German language

translations of the Bible The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, and ...

have existed since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The most influential is

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (gi ...

's translation, which established

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

as the literary language throughout Germany by the middle of the seventeenth century and which still continues to be most widely used in the German-speaking world today.

Pre-Lutheran Germanic Bibles

The earliest known and partly still available Germanic version of the Bible was the fourth century

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

translation of

Wulfila Ulfilas (–383), also spelled Ulphilas and Orphila, all Latinized forms of the unattested Gothic form *𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌰 Wulfila, literally "Little Wolf", was a Goth of Cappadocian Greek descent who served as a bishop and missionar ...

(c. 311–380). This version, translated primarily from the

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 ...

, established much of the Germanic Christian vocabulary that is still in use today. Later

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

promoted Frankish Bible translations in the 9th century. There were

Bible translations The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, ...

present in manuscript form at a considerable scale already in the thirteenth and the fourteenth century (e.g. 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 Chris ...

in the Augsburger Bible of 1350 and 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 ...

in the

Wenceslas Bible The Wenceslas Bible (german: Wenzelsbibel) or the Bible of Wenceslaus IV ( cs, Bible Václava IV.) is a multi-volume illuminated biblical manuscript written in the German language. The manuscript was commissioned by the King Wenceslaus IV of Bohe ...

of 1389). There are still approximately 1,000 manuscripts or manuscript fragments of Medieval German Bible translations extant.

Printed Bibles

There is ample evidence for the general use of the entire vernacular German Bible in the fifteenth century. In 1466, before Martin Luther was even born, Johannes Mentelin printed the Mentel Bible, a

vernacular Bible, at

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

. This edition was based on a no-longer-extant fourteenth-century manuscript translation of the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

from the area of

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. By 1518, it had been reprinted at least 13 times. The Sensenschmidt Bible was published around 1476‒1478. In 1478–1479, two Low German Bible editions were published in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, one in the

Low Rhenish Meuse-Rhenish (German: ''Rheinmaasländisch'', Dutch: ''Maas-Rijnlands'', and French: ''francique rhéno-mosan'') is the modern term for literature written in the Middle Ages in the greater Meuse-Rhine area, in a literary language that is eff ...

dialect and another in the

Low Saxon Low Saxon, also known as West Low German ( nds, Nedersassisch, Nedersaksies; nl, Nedersaksisch) are a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of ...

dialect. In 1483, the Koberger was printed . In 1494, another Low German Bible was published in the dialect of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

, and in 1522, the last pre-Lutheran Bible, the Low Saxon Halberstadt Bible was published. In 1477, in Delft, Holland, an Old Testament (except the Psalms) was printed in

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or c. 1550, there was no overarc ...

. An accompanying New Testament seems to have been lost. In total, there were at least eighteen complete German Bible editions, ninety editions in the vernacular of the Gospels and the readings of the Sundays and Holy Days, and some fourteen German Psalters by the time Luther first published his own New Testament translation. An

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

translation by Ludwig Hetzer and Hans Denck was published at

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

in 1529.

Overview of the German Bibles before Luther

Luther's Bible

The most important and influential translation of the Bible into German is the Luther Bible, completed in 1534. It was the first translation (mainly) from the original Hebrew and Greek and not translated from the Latin Vulgate. The influence that Martin Luther's translation had on the development of the German language is often compared to the influence the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

had on English. The Luther Bible is currently used in a revised version from 1984, which was adapted to the new German orthography in 1999. Here also some revisions have taken place, e.g. "Weib" > "Frau". Despite the revisions, the language is still somewhat archaic and difficult for non-native speakers who want to learn the German language using a German translation of the Bible. Another revision was published in 2017; in this version, some of the text that had been 'toned down' in previous revisions has been reverted to Luther's stronger formulations.

Froschauer Bible

Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...

's translation grew out of the '' Prophezey'', an exegetical workshop taking place on every weekday, with the participation of all clerics of Zürich, working at a German rendition of Bible texts for the benefit of the congregation. The translation of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

was used as far as it was already completed. This helped Zwingli to complete the entire translation five years before Luther. At the printing shop of

Christoph Froschauer Christoph Froschauer (ca. 1490 – 1 April 1564) was the first printer in Zurich, notably for printing the Froschauer Bible, the Zwinglian Bible translation. His workshop is the nucleus of the Orell Füssli publishing house. Froschauer was ...

