The is a Japanese translation of the

Christian Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

, completed in 1987, and is currently the most widely used Japanese Bible, by both Catholics and Protestants.

Joint ecumenical effort

In accordance with the

ecumenical movement Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

of the latter half of the 20th century, a joint ecumenical translation committee was set up in 1969 to get a new translation of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

, so it can be used by all Christian denominations.

Interconfessional Translation Bible

Its

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 ...

translation, called the was completed in 1978. However, for example, its local pronunciation rule of the people and place names, such as "Yesusu" (

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

) and "Paurosu" (

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

), when used in worship, created some confusions and problems.

New Interconfessional Translation Bible

The committee, therefore, made necessary adjustments, such as "Yesu" (Jesus) and "Pauro" (Paul), and continued the translation work. In 1987, both Old and New Testaments were published as the New Interconfessional Translation Bible.

Original Bible texts

It is a complete Bible translation, of the Old and New Testaments and the

Deuterocanonical books The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East to be ...

. The original texts used are:

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, abbreviated as BHS or rarely BH4, is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes. It is the fourth edition in ...

in Hebrew for the Old Testament, Nestle-Åland Novum Testamentum Graece in Greek, and the Greek Old Testament for the

Publication

Its publication is done by

Japan Bible Society The is a nondenominational Christian organization committed to translating and distributing the Bible in Japan. It was established in 1937 with the help of National Bible Society of Scotland (NBSS, now called the Scottish Bible Society), the Americ ...

(日本聖書協会), a member of the United Bible Societies (UBS). It is published in various forms, such as the whole Old and New Testament book, Old Testament only book, New Testament only book, Old Testament with or without the

, Japanese translation with the English translation (

Good News Bible Good News Bible (GNB), also called the Good News Translation (GNT) in the United States, is an English translation of the Bible by the American Bible Society. It was first published as the New Testament under the name ''Good News for Modern Man'' ...

(TEV) or New International Version (NIV)), with the Korean translation, etc.

Use in churches

It is now the most widely read Japanese Bible, by both Catholics and Protestants. It is used by Catholic churches, Anglican/Episcopal churches, Lutheran churches, United Church of Christ churches and other churches. It is not used by the

Japanese Orthodox Church The is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox church within the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. History Early Orthodox Christianity The first purpose-built Orthodox Christian church to open in Japan was the wooden Russian Consulate chapel of t ...

because they, although participated in the translation committee initially, later backed out and did not approve its use in the church. The other Japanese Bible translation often used is the , first published in 1970, mainly by the Evangelical Protestants. The , first published in 1955, is Japan's first effort to translate the Bible in compliance with the modern Japanese writing system that went into effect right after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and is now much less used.

2018 Revision

In 2018, after eight years of work, the Japan Bible Society published the first revision of the New Interconfessional Translation Bible in 31 years, the . The aim of the revision was to create a Bible with "prestigious and beautiful Japanese that is suitable for reading in worship services" and to correct issues that had arisen due to the use of both dynamic and formal equivalence translation methods.

References

{{Reflist

External links

A Brief History of Japanese Bible Translation
(in Japan Bible Society web) 1987 books 1987 in Christianity Christianity in Japan