The Magandang Balita Biblia (or the Tagalog Popular Version) is one of the two most widely circulated translations of the Cristian

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 ...

in the

Tagalog language Tagalog (, ; ; '' Baybayin'': ) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, ...

he other entitled ''Ang Bagong Ang Biblia'', a revision of the earlier ''Ang Biblia'' (meaning ''The Bible'') first published by the Philippine Bible Society in 1973. This

translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

of the Holy Scriptures in Tagalog follows the tradition of the

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'' ...

, an English language translation published by the

American Bible Society American Bible Society is a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the American member organization of United Bible Societies, it supports global Bible translation, production, distribution, literacy, engage ...

in 1966. However, the Magandang Balita Biblia is not a translation of the Good News Bible but only a parallel

of it. Also, like the tradition of the

, some publications features line drawings of Biblical events with a snippet of text. Also, unlike other Tagalog translations, the Magandang Balita Biblia also tried to translate the verse parts of the Bible in verse form, making it more singable when set to music.

Popularity

As there are but a very few translations of the Holy Scriptures in Tagalog, the 'Magandang Balita Biblia' has easily become a very popular version in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and the

Filipino diaspora An overseas Filipino ( fil, Pilipino sa ibayong-dagat) is a person of full or partial Filipino origin—i.e., people who trace back their ancestry to the Philippines but living or residing outside the country. This term generally applies to b ...

. Its version of the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

was used as the official text of the Catholic

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (Latin: ''Liturgia Horarum'') or Divine Office (Latin: ''Officium Divinum'') or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the ...

in Tagalog. It is also widely used by those of other denominations in church services and Bible Studies.

Sources and bases

According to the Philippine Bible Society, the translators used the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

, particularly the third edition of Biblia Hebraica edited by

Rudolf Kittel Rudolf Kittel (28 March 1853, in Eningen, Württemberg – 20 October 1929, in Leipzig) was a German Old Testament scholar. Kittel studied at University of Tübingen (1871–76). He was a professor of Old Testament studies at the universities of ...

(published in 1937), as the main basis of 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 ...

. However, when there was no satisfactory text that could be used as a basis, the PBS opted to use any of the oldest versions available. These versions are those written in

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 ...

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. However, when there still was no other version available, the committee opted to use a modern translation that they deemed suitable. For 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 translators used 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 th ...

, particularly the edition of

Alfred Rahlfs Alfred Rahlfs (; ; 29 May 1865 – 8 April 1935) was a German Biblical scholar. He was a member of the history of religions school. He is known for his edition of the Septuagint published in 1935. Biography He was born in Linden near Hanover, an ...

(published in 1949). However, for comparative purposes, the PBS used the first critical edition of the

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

prepared by Robert Weber (published in 1969). When it comes to 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 Christ ...

, the translators used the third edition of the

United Bible Societies The United Bible Societies (UBS) is a global fellowship of around 150 Bible Societies operating in more than 240 countries and territories. It has working hubs in England, Singapore, Nairobi and Miami. The headquarters are located in Swindon, Eng ...

Greek New Testament Greek New Testament refers to the New Testament in Koine Greek. It may also refer to the following texts: * ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' * ''Textus Receptus'', the basis of the King James Bible * '' Novum Testamentum Graece'', a critical edition of ...

(UBS3, published in 1975), save for some parts that were based on a variant reading supported by one or more Greek manuscripts.

Features and translation method

The Magandang Balita Biblia is the first Tagalog Bible to use the

dynamic equivalence The terms dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence, coined by Eugene Nida, are associated with two dissimilar translation approaches that are employed to achieve different levels of literalness between the source and target text, as evidenc ...

technique. Its aim was to give more emphasis to meaning than to form. Unlike the earlier ''Ang Biblia'', this translation of the Bible used weights and measures that were more familiar to

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

readers. Since there was a trend towards Filipinisation during the Marcos Era (the time when the ''Biblia'' was published), it was just expected that there was a tension regarding the use of borrowed words. This was, however, changed in the 2005 Edition of the ''Biblia'' when the translators chose words like "bag" instead of the more traditional "''sisidlán''" ("

mall Mall commonly refers to a: * Shopping mall * Strip mall * Pedestrian street * Esplanade Mall or MALL may also refer to: Places Shopping complexes * The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria * The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India * M ...

container"). The translators used the more ecumenical "

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

" for the

tetragrammaton The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', ''waw'', and '' ...

. This is because Filipinos associated the name "

Jehovah Jehovah () is a Latinization of the Hebrew , one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament. The Tetragrammaton is considered one of the seven names of God in Judais ...

" with Protestant leanings (specifically because of the Bible published by

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

). Another reason for doing this is to eliminate the confusion on instances where the term "YHWH

Elohim ''Elohim'' (: ), the plural of (), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods". Although the word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible it usually takes a singular verb and refers to a single deity, particularly (but not always) the God of Israel. At other times ...

" is used; this is translated as "''Panginoong Yahweh''". As is the practice in all the Bible translations in the

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages ...

, place names and personal names followed their

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

counterparts. The new revision as of 2005, changed some proper names such as ''Nabucadnosor'' and ''Esdras'' to the semi-anglicised and more recognisable '' Nebucadnezar'' and ''

Ezra Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρας ...

'', respectively. Likewise, the new revision has its footnotes added and had also interspersed the deuterocanonical books in its Catholic versions. The target of the new revision of 2005 is to modernize the usage of the vocabulary, replacing the classical Tagalog words. Likewise, some words found in the 1980 edition, such as ''patutot'' (prostitute), ''pakakak'' (trumpet), ''saserdote'' (priest), and ''lebadura'' (yeast) were considered archaic and 'deep' (with some of Spanish origin) and changed to the more contemporary ''babaeng nagbebenta ng aliw'' ("woman selling amusement", a euphemism), ''trumpeta'', ''pari'' (originally used for Christian priests), and ''pampaalsa'' ("that which causes rising").

Liturgical usage

Being an ecumenical translation, the liturgical usage of the first edition was upheld by the

Catholic Church in the Philippines , native_name_lang = , image = Front view of The Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = , caption = Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Concepcion , abbreviation ...

. This is also the recognised text of most denominations that use Tagalog in the Liturgy, such as the

Iglesia Filipina Independiente , native_name_lang = fil , icon = Logo of the Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayan Church).svg , icon_width = 80px , icon_alt = Coat of arms of the Philippine Independent Church , image ...

and the

Episcopal Church in the Philippines The Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP; tl, Simbahang Episkopal sa Pilipinas; Ilocano: ''Simabaan nga Episkopal iti Filipinas'') is a province of the Anglican Communion comprising the country of the Philippines. It was established by the ...

References

External links