace Frederick Moule, Historical catalogue of the printed editions of Holy Scripture in the library of the British and Foreign Bible Society.</ref>. The Book of a Thousand Tongues calls it Kirghiz.<ref>Eric North (ed), revised by Eugene Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues, pg. 230.</ref>

Macarius II, the Bishop of Tomsk, translated Mark, published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Tomsk in 1894.<ref>ibid, pg 224</ref> All four Gospels in one were published in Kazan by Pravoslavnoe Missionerskoe Obshchestvo in 1901. I'm not sure if this is related to the edition of Mark previously published in Kazan, or if it is the same as I. Katerinksi's translation, listed in Book of a Thousand Tongues as Kirghiz.

Mildred Cable's biography of George Hunter just says "a Qazaq speaking Russian". This version is printed in a Cyrillic script, slightly different from what Qazaqs use today, it has a lot of Russian/Greek words in it, and uses Russian/Greek names, instead of Qazaq/Islamic ones.

The 1901 work was republished in 1972 by the Institute for Bible Translation in Stockholm, Sweden.

George W. Hunter of the China Inland Mission was aware of the Kazan 1901 translation, and after much prayer that he would be able to get a copy of it, a man approached him in the bazaar offering to exchange it (a book he could not read) for one that he could.<ref>Mildred Cable, George Hunter: Apostle of Turkestan</ref>

From Cable's book it would seem that Hunter's translations are just a transliteration of the Kazan version. However there are many differences, he may have only done a lot of revisions on them, or he may have just used them as a reference for his own work. Hunter's work has a more Qazaq feel about it.—getting rid of all the Russian/Greek names in favour of Qazaq/Muslim ones among other things. Besides the gospels, Hunter also translated, Acts and Genesis, these had never before been translated into Qazaq. Hunter had the help of a Mullah, and may have also had the help of Percy Mather.

When Examples of Various Turki Dialects was written in 1918, Abdul Kader was the Mullah who was helping them. He may be the same who helped with the translation, and writing used in Hunter's gospels.

The information about publications of Hunter's versions below is given to the best of my knowledge, perhaps there was more translated that ended up with Hunter's journals, wherever they disappeared to. Hunter may also have translated and published some work in Urumqi later on that never got out to Shanghai, some maybe never published, some maybe only published in small quantities in Tihwafu.

Acts, Mark, and a tentative edition of Matthew was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society/China Inland Mission in "Tihwafu" (Urumqi) in 1917. A 2'nd edition, (new edition of the 1917 translation by G.W. Hunter) of Mark was published in Shanghai in 1918. A 2'nd edition (new edition of the 1917 translation by G. W. Hunter) of Acts was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Shanghai in 1919. All four Gospels where published again by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Shanghai in 1927, and again in 1928. The Shanghai BFBS also published Genesis in 1931.

A modern translation of the Kazakh Bible is in progress.

Konkani

Konkani is the Indo-Aryan language of Konkan in western coastal regions of India.

External links

• Konkani Bible

Korean

• The first Korean translation of the Bible (all New testament Books) by John Ross et al., at Dongguan Church in Mukden, Manchuria. 1887
• Korean Common Language Bible. 1977
• Pyongyang Bible. 1984

The International Bible Society translated the New Testament (Korean Living New Testament) into Korean, and is working on the old Testament.

Koryak

The first portion of the Bible in Koryak, selections from Luke, was published by Institute for Bible Translation in 1995. This was followed by the whole gospel in 2005, and the first 17 verses of John in 2008.

• Koryak Gospel of Luke

Koyukon

David Henry, of Wycliffe Bible Translators, translated John, Mark, and Galatians into Central Koyukon, and Mark into Upper Koyukon.

Latin

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There were a number of piecework translations into Latin during the period of the early Church. Collectively, these versions are known as the Vetus Latina. In the Old Testament, they follow the Greek Septuagint closely. The Greek translation was the usual source for these anonymous translators, and they reproduce its variations from the Hebrew Masoretic Text. They were never rendered independently from the Hebrew or Greek; they vary widely in readability and quality, and contain many solecisms in idiom, some by the translators themselves, others from literally translating Greek language idioms into Latin.

