While the Old Testament portion of the Bible was written in Hebrew, the New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek. The Greek language, however, has several different dialects or denominations. This required several different translations done by several different individuals and groups of people. These translations can be categorized into translations done before and after 1500 AD.

Before AD 1500

The first known translation of the Bible into Greek is called the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

(LXX; 3rd–1st centuries BC). The

LXX The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. It contains the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Hellenistic Jews Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Greek culture. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism were A ...

, and was later used by Greek-speaking Christians for their Old Testament (see

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

). The

is the source of the majority of quotations from the Old Testament by writers of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

. It is studied along with Hebrew and Aramaic texts as an ancient source of information about the Old Testament. Other early Greek translations of

Hebrew Scripture The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Aquila of Sinope (2nd century AD),

Theodotion Theodotion (; grc-gre, Θεοδοτίων, ''gen''.: Θεοδοτίωνος; died c. 200) was a Hellenistic Jewish scholar, perhaps working in Ephesus, who in c. 150 CE translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Whether he was revising the Septua ...

(2nd century AD), Symmachus (3rd century AD) and Fragments of the Samareitikon.

After AD 1500

The

part of the Christian Bible was originally written in

, as most of the Church and scholars believe, and is therefore not a translation (notwithstanding that some reference material may have been from Aramaic). However, like other living languages, the Greek language has developed over time. Therefore, various translations have been completed over the centuries to make it easier for Greek speakers to understand Holy Scripture. Translations of the Old Testament, which is the other part of the Christian Bible, have been completed for similar reasons. Agapius of Crete translated and published in 1543 the book of Psalms into modern Greek. A Greek and polyglot edition of the

Pentateuch The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

commonly called "

Constantinople Pentateuch la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

" published in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

in 1547 by

Romaniote Jews The Romaniote Jews or the Romaniotes ( el, Ῥωμανιῶτες, ''Rhomaniótes''; he, רומניוטים, Romanyotim) are a Greek-speaking ethnic Jewish community native to the Eastern Mediterranean. They are one of the oldest Jewish comm ...

has the Hebrew text in the middle of the page, the Aramaic on the base, with a

Yevanic Yevanic, also known as Judaeo-Greek, Romaniyot, Romaniote, and Yevanitika, is a Greek dialect formerly used by the Romaniotes and by the Constantinopolitan Karaites (in whose case the language is called Karaitika or Karaeo-Greek). The Romaniote ...

translation on one side and a Judaeo-Spanish translation on the other. At the initiative of the pro- Reformed Patriarch Cyril Lucaris of Constantinople,

Maximos of Gallipoli Maximos of Gallipoli ( el, Μάξιμος Καλλιπολίτης; la, Maximus Callipolites; died 1633) was a hieromonk who made the first translation of the New Testament into modern Greek after 1629. This was at the initiative of the reforming ...

(or Kallioupolites, died 1633) translated a vernacular New Testament from 1629 which was printed at Geneva in 1638. An edition of the

into

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

translated by Seraphim of

Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University o ...

was edited in London in 1703 by the English

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

. This translation was formally condemned in 1704 by the reigning

Patriarch Gabriel III of Constantinople Gabriel III ( el, ), (? – 25 October 1707) was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1702 to 1707. Life Gabriel was born in the town of Smyrna (now İzmir) to parents coming from the island of Andros and in 1688 he became Metropolitan o ...

. Frangiskos Soavios published in the year 1833 the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua translated from the Hebrew Original into the Modern Greek Language. A translation of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) in literary

Katharevousa Katharevousa ( el, Καθαρεύουσα, , literally "purifying anguage) is a conservative form of the Modern Greek language conceived in the late 18th century as both a literary language and a compromise between Ancient Greek and the contempor ...

Greek (Καθαρεύουσα) by Neofytos Vamvas (Νεόφυτος Βάμβας) and his associates was first published in 1850 following nearly 20 years of work. Vamvas was dean and a professor of the University of Athens.. In 1901, Alexandros Pallis translated the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s into

. This translation was known as Evangelika (Ευαγγελικά). There were riots in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

when this translation was published in a newspaper. University students protested that he tried to sell the country to the Slavs and the Turks in order to break Greek religious and national unity. All translations were confiscated. The Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church resolved that any translation of the Holy Gospels is “profane” and redundant. It also “contributes to scandalising the consciousness f Greeksand to the distortion of he Gospels’divine concepts and didactic messages. In 1967 a team of academic staff of the University of Athens led by Basil (Vasilios) Vellas (Βασίλειος Βέλλας) translated the New Testament, with support from the Hellenic

Bible Society A Bible society is a non-profit organization, usually nondenominational in makeup, devoted to translating, publishing, and distributing the Bible at affordable prices. In recent years they also are increasingly involved in advocating its credibi ...

. This translation was based on the

Textus Receptus ''Textus Receptus'' (Latin: "received text") refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus's ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant deno ...

. In 1993, the Jehovah's Witnesses circulated the translation of the "Greek Christian Scriptures" (New Testament) in modern Greek originating from the English edition, the ''

New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is a translation of the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society; it is used and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. The New Testament portion was released first, in 1950, ...

''. Then, in 1997, they released the complete ''Holy Scriptures'' (Bible) in modern Greek, being "the result of some seven years of painstaking work.” A revision of the Vamvas translation of the Bible into the modern vernacular ( Demotic Greek) by Spyros (Spiros) Filos (Σπύρος Φίλος) was first published in 1994. This translation is used in the Greek Evangelical Church and is also recognized by the

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * Orthodox Presbyterian Church * Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand * State church of the Roman Empire * True Orthodox church See also * Orthodox (di ...

. Meanwhile, a team of 12 professors from the theological schools of the Universities of Athens and Thessaloniki had been working since the mid 1960s on another translation into the modern vernacular ( Demotic Greek), with support from the Hellenic

. The translation of the New Testament, first published in 1985, was based on a critical text of the

(κοινή) in which the New Testament was originally written. The translation of the Old Testament from Biblical Hebrew and

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

texts of the Jewish Scriptures was first published in 1997. This translation has the blessing and approval of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece and is also used in Evangelical and Charismatic churches. It is known in English as "Today's Greek Version (TGV)". In 2002, with the latest edition published in 2012,
New Testament translation
by professor Nikolaos Sotiropoulos was published after he revisioned many hundreds of New Testament passages's interpretations in his 4 volumes work: «Ερμηνεία δύσκολων χωρίων της Γραφής» (Interpretation of difficult passages of the Bible) . The new interpretations were judged positively and by professors including Ioannis Karmiris, also Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Demetrios I as it published in the second volume of «Interpretation of difficult passages of the Bible», p. 12-28. The Bishop and professor Gortynos ( Ieremias Foundas) described it as the best of all translations.

Notes

References

{{reflist , 64em :(''interwiki'' :el:Μεταφράσεις της Αγίας Γραφής)

External links

The Bible in Ελληνικά - Modern Greek

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Greek literature 1901 riots 1901 in Greece