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The Christian [[Bible]] has been [[translated]] into [[Bible translations by language|many languages]] from the [[biblical languages]] of [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]], [[Biblical Aramaic|Aramaic]], and [[Koine Greek|Greek]].

According to a major Bible translation organization, as of {{As of|2025|August|bare=1}} the full Protestant Bible has been translated into 776 languages, the [[New Testament]] has been translated into an additional 1,798 languages, and smaller portions have been translated into 1,433 other languages. Thus, at least some portions of the Bible have been translated into 4,007 languages, out of a total of 7,396 known languages (including sign languages).<ref>{{Cite web |title=2025 Global Scripture Access |url=https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics/ |access-date=2025-09-03 |website=Wycliffe Global Alliance |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Textual variants in the New Testament]] include errors, omissions, additions, changes, and alternate translations. In some cases, different translations have been used as evidence for or have been motivated by doctrinal differences.

== Original text ==
=== Hebrew Bible ===
The [[Hebrew Bible]] was mainly written in [[Biblical Hebrew]], with some portions (notably in [[Book of Daniel|Daniel]] and [[Book of Ezra|Ezra]]) in [[Biblical Aramaic]]. Some of the [[Deuterocanonical]] books not accepted in every denomination's canons, such as [[2 Maccabees]], originated in Koine Greek.

In the third and second centuries B.C.E., the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Koine Greek, known as the [[Septuagint]] version. This was the version commonly used by [[Septuagint#Christian use|the writers of the Gospels]].

From the 6th century to the 10th century AD, Jewish scholars, today known as [[Masoretes]], compared the text of various [[biblical manuscript]]s in an effort to create a unified, standardized text. A series of highly similar texts eventually emerged, and any of these texts are known as [[Masoretic Texts]] (MT). The Masoretes also added vowel points (called [[niqqud]]) to the text, since the original text contained [[Abjad|only consonants]]. This sometimes required the selection of an interpretation; since some words differ only in their vowels their meaning can vary in accordance with the vowels chosen. In antiquity, variant Hebrew readings existed, some of which have survived in the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] and other ancient fragments, as well as being attested in ancient versions in other languages.<ref name="Cohen1979">Menachem Cohen, [http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/CohenArt/ The Idea of the Sanctity of the Biblical Text and the Science of Textual Criticism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310145008/http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/CohenArt/ |date=2011-03-10 }} in ''HaMikrah V'anachnu'', ed. Uriel Simon, HaMachon L'Yahadut U'Machshava Bat-Z'mananu and Dvir, Tel-Aviv, 1979.</ref>

=== New Testament ===
{{Main|Early translations of the New Testament}}
The New Testament was written in Koine Greek<ref>Herbert Weir Smyth, Greek Grammar. Revised by Gordon M. Messing. {{ISBN|9780674362505}}. Harvard University Press, 1956. Introduction F, N-2, p. 4A</ref> reporting speech originally in [[Aramaic]], Greek and [[Latin]] (see [[Language of the New Testament]]).

The ''autographs'', the Greek [[biblical manuscript|manuscripts]] written by the original authors or collators, have not survived. Scholars surmise the original Greek text from the manuscripts that do survive.

Most variants among the manuscripts are minor, such as alternative spelling, alternative word order, the presence or absence of an optional definite article ("the"), and so on. Occasionally, a major variant happens when a portion of a text was missing or for other reasons. Examples of major variants are the [[Mark 16|endings of Mark]], the [[Pericope Adulteræ]], the [[Comma Johanneum]], and the [[Acts of the Apostles#Manuscripts|Western version of Acts]].

Early manuscripts of the [[Pauline epistles]] and other New Testament writings show [[Greek orthography|no punctuation]] whatsoever.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://greek-language.com/grklinguist/?p=657. |title=Greek Language and Linguistics – Ancient Greek, mostly Hellenistic |date=13 April 2023 |access-date=31 July 2016 |archive-date=9 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909192729/https://www.greeklanguage.blog// |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>http://www.stpaulsirvine.org/images/papyruslg.gif|{{dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} shows an example of the text without punctuation</ref> The [[punctuation]] was added later by other editors, according to their own understanding of the text.

Four main textual traditions of the Greek New Testament have been theorized to allow grouping and analysis of manuscripts and changes: the [[Alexandrian text-type]], the [[Byzantine text-type]], the [[Western text-type]] and perhaps a largely lost [[Caesarean text-type]], however many manuscripts are mixes of these.

The discovery of older manuscripts which belong to the Alexandrian text-type, including the 4th-century [[Codex Vaticanus]] and [[Codex Sinaiticus]], led scholars to revise their view about the original Greek text. [[Karl Lachmann]] based his [[critical edition]] of 1831 on manuscripts dating from the 4th century and earlier, to argue that the ''[[Textus Receptus]]'' must be corrected according to these earlier texts.