All of these translations were made obsolete by St. Jerome's Vulgate version of the Bible. Jerome knew Hebrew, and revised and unified the Latin Bibles of the time to bring them into conformity with the Hebrew as he understood it. The liturgical Psalms, however, are often taken from the older Latin bibles.

As discussed in the Vulgate article, there are several different versions of the Vulgate: the Clementine Vulgate, the Stuttgart Vulgate, the Nova Vulgata. These represent various attempts to either revise or modernise the Vulgate, or to recover Jerome's original text.

In the Protestant Reformation, Theodore Beza produced a new Latin version of the Old Testament, the Apocrypha and the New Testament. However, because demand for a Latin Bible among Protestants declined steadily, Beza's translation never achieved wide circulation. Nevertheless Beza's Latin translation, with its many exegetical margin notes, influenced the translation of the famous Geneva Bible.

Comparison

Lisu

Central Lisu

After creating the Fraser alphabet, James O. Fraser initially worked on Mark and John. He then handed on the translation task to Allyn Cooke and his wife, Leila, coming back to help the team with revision and checking in the mid 1930s. The complete New Testament was finished in 1938, and the complete Bible in 1968. 45,000 Lisu Bibles were published in 1995.

Eastern Lisu

Part of the Bible was published for the first time in 1912. The New Testament was first published in 1951. The entire Bible is not yet translated.

Lithuanian

The first small fragments of Bible and few Bible terms were probably translated as early as in 14th century, together with the baptism of Lithuania. The first texts of the Holy Scriptures in the Lithuanian language appeared in the middle of the 16th century following the spread of the Reformation.<ref name="Lithuanian Bible">Lithuanian Bible</ref>. The first book in Lithuanian, "The Catechism" by Martynas Mažvydas, published in 1547, contained ten commandments of God, two psalms, extracts from the Gospels and the epistles of apostles. In 1579-1580 Jonas Bretkūnas completed translation of the Bible, but it was not published. Prepared by a great number of Protestant translators (Jonas Berentas, Petras Gotlybas Milkus, Pilypas Ruigys, Adomas Fridrichas Simelpenigis and others), the Lithuanian Bible was first published in 1735 in Königsberg (in Lithuanian, Karaliaučius).<ref name="Lithuanian Bible" />

External links

• The website of Lithuanian Bible
• The history of Lithuanian Bible (in English)

Malayalam

The Malayalam New Testament was first published in 1829. First complete Malayalam Bible was printed by Benjamin Bailey, the Anglican missionary, in 1841.

The International Bible Society, currently known as IBS-STL had translated and published the NIBV (New India Bible Version) in Malayalam which was released in 1997, distributed by Growthinc India Publishing Pvt.Ltd., and had good demand from many scholars, pastors, students and even the traditional Christians, who preferred it more because of its easy readability and narrative style.

The Complete Malayalam Bible in Unicode was published online on 14 August 2004. By Nishad H. Kaippally. The newest Complete Malayalam version Vishudha Sathyavedapusthakam was released on 2000 by Bro. Dr. Mathews Vergis. An interactive CD of Vishudha Sathyavedapusthakam was also produced by Bro. Dr. Mathews Vergis, and this is the first of its kind in any Asian language.

External links

• Bible Society of India
• International Bible Society India
• IDCFWord To World Foundation

Manx

The Bible was translated into the Manx language, a dialect of Gaelic, by a committee of clergy from the Isle of Man. The New Testament appeared in 1767, and the complete Bible in 1772.

Maori

The Bible was translated into the Maori language in the 19th century by missionaries sponsored by the Church Missionary Society <ref>Bible Society - Translation Work</ref>, including Elizabeth Fairburn Colenso.

The first Maori New Testament was published in 1837 and the first ever edition of the full Maori Bible was published in 1868. Since then, there have been four revisions of the full Bible at intervals of 21 years, 36 years and finally 27 years up to the 1952 edition.

The New Zealand Bible Society has a vision for a new translation of the Bible into modern colloquial Maori.

Micmac

In 1844, the Gospel of Mark was translated into Micmac by Native Evangelist Paul Osunkhirine.

