The Norwegian Bible Society (

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

: ) is a Norwegian Christian foundation which translates, produces, and distributes 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 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. It is the official

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 ...

of Norway. The Norwegian Bible Society is organized as a publishing company that distributes the Bible in various editions and other books related to the purpose, as well as a department that finances Bible distribution in other countries. Most of this is done through 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 ...

, which operates in over 200 countries and territories and is represented in 145 countries. Most of the denominations in Norway are represented on the board of the foundation.

History

The Norwegian Bible Society was founded on May 26, 1816, and is the oldest interchurch organization in Norway. It was founded as part of a broad international movement that started in England in 1804 and was later established in other countries, including Denmark in 1814. It received support from the Swedish Bible Society, including through the work of Swedish Count Mathias Rosenblad, and the British and Foreign Bible Society. The aim of the movement that arose was to make the Bible available to everyone.

Translations

Initially it primarily focused on publication and distribution of

Danish language Danish (; , ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the northern German region of Southern Schle ...

translations. Only after 1904 were non-Danish translations published. The Bible Society published the first

Norwegian language Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regio ...

translation of the

in 1930. In the 1950s, many considered the language of the 1930 edition to be obsolete, and work began on a complete revision of the Bible. The new translation was published in 1978. In

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-N ...

, 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 ...

was published in 1899, and the entire Bible in 1921. A new edition was published in 1938, and in the process of the new translation from the 1950s, work was done in parallel so that a new Nynorsk edition was also published in 1978. It was lightly edited and released in a new edition in 1985.

Bibel 2011

Around the turn of the millennium, the society planned a thorough overhaul. Early in this work, a need for a completely new translation from the original language became apparent, and the Norwegian Bible Society involved translators, consultants and advisors in a translation project that would take about eleven years. The new translation of the New Testament (NT) was completed in 2005, and the Society published new two-part editions of the 1985 Old Testament text. In October 2011, the new translation, called , was published in its entirety, with minor revisions to NT 2005. The 1930

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...

translation, the 1938 Nynorsk translation, and the versions in both target languages with the 78/85 translation will continue to be published, according to the Norwegian Bible Society.

Other languages

The Norwegian Bible Society has also worked on several translations into

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

, and has been involved in translations and publications of various Sami editions since 1840. The first complete translation of the Bible into Sami came in 1895, translated by Lars Jacobsen Hætta and published by . In 1998, The New Testament in

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

was published. In 2003, The New Testament in

Lule Sami Lule may refer to: * Lule people, an indigenous people of northern Argentina * Lule language, a possibly extinct language of Argentina * Lule Sami language, a language spoken in Sweden and Norway * Luleå, also known as Lule, a town in Sweden * ...

was published in collaboration between the Norwegian and Swedish Bible Societies.

Magazine

The Norwegian Bible Society publishes ', called until 2013.

Staff

Magne Lerø served as publishing manager from 1990 to 1992.

References

External links

Norwegian Bible SocietyChurch of Norway
{{Authority control Bible societies Religious organizations established in 1816 1816 establishments in Norway Christianity in Norway Religious organisations based in Norway