The Studium Biblicum Version ( zh, t=思高本, s=思高本, j=si1 gou1 bun2, p=Sīgāo Běn) is the predominant

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

translation of the Bible used by Chinese

Catholics 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 ...

. It is considered by many to be ''the'' Chinese Catholic Bible. The Studium Biblicum Version was translated by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Hong Kong (a

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 ...

not affiliated with the United Bible Societies). Translation originally started in 1935 as a personal effort by a Franciscan Friar, the Blessed

Gabriele Allegra Gabriele Allegra ( zh, 雷永明, 26 December 1907 – 26 January 1976) was a Franciscan Friar and Biblical scholar. He is best known for accomplishing the first complete translation of the Catholic Bible into the Chinese language. His Studium ...

, but translation work was halted due to

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and part of the finished translations were lost due to the war. The bible society was formed in 1945 when more translators joined the translation work, and the whole bible was completed in 1968. The translation was mostly based on the original

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

, and

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 ...

manuscripts, but occasionally on an unidentified existing translation for “difficult passages”. Postulations by modern scholars were deliberately avoided, but the Greek manuscript edited by the

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 Aland, Black, Metzger, and

Allen Wikgren Allen Paul Wikgren (3 December 1906 – 7 May 1998) was an American New Testament scholar and professor at the University of Chicago. His work centered on the text of the New Testament and New Testament manuscripts, but also included Hellenistic ...

was used as a reference as an

ecumenical 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 ...

gesture. The Studium Biblicum Version is considered by many, including some Protestants, to be very faithful to the original manuscripts. Like many Catholic bibles, this translation includes numerous footnotes. The bible also includes several appendices. The language of the Studium Biblicum Version is standard modern written Chinese, though some of the wordings may appear unnatural in Mandarin but still used in

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

(and might be considered unnatural by some precisely because some people do not expect such forms to be written). Standard transliterations are mostly used where they exist; in other cases, a transliteration based on Mandarin is used.

Typography of the Studium Biblicum Version

Text in the Studium Biblicum Version is typeset vertically from right to left. The typography is generally modern, with a small number of archaisms. The Studium Biblicum Version uses standard Chinese punctuation, with the exception that the proper name mark and

book title mark Modern versions of the Chinese language have two kinds of punctuation marks for indicating proper nouns – the proper name mark / proper noun mark ( Simplified Chinese: 专名号; Traditional Chinese: 專名號) and the book title marks / title m ...

are both typeset on the right side instead of the currently-standard left. Among the old-style typography used are the use of sans serif type for emphasis (mostly chapter and section headings), and typesetting most punctuation marks as if they were

ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...

. Verse numbers are typeset on the right-hand side of the first word of each verse as ruby. Notes are typeset as footnotes; however, because it is typeset vertically, the footnotes appear on the far left side of the spread, instead of the bottom of the page. Typesetting the proper name and book title marks on the right causes clashes with verse numbers and most punctuation marks. When clashes occur, the proper name or book title mark that causes the clash are omitted for the character with the clash; this typographic treatment causes parts of some proper names or book titles to be unmarked. The characters used for Bible names, and consequently for many Bible books, differ from those in Protestant Chinese Bibles such as the standard

Chinese Union Version The ''Chinese Union Version'' (CUV) () is the predominant translation of the Bible into Chinese used by Chinese Protestants, first published in 1919. The text is now available online. The CUV is currently available in both traditional and sim ...

. For example, "John" is 若望 (Ruò wàng) rather than the 约翰（Yuēhàn） found in Protestant Bibles and secular sources.

Online versions

As the Studium Biblicum version is not in the public domain, permission to create online versions of this translation is granted on a case-by-case basis. Online versions include those hosted on the web sites of the Chinese Regional Bishop's Conference and the Wah Yan BibleNet.

External links

* 《聖經：思高聖經學會譯釋》 ''(The Holy Bible: Translated and annotated by the Studium Biblicum O.F.M.),'' 1968. esp. p. III (Preface) and the copyright page. An online copy of the Studium Biblicum version is available at: *
Wah Yan BibleNet
(with this preface)
Chinese Regional Bishop’s Conference
*
Franciscans in Taiwan
** http://www.tianzhujiao.org/bible/
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Hong Kong

{{Christianity and China 1968 non-fiction books Bible translations into Chinese 1968 in Christianity

Typography of the Studium Biblicum Version

Online versions

See also

External links