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 th ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and was later used by Greek-speaking Christians for their

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

(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 can ...

). 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 ...

is the source of the majority of quotations from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

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 Christi ...

. It is studied along with Hebrew and Aramaic texts as an ancient source of information about the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. Other early Greek translations of

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

Aquila of Sinope Aquila (Hebrew: עֲקִילַס ''ʿăqīlas'', fl. 130 AD) of Sinope (modern-day Sinop, Turkey; la, Aquila Ponticus) was a translator of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, a proselyte, and disciple of Rabbi Akiva. Relationship to Onkelos Opinions d ...

(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 Septuagi ...

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

Samareitikon The Samareitikon (Greek: τὸ Σαμαρειτικὸν) is the name given to the Greek translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch. The Samareitikon is obtained only from marginal notes in other manuscripts and quotations in Origen. As Samuel Kohn h ...

.

After AD 1500

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 Christi ...

part of the Christian Bible was originally 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 ...

, 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 The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

, 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" published in Constantinople in 1547 by

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

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 Romaniotes ...

translation on one side and a

Judaeo-Spanish Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew script: , Cyrillic: ), also known as Ladino, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain, and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading through the Ottoman Emp ...

translation on the other. At the initiative of the pro- Reformed Patriarch

Cyril Lucaris Cyril Lucaris or Loukaris ( el, Κύριλλος Λούκαρις, 13 November 1572 – 27 June 1638), born Constantine Lucaris, was a Greek prelate and theologian, and a native of Candia, Crete (then under the Republic of Venice). He later bec ...

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

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 of ...

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. Societ ...

. 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 ...

. 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 contempo ...

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 Alexandros Pallis ( el, Αλέξανδρος Πάλλης; 15 March 1851, in Piraeus – 17 March 1935, in Liverpool) was a Greek educational and language reformer who translated the New Testament into Modern Greek. The publication, in the '' Akro ...

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 an ...

s 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 ...

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

. 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 denomi ...

. 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 Demotic Greek or Dimotiki ( el, Δημοτική Γλώσσα, , , ) is the standard spoken language of Greece in modern times and, since the resolution of the Greek language question in 1976, the official language of Greece. "Demotic Greek" (w ...

) 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. 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 Demotic Greek or Dimotiki ( el, Δημοτική Γλώσσα, , , ) is the standard spoken language of Greece in modern times and, since the resolution of the Greek language question in 1976, the official language of Greece. "Demotic Greek" (w ...

), 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 credi ...

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

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 ...

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

Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of t ...

and Aramaic 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

Before AD 1500

After AD 1500

See also

Notes

References

External links