St Matthew's Gospel was translated in 1853 by Silas Rand. He then continued to translate the entire New Testament, which was published in 1871 as Pelā Kesagǔnoodǔmǔkawa. He also translated and had published Genesis, Exodus, and the Psalms.<ref>Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906</ref> Rand translated into Micmac from Hebrew and Greek.

A new version of the New Testament was published in Micmac in 1999. The work was coordinated by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Watson and Marilyn Williams, both of whom dedicated nearly 30 years to the completion of the work.

The team included three translation assistants, Manny Metallic, Nellie Wysote, and Marion Wilmot, community members, and others. Chiefs Ronald Jacques and the late Alphonse Metallic, and the Canadian Bible Society were also recognized for their work on the Bible.

External Links

• Mark's Gospel (Rand 1874, from Internet Archive)

Mohawk

In Mohawk, extracts from the Bible were printed as early as 1715. The Gospel of St Mark, by Brant, in 1787; and St John, by Norton, in 1805.

Between 1827 and 1836 the rest of the New Testament (except 2 Corinthians<ref>http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/a29modern</ref>) was translated by H. A. Hill, W. Hess, and J. A. Wilkes, and the whole was printed in successive parts.

The first part of the Old Testament in Mohawk is Isaiah, translated by William Hess, and printed in 1839.

A new version of the Gospels, by Chief Onasakenrat, was printed in 1880. He was working on completing translating the Bible, and had gotten till Hebrews, but died before it was completed, and the manuscript was never published.<ref>Bulletin By Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Published by G.P.O., 1910 Item notes: v. 30, pt. 2 Page: 122</ref> <ref>Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Frederick Webb Hodge, 1906</ref>

Jonah, Daniel, Ruth, Esther, and 2 Corinthians have been recently translated by a team of Mohawk Bible Translators led by Mavis Etienne. They are working on completing the Mohawk Bible translation. Wycliffe Bible Translators is involved.

External Links

• Mohawk Audio Bible
• Mark (Brant translation--from Google books)
• Luke (Hill translation--from Google books)
• John (Norton translation--from Google books)
• Acts (Hill/Hess translation--from Google books)
• Isaiah (Hess translation--from Google books)
• Gospels (Onasakenrat translation--from Internet Archive)

Navajo

L. P. Brink, a Christian Reformed missionary translated the first portions of the Bible into the Navajo language. His translation's of Genesis and Mark were published by the American Bible Society in 1910. Presbyterian missionaries John Butler and Alexander Black translated short portions, and in 1917 after collaborative work by all three men, as well as one other, the American Bible Society published in one volume portions from Exodus, Psalms, Luke, Romans, First Corinthians, and Revelation, as well as a revised version of Genesis and Mark. In 1937 Acts was added, and it was republished as "God Bizaad" (God's Word)<ref>God Speaks Navajo, by Ethel Walls -- pg. 67</ref>

Work only began in earnest, however, when Faye Edgerton joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1944. She and Geronimo Martin revised the older translations, and completed most of the New Testament. The Corinthian epistles were translated by William Goudberg and Jacob Kamps of the Dutch Reformed Church. The New Testament was published in 1956, and became a instant bestseller among the tribe.<ref>God Speaks Navajo, by Ethel Walls -- ch. 16</ref>. The complete Bible, under the name Diyin God Bizaad was printed for the first time in 1985. A revision was published by the American Bible Society in 2000.

Navajo was the sixth Native American language to have the complete Bible translated into it.

Norwegian

As Danish was the written language of Denmark–Norway, there was no Norwegian language Bible until the independence of Norway in 1814, and for some time thereafter (see Norwegian language struggle). The independence of Norway saw the formation of the Norwegian Bible Society, which first produced Bibles in Danish, which became Bokmål as a separate Norwegian written language was formalized. A translation of the New Testament into Nynorsk was published in 1899, and of the entire Bible in 1921.<ref>History of Bible in Norway (in Norwegian)</ref>

Ojibwa

The first portion of the Bible in Ojibwa (formerly called Chippewa) was the Gospels of St Matthew and St John, translated by Peter and John Jones and printed in 1829-31.