, the New Testament appeared from 1525 to 1529, and later parts of the Old Testament, with a complete translation in a single volume first printed in 1531, with an introduction by Zwingli and summaries of each chapter. This '' Froschauer Bible'', containing more than 200 illustrations, became notable as a masterpiece of printing at the time. The translation is mainly due to Zwingli and his friend

Leo Jud Leo Jud (; also Leo Juda, Leo Judä, Leo Judas, Leonis Judae, Ionnes Iuda, Leo Keller; 1482 – 19 June 1542), known to his contemporaries as Meister Leu, was a Swiss reformer who worked with Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich. Biography Jud was bor ...

, pastor at the St. Peter parish. The translation of the Old Testament was revised in 1540, that of the New Testament in 1574. Verse numbering was introduced in 1589.

Other translations after Luther's

A Reformed translation by

Johannes Piscator Johannes Piscator (; german: Johannes Fischer; 27 March 1546 – 26 July 1625) was a German Reformed theologian, known as a Bible translator and textbook writer. He was a prolific writer, and initially moved around as he held a number of position ...

was published at Herborn from 1602 to 1604.

Johannes Crellius Johannes Crellius (Polish: ''Jan Crell'', English: John Crell; 26 July 1590 in Hellmitzheim – 11 June 1633 in Raków) was a Polish and German theologian. Life Johann Crell's father, Johann Crell Sr., was pastor of the church at Hellmitzheim, ...

(1599–1633) and Joachim Stegmann, Sr., did a German version of the Socinians' Racovian New Testament, published at Raków in 1630. A

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

translation of the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

in 1711. In 1526, Beringer's translation of the New Testament was published at

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer lie ...

. In 1527,

Hieronymus Emser Jerome (or Hieronymus) Emser (March 20, 1477 – November 8, 1527), German theologian and antagonist of Luther, was born of a good family at Ulm. He studied Greek at Tübingen and jurisprudence at Basel, and after acting for three years as chapl ...

did a translation of the New Testament based on Luther's translation and the

. In 1534, Johann Dietenberger, OP, used Emser's New Testament and Leo Jud's translation of the

deuterocanonical 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 ...

books in a complete Bible published at

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

; both Emser's and Dietenberger's prose partly followed the style of the pre-Lutheran translations. The Dietenberger Bible was published in various revisions. Kaspar Ulenberg's revision was published at Mainz in 1617, and at

in 1630. Ulenberg's revision was the basis for the "Catholic Bible," the revision by

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

theologians published at Mainz in 1661, 1662, and so on. Th. Erhard, OSB, did a revision published at

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

in 1722, which was in its sixth edition by 1748. G. Cartier's revision was published at

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was t ...

in 1751. The revision by Ignatius von Weitenauer, SJ, was published at Augsburg in twelve volumes from 1783 to 1789.

Mendelssohn

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the '' Haskalah'', or ...

(a.k.a. Moses ben Menahem-Mendel and Moses Dessau; 1729–86) translated part of the

Torah 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 ...

into German, which was published in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in 1778. The translation was honored by some Jews and Protestants, while some Jews banned it. The whole

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 ...

and

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 published in 1783, and was appreciated even in Christian circles. His version of the Song of Solomon was posthumously published in 1788.

Later Bible translations

Daniel Gotthilf Moldenhawer Daniel Gotthilf Moldenhawer (11 December 1753 – 21 November 1823), was a German- Danish philologist, theologian, librarian, bibliophile, palaeographer, diplomat, and Bible translator. Early life and education Moldenhawer was born in K� ...