There is also a long-standing tradition owing to [[Papias of Hierapolis]] (c.125) that the Gospel of Matthew was originally in Hebrew.<ref>See also the [[Hebrew Gospel hypothesis]].</ref> Eusebius (c.300) reports that [[Pantaenus]] went to India (c. 200) and found them using a Gospel of St Matthew in Hebrew letters.<ref>which also could be Syriac.</ref> [[Jerome]] also reports in his preface to St Matthew that it was originally composed "in Hebrew letters in Judea" not in Greek<ref>{{cite web |title=Jerome, Letter to Pope Damasus: Beginning of the Preface to the Gospels |url=https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_preface_gospels.htm |website=www.tertullian.org}}</ref> and that he saw and copied one from the [[Nazarene (sect)|Nazarene]] sect. The exact provenance, authorship, source languages and collation of the four Gospels is unknown but subject to much [[Synoptic Gospels#Synoptic problem|academic speculation]] and disputed [[Form criticism#In New Testament studies|methods]].

== History ==
[[File:Collection of Bibles and New Testaments.jpg|thumb|Collection of Bibles and New Testaments in several languages]]

=== Ancient translations ===

==== Aramaic Targums ====
{{Main|Targum}}

Some of the first translations of the [[Torah]] began during the [[Babylonian exile]], when [[Aramaic]] became the [[lingua franca]] of the Jews. With most people speaking only Aramaic and not understanding Hebrew, the [[Targum]]s were created to allow the common person to understand the Torah as it was read in ancient [[synagogue]]s.

==== Greek Septuagint ====
{{Main|Septuagint}}

By the 3rd century BC, [[Alexandria]] had become the center of [[Hellenistic Judaism]], and during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC translators compiled in Egypt a Koine Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures in several stages (completing the task by 132 BC). The [[Talmud]] ascribes the translation effort to [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]] (r. 285–246 BC), who allegedly hired 72 Jewish scholars for the purpose, for which reason the translation is commonly known as the Septuagint (from the Latin ''septuaginta'', "seventy"), a name which it gained in "the time of [[Augustine of Hippo]]" (354–430 AD).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Sundberg |first=Albert C. Jr. |editor=McDonald, Lee Martin |editor2=Sanders, James A. |encyclopedia=The Canon Debate |title=The Septuagint: The Bible of Hellenistic Judaism |year=2002 |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |isbn=978-1-56563-517-3 |page=72}}</ref><ref>''The Canon Debate'', McDonald & Sanders editors, chapter by Sundberg, page 72, adds further detail: "However, it was not until the time of [[Augustine of Hippo]] (354-430 CE) that the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures came to be called by the Latin term ''septuaginta''. [70 rather than 72]

Jerome began by revising the earlier Latin translations, but ended by going back to the original Greek, bypassing all translations, and going back to the original Hebrew wherever he could instead of the Septuagint.
The New Testament and at least some of the Old Testament was translated into [[Gothic language|Gothic]] in the 4th century by [[Ulfilas]]. In the 5th century, [[Saint Mesrob]] translated the Bible into [[Armenian language|Armenian]]. Also dating from the same period are the Syriac, [[Coptic language|Coptic]], [[Ethiopic]] and [[Georgian language|Georgian]] translations.

In his ''City of God'' 18.42, while repeating the [[Letter of Aristeas|story of Aristeas]] with typical embellishments, Augustine adds the remark, "It is their translation that it has now become traditional to call the Septuagint" ...[Latin omitted]... Augustine thus indicates that this name for the Greek translation of the scriptures was a recent development. But he offers no clue as to which of the possible antecedents led to this development: {{bibleverse||Exod|24:1–8}}, [[Josephus]] [Antiquities 12.57, 12.86], or an elision. ...this name ''Septuagint'' appears to have been a fourth- to fifth-century development."</ref> The Septuagint (LXX), the very first translation of the [[Hebrew Bible]] into [[Greek language|Greek]], later became the accepted text of the [[Old Testament]] in the Christian church and the basis of its [[Biblical canon|canon]]. Jerome based his Latin Vulgate translation on the Hebrew for those books of the Bible preserved in the Jewish canon (as reflected in the [[Masoretic Text]]), and on the Greek text for the [[deuterocanonical books]].