There are three complete translations of the New Testament in this language: One by Edwin James in 1833, another by Henry Blatchford in 1844 (reprinted in 1856 and 1875), and a third by Frederick O'Meara in 1854 (reprinted in 1874).

O'Meara also translated the Psalms (1856) and the Pentateuch (1861), and Robert McDonald translated the Twelve Minor Prophets (1874).

Jim Keesic translated about fifty percent of the old testament, and revised the New Testament. This was published by the Canadian Bible Society in August of 2008. Bob Bryce and Henry Hostetler also worked on this project.

External links

• New Testament (O'Meara 1854)
• New Testament (James 1833)
• New Testament (Blatchford 1875)

(note: I couldn't find a way to represent all the letter's used in Blatchford. If another editor want's to give it a try John 3:16 is page 254 of this Google Books edition)

O'odham

The O'odham New Testament was translated by Dean and Lucille Saxton of Wycliffe Bible Translators. Work is being done on the Old Testament.

Oromo

The Oromo New Testament was published in 1893, the complete Bible in 1899, the work of Aster Ganno and Onesimos Nesib. A new translation of the entire Bible was published by the Ethiopian Bible Society in 1992.

Pashto

The New Testament was first published in the Pashto language in 1818, with the first complete Bible in 1895. In 1991 the Pakistan Bible Society produced a modern New Testament, most recently revised in 1996.

External links

• New Testament in Pashto — Injil

Persian

The Bible was translated into Persian in the early 19th century. One major figure in this work was Henry Martyn, a contemporary of William Carey, who translated the New Testament. In 1811 he journeyed into Persia (now Iran). There he sent a copy of his translation of the New Testament to the Shah <ref>Henry Martyn, the Bible, and the Christianity in Asia</ref>. It was published in 1815. The complete Bible translation was completed in 1838 <ref>The Bible in Persian</ref>. A new version, Common Language Translation, first published in 1976. The New Testament is largely based on Henry Martyn's work.

Pipil (Nawat)

The Bible is presently being translated into the Pipil or Nawat language, spoken by a minority in El Salvador. A website provides information about the project. Publication of at least one gospel is planned in 2009.

Portuguese

The first published portion of the Bible in Portuguese was by Damião de Góis, who published Ecclesiastes in 1538, though it was not widely circulated. The principal translator of the Bible into Portuguese was João Ferreira de Almeida, who began the translation in 1644, at the age of 16, and continued until his death in 1691. He translated all of the New Testament and a majority of the Old Testament. Those portions he did not translate before his death were completed by Jacob op den Akker.

O Livro (OL) is an International Bible Society translation for the European dialect, and Nova Versão Internacional (NVI) for the Brazilian dialect of the Portuguese language, completed in April 2000.

Romani

Romani is the language spoken by the Roma people, commonly called Gypsies. The New Testament has been translated into Romani. A version of it is available online. [2]

Romanian

The first complete translation to Romanian was done in 1688 (called "Biblia de la Bucureşti") by Radu and Şerban Greceanu with the help of Şerban Cantacuzino and Constantin Brâncoveanu.

Before the Greceanu brothers, have been other partial translation like the Slavic-Romanian Gospel (1551), Coresi's Gospel (1561), The Braşov Psalm Book (1570), Palia from Orăştie (1582), The New Testament of Alba Iulia (1648) and others.

Two main translations are currently used in Romanian. The Orthodox church uses the "Biblia Sinodală" (Bible of the Holy Synod) version, the standard Romanian Orthodox Bible translation, published with the blessings of Patriarch Teoctist, whereas Protestant denominations mainly use the more widespread translation of Dumitru Cornilescu, first published in 1928. In 1989 "Biblia Cornilescu Revizuită" (Revised Cornilescu Version) appeared; it tried to get the existing translation closer to the original manuscripts, in a form grammatically corrected and adapted according to the evolution of the modern Romanian language.

Comparison

Seneca

In the Seneca language, St Luke, by Harris, was printed in 1829, and the Four Gospels, by Asher Wright, in 1874.