's translation was published in 1774, Simon Grynaeus' in 1776, and Vögelin's of the new testament in 1781. Heinrich Braun, OSB, did a new translation of the Vulgate, published at Augsburg from 1788 to 1797. Johann Michael Feder's revision of this was published at

in 1803. Feder's revision was the basis of Joseph Franz Allioli's revision, published at

Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also ...

in 1830 and 1832, and often republished. Dominic de Brentano translated the

and the

and

Anton Dereser Anton Dereser (also known as Thaddaeus a Sancto Adamo, OCD) (3 February 1757, Fahr, Franconia –15 or 16 June 1827, Breslau) was a Discalced Carmelite professor of hermeneutics and Oriental languages. Dereser was a Catholic representativ ...

translated the rest of the Bible; this was published at

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

in sixteen volumes from 1815 to 1828, and then was revised by

Johann Martin Augustin Scholz Johann Martin Augustin Scholz (8 February 1794 – 20 October 1852) was a German Roman Catholic orientalist, biblical scholar and academic theologian. He was a professor at the University of Bonn and travelled extensively throughout Europe ...

and published in seventeen volumes from 1828 to 1837.

Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette (12 January 1780 – 16 June 1849) was a German theologian and biblical scholar. Life and education Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette was born 12 January 1780 in Ulla (now part of the municipality of Nohra), Thuri ...

and Johann Christian Wilhelm Augusti did a translation that was published at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

from 1809 to 1814, and the revision by Wette was published from 1831 to 1833. Rabbi

Michael Sachs Michael Yechiel Sachs (; 3 September 1808 – 31 January 1864) was a Prussian rabbi from Groß-Glogau, Silesia. Life He was one of the first Jewish graduates from the modern universities, earning a Ph.D. degree in 1836. He was appointed Rabbi i ...

worked with Arnheim and Füchs on a new translation of the Tenakh published at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

in 1838. Loch and Reischl did a translation from the Vulgate, compared with the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, published at

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the ...

from 1851 to 1866. Jehovah's Witnesses, however, released their first complete Bible called ''Neue-Welt-Übersetzung der Heiligen Schrift'' (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures) in German in 1985. By the following year, in 1986, the ''Neue-Welt-Übersetzung der Heiligen Schrift—mit Studienverweisen'' (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures—With References) was released. In 1989, a new edition was released with the same name as
Neue-Welt-Übersetzung der Heiligen Schrift
'. The 1989 edition of the Bible is based on English 1984 edition of the
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
' which was released at the “Kingdom Increase” District Conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses on 1984 in United States. On February 2, 2019, one member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, released the revised edition of the ''New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures'' in German with a new name—
Die Bibel. Neue-Welt-Übersetzung
' This Bible is based from the English 2013 revision of the
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
' which was released at the 129th annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania on October 5 and 6, 2013 in the Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.A. This newly revised edition in German includes the use of more modern and understandable language, clarified Biblical expression, appendixes, and many more.

Contemporary Bible translations

A modern German translation is the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Einheitsübersetzung Einheitsübersetzung (EÜ) ("Unified" or "Unity Translation") is a German translation of the Bible for liturgical use in Roman Catholic worship. It is published by the Katholisches Bibelwerk ("Catholic Bible Society") and was compiled from 1962 to ...

'' ("unified" or "unity translation"), so called because it was the first common translation used for all Catholic German-speaking dioceses. The text of the New Testament and the Psalms of the was agreed on by a committee of

and

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

scholars, and therefore was intended to be used by both Roman Catholics and Protestants especially for ecumenical services, while the remainder of the Old Testament follows a Catholic tradition. However, the Protestant Church of Germany refused to continue the cooperation for the current revision of the . Other well known German language Bible versions are: '' Zürcher Bibel'', '' Elberfelder'', '' Schlachter'', ''Buber-Rosenzweig'' (OT only), ''Pattloch'', ''Herder'', ''Hoffnung für Alle'' (Hope for All), ''Die Gute Nachricht'' (The Good News), ''Gute Nachricht Bibel'' (Good News Bible, revision of "Gute Nachricht"), ''Bibel in gerechter Sprache'' (Bible in equitable language, i.e. non-sexist).

Notes

References

* . * {{Citation , contribution = Versions of the Bible , title = Catholic Encyclopaedia , year = 1911 , ref={{SfnRef, CathEnc, 1911 .