Serbian

Atanasije Stojković translated the New Testament to Serbian in 1830. More published translation by Vuk Karadžić was next (1847), completed by the Old Testament translation by Đuro Daničić (1865).

More recent translations are the following:

• Lujo Bakotić, 1933, complete
• Dimitrije Stefanović, 1934, New Testament
• Emilijan Čarnić, 1973, New Testament
• the Synod with the Bible Society, 1984, complete
• Aleksandar Birviš, 1987, four Gospels.

Comparison

External links

• Complete: Đuro daničić, Vuk Karadžić
• New Testament: Emilijan Čarnić

Shawi

The first Bible portions in Shawi Berber (also spelled Shawiya, Chaoui or Chaouia) of Algeria were translated by Charles Cook, an English Methodist missionary. He translated selected portions of the New Testament which were published by the Scripture Gift Mission in the 1930s. None are in print today.

Jonah, was translated in 1997 recorded as a dramatized audio cassette. The first film produced, the Jesus film, was translated and dubbed in 2002. A number of other films based on Genesis were completed in 2007. A selection of Psalms are available in print format.

External links

Injil Chaoui

Shor

Institute for Bible Translation has published the first Bible portion in Shor, Luke 2:1-20 in 2000. In 2004 they published Mark, and in 2008 John 1:1-17.

Swahili

The first translation of parts of the Bible into Swahili was accomplished by 1868, with a complete New Testament translation following in 1879 and a translation of the whole Bible in 1890. Since that time, there have been several translations into different dialects of Swahili as spoken in different regions of East Africa; these include the Union Translation published by the Bible Society of Tanzania in 1950 and the Swahili Common Language version.

Tagalog

• Ang Bagong Ang Biblia Full text

• Ang Biblia, 1975 Full text

• Ang Biblia ng Sambayanang Pilipino Full text

• Ang Dating Biblia, Ang Dating Daan translation based on Ang Biblia Full text

• Ang Magandang Balita Biblia, 1973 Full text
• Ang Magandang Balita Biblia, 2005 edition
• Ang Salita ng Diyos, 1998: New Testament only; produced by Bibles International Full text

Tanana, Upper

Mark's gospel was published in Upper Tanana by the American Bible Society in 1966. It was translated by Paul Milanowski and Donald Joe (Both of Wycliffe Bible Translators). 1 Timothy, translated by Paul and Trudy Milanowski was published in 1970 by Wycliffe Bible Translators. Paul Milanowski and Alfred John then translated I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, which was published together under the title T'oodiht'aiy Aandeegn' in 1972.

Tewa

The Tewa New Testament was translated by Esther Martinez in association with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Thai

Part of the Bible in Thai was first published in 1834. The New Testament in Thai was printed for the first time in 1843. The first full collection of Bible texts in Thai came out in 1883.<ref>Reading the Scriptures in Thai</ref>

External links

• Thailand Bible Society Page
• King James Version Thai Bible
• Reading the Scriptures in Thai

Tibetan

The first portion of the Bible, the gospel of John, in Tibetan was translated by Morovian missionaries William Heyde, Edward Pagel, and Hienrich Jaeschke, and later Dr. Francke. It was printed in 1862 at Kyelang in Kashmir. The whole New Testament was printed in 1885 in Ladakh. Another version was translated in 1903. So as not to have the problem of various dialectal differences it was translated into classical Tibetan, but this was not understood by anybody.

Yoseb Gergen (aka Sonam Gergen), a Tibetan Christian translated the entire Bible, complete in 1935. This was the first Bible that was translated into a dialect Gergen had accidentally come across that was understandable easily by all Tibetans. It was finally published in 1948.<ref>God Spoke Tibetan, by Alan Maberly, http://www.nwtv.co.uk/pages/arts/books/books/tibet/chap01.htm</ref>

Eliya Tsetan Phuntshog published the New Testament in 1970.

There is currently a project going on to translate the Bible into the East Tibetan dialect.<ref>http://www.gsungrab.org/bo/welcome.html</ref>

Tongan

Although parts of the Bible were first translated into Tongan in 1844, the New Testament was first published in 1849.<ref>The Bible in Tongan</ref> The first complete edition of the Bible was translated into Tongan by Wesleyan missionaries; the translation was then revised and edited by T. West, and published in London by W. M. Watts in 1860 (New Testament) and 1862 (Old Testament).<ref> http://books.google.com/books/pdf/Koe_Tohi_Tabu_Katoa.pdf?id=wnlJAAAAMAAJ&output=pdf&sig=1FFXmTiOMB8y_3IA57uGCuXZVWY</ref> Another translation of the Bible into Tongan was completed by James Egan Moulton in 1902 after serving there as a Methodist minister for eleven years. His translation is still in use today.<ref>Moulton, James Egan (1841 - 1909) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online</ref>

Tsimshian

The Four Gospels, translated by William Duncan, were printed from 1885-89.

External Links

• Scan of John's Gospel (from Internet Archive)

Turkish

The Bible was translated into Turkish by Wojciech Bobowski, a Polish convert to Islam, in the 17th century. It was known as the Kitabı Mukaddes ("Holy Book"). For many years it was the only Turkish Bible.

Following Atatürk's orthographic reforms in 1923, the Bible was rewritten in the new Latin alphabet. This project was completed in 1941.

However, as the Turkish authorities were determined to remove as many foreign words from Turkish as possible, the language consequently underwent a dramatic transformation. In just sixty years, the language went through the equivalent of three hundred years of changes, thus many foreign words used in the Bible were no longer used. Because of this the United Bible Society and the Translation Trust joined together to produce a translation suited to the new language. This work would be called the Colloquial Version. The translators included Ali Simsek, Behnan Konutgan and Mahmud Solgun. The translation consultants included the Rev. Dr. Manuel Jinbachian and Dr. Krijn van der Jagt. In 1989 the New Testament was published, one journalist saying the work "flows like music." The complete Bible was dedicated on October 21, 2001.<ref>UBS Special Report 27, Romania & Turkey - November 2001 #16</ref>

External links

• History of the Turkish Bible Translation

Uyghur

Fragments of the Biblical texts dating from a very early time were found in Turpan. Probably translated by the Nestorians.

The first modern translating began in the late 1800s, when Johannes Avetaranian, a Turk working with the Swedish Missionary Society translated the New Testament into Uyghur. The gospels were published in 1898 by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Lepzig. Avetaranian had translated the whole New Testament, but couldn't get the British and Foreign Bible Society to print it all at once. He left Xinjiang, thinking it would be temporary, but never returned. In Avetaranian revised his Gospels, and in 1911, along with Acts they were published by the German Orient Mission, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Gustaf Raquette, also with the Swedish Missionary Society, came to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and worked together with Avetaranian on a revision of the New Testament translation. This revision was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1914.

Selections from the Old Testament, translated by Avetaranian was published in Bulgaria in 1907. It is a small booklet though, and it is unclear how much/if he translated any more than that.

Genesis in 1917, Job in 1921, and Psalms in 1923 were translated by other members of the Swedish Missionary Society, especially Oscar Andersson. The British and Foreign Bible Society also printed a revision of the New Testament, by Lars Erik Hogberg and G. Sauerwein in Cairo, in 1939.

George Hunter, of the China Inland Mission in Urumqi, translated Mark, published in 1920 by the Shanghai branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and Acts, published by them in 1922. 1 Samuel (a tentative edition) was published in Urumqi in 1917.

After the Swedes had been exiled from Xinjiang, Gustaf Ahlbert, Oskar Hermannson, Dr. Nur Luke (a Uyghur), Moulvi Munshi, and Moulvi Fazil, completed the translation of the Uyghur Bible in India. This, and a revision of the New Testament, was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1950, in Cairo.<ref>Book of a Thousand Tongues</ref>

Modern Uyghur translations of the Bible are in progress.

External links

• Online text of a Modern translation
• Samples of Older Translations

Vietnamese

• 1926 Vietnamese Translation (VT), (Cadman)

• 1995 Republication of the 1926 VT

• 2008 New Vietnamese Bible

Although, the Chu Quoc Ngu had been written in the 17th century, it took more than 250 years (1872) for Vietnamese Bibles to be translated for common teaching use in Vietnam. In 1963, Catholic officials published Vietnamese Bibles for the Vietnamese people's use.

A group of pastors are working to translate the Bible to Vietnamese using the English New International Version (NIV).Template:Fact

External links

• History of Vietnamese Bible
• New Vietnamese Bible
• UBS-Vietnamese Partnership – has downloads for a mobile phone version of the Vietnamese Bible

Wakhi

The translation of the Bible into Wakhi has begun in Moscow.

The first publication of a biblical text into Wakhi, was an excerpt from the Gospel of Luke (2:1-20) in a book on the birth of Jesus in the 80 languages of the peoples of the CIS, (IBT, 2000. p. 68-69)

In 2001 the Institute for Bible Translation published 1,500 copies of Selections from Luke.Template:Fact

Wampanoag

The Wampanoag (or Massachuset) language was the first North American Indian language into which any Bible translation was made; John Eliot began his Natick version in 1653 and finished it in 1661-63, with a revised edition in 1680-85. It was the first Bible to be printed in North America.

In 1709 Experience Mayhew published his translation, in the Martha's Vineyard dialect, of the Psalms and John's Gospel.

• Digitalization Project

Yupik

The New Testament in the Yupik language has been translated and is almost ready for publication. It is largely the work of David and Mitzi Shinen. When ready it will be published both in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts, so that it is accessible to Yupik living on St. Lawrence Island, as well as in Siberia.

There translation of Mark was published previously in 1974, and Philippi in 1989.

Yup'ik

Three Russian Orthodox liturgical readings, St. Mark 1:9-11, St. Matthew 4:23-5:13, St. Mark 16:1-8, were translated by John Orlov, of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1887.

Moravian Missionary John Hinz translated Mark into Yup'ik, this being published in 1915.

The New Testament was then translated into Yup'ik by people from the Alaska Moravian Church. This was published by the American Bible Society in 1956. Yup'ik orthography and spelling were not yet standardized. Since then some Old Testament books have been published. There is currently work going on to complete the old testament, and to update the New Testament with standard spelling. The translation team's goal is to have the whole Bible published by 2013.<ref>http://13c4.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/update-on-the-old-testament-yupik-old-testament-translation-project/#comments</ref>

Zulu

In 1837, the first portion's of the Bible in the Zulu language were published, in the "First Book for Readers" portions of Genesis and two Psalms were published.

The first book of the Bible to be translated into the Zulu language was Matthew's Gospel, published in 1848 by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). This was translated by George Champion, and revised by Newton Adams.

The completed New Testament was published in 1865, translated by a several missionaries of the ABCFM. And the complete Bible, translated also by many members of the ABCFM, and corrected by Andrew Abraham, and finally edited by S. C. Pixley was published in 1883.<ref>Faith and Narrative by Keith E. Yandell, pg. 27</ref><ref>The Zulu Yesterday and To-day: Twenty-nine Years in South Africa by Gertrude Rachel Hance, pg. 45</ref>

It was revised in 1959, and published in London by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

A Modern Zulu New Testament, and as the Psalms was completed in 1986 and published in Cape Town by the Bible Society of South Africa. This was translated by Dean Nils Joëlson, and project co-ordinated by, Mr. D. T. Maseko and Mr. K. Magubane.

Zuñi

In 1906, Andrew VanderWagen translated the Gospel according to Mark. In the 1930s and 1940s, Wycliffe Bible Translators Carroll Whitener translated the Gospel according to John, as well as a few other portions of Scripture, with the help of Rev. George Yff and Rex Natewa.

After extensive study of the Zuñi language, and massive recordings of their folklore, and after creating a writing system that worked for their language, Curtis Cook translated the gospel of Mark (published in 1970) and Acts into the Zuñi language.<ref>Deseret Morning News | Arizona man helps preserve Zuni language</ref> Cook's chief language helper was Lorenzo Chavez<ref>NSM KnowledgeBase - #17201 - Recollections of Twenty Years in Zuni, New Mexico - Part XII: Zuni Language</ref>

• Zuni Bible Online

References