The translation now known as the Septuagint was widely used by Greek-speaking Jews, and later by Christians.<ref name="Jobes and Silva">[[Karen Jobes]] and [[Moises Silva]], ''Invitation to the Septuagint'', {{ISBN|1-84227-061-3}} (Paternoster Press, 2001).  The {{as of | 2001 | lc = on}} standard introductory work on the Septuagint.</ref> It differs somewhat from the later standardized Hebrew ([[Masoretic Text]]). This translation was promoted by way of a legend (primarily recorded as the [[Letter of Aristeas]]) that seventy (or in some sources, seventy-two) separate translators all produced identical texts; supposedly proving its accuracy.<ref name="Dines">Jennifer M. Dines, ''The Septuagint,'' Michael A. Knibb, Ed., London: T&T Clark, 2004.</ref>

Versions of the Septuagint contain several passages and whole books not included in the Masoretic Text of the [[Tanakh]]. In some cases these additions were originally composed in Greek, while in other cases they are translations of Hebrew books or of Hebrew variants not present in the Masoretic Text. Recent discoveries have shown that more of the Septuagint additions have a Hebrew origin than previously thought. While there are no complete surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew texts on which the Septuagint was based, many{{quantify|date=March 2016}} scholars believe that they represent a different textual tradition ("[[Vorlage]]") from the one that became the basis for the Masoretic Text.<ref name="Cohen1979" />

=== Late Antiquity ===
The books collected as the Christian New Testament were written in Koine Greek.{{efn|Some scholars hypothesize that certain books (whether completely or partially) may have been written in Aramaic before being translated for widespread dissemination. One very famous example of this is [[Logos|the opening]] to the [[Gospel of John]], which some scholars argue to be a Greek translation of an Aramaic hymn.{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}}}} In the view of many scholars, the Gospels may have collected oral apostolic tradition rather than being simply dictated.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harvey |first1=John |title=Orality and Its Implications for Biblical Studies: Recapturing an Ancient Paradigm |journal=Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society |date=2002 |url=https://etsjets.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/files_JETS-PDFs_45_45-1_45-1-PP099-109_JETS.pdf |access-date=9 March 2025}}</ref>

The [[Development of the Old Testament canon#The protocanonical and deuterocanonical books|proto-canonical]] books of the Old Testament were available in two sources: Hebrew and the Greek [[Septuagint]] translation. Since [[Jerome]], Christian translations of the Old Testament (except the Psalms) tend to be derived from the Hebrew texts, though some denominations prefer the Greek texts (or may cite variant readings from both). Modern Bible translations incorporating modern textual criticism usually begin with the [[Masoretic Text]], but also take into account possible variants from all available ancient versions.

==== 2nd century ====
[[Origen]]'s ''[[Hexapla]]'' ({{circa|235}}) placed side by side six versions of the Old Testament: the Hebrew consonantal text, the Hebrew text transliterated into Greek letters (the ''Secunda''), the Greek translations of [[Aquila of Sinope]] and [[Symmachus the Ebionite]], one recension of the Septuagint, and the Greek translation of [[Theodotion]]. In addition, he included three anonymous translations of the Psalms (the ''Quinta'', ''Sexta'' and ''Septima''). His eclectic recension of the Septuagint had a significant influence on the Old Testament text in several important manuscripts.

In the 2nd century, the Old Testament was translated into [[Syriac language|Syriac]] translation, and the Gospels in the [[Diatessaron]] gospel harmony. The New Testament was translated in the 5th century, now known as the [[Peshitta]].

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the New Testament was translated into various [[Bible translations into Coptic|Coptic]] (Egyptian) dialects. The Old Testament was already translated by that stage.

==== 3rd century ====
The [[Frankfurt silver inscription]], dated to between 230 and 270, quotes [[Philippians]] 2:10-11 in a Latin translation. It is the earliest reliable evidence of Christianity north of the [[Alps]].<ref name="GoetheUni_12Dec2024">{{Citation |url=https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/en/english/frankfurt-silver-inscription-oldest-christian-testimony-found-north-of-the-alps/ |title="Frankfurt silver inscription" – Oldest Christian testimony found north of the Alps |publisher=[[Goethe University Frankfurt]] |language=en |date=12 December 2024 |access-date=13 December 2024}}</ref>

==== 4th century ====
In 331, the [[Constantine I and Christianity|Emperor Constantine]] commissioned [[Eusebius]] to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople. [[Athanasius]] (''Apol. Const. 4'') recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for [[Constans]]. Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for [[Biblical canon|canon lists]], and that [[Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209]], [[Codex Sinaiticus]] and [[Codex Alexandrinus]] are examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles.<ref>''The Canon Debate'', McDonald & Sanders editors, 2002, pp. 414–15, for the entire paragraph.</ref>

The Bible [[Gothic Bible|was translated]] into [[Gothic language|Gothic]] (an early East Germanic language) in the 4th century by a group of scholars, possibly under the supervision of [[Ulfilas]] (Wulfila).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Falluomini |first1=Carla |title=The Gothic Version of the Gospels and Pauline Epistles: Cultural background, transmission and character |date=2015 |publisher=De Gruyter |location=Berlin |doi=10.1515/9783110334692 |isbn=978-3-11-033469-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ratkus |first1=Artūras |title=Greek ἀρχιερεύς in Gothic translation: Linguistics and theology at a crossroads |journal=NOWELE |date=2018 |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=3–34 |doi=10.1075/nowele.00002.rat |url=https://benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/nowele.00002.rat/details |access-date=2018-04-12 |archive-date=2015-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501194533/https://benjamins.com/#catalog/journals/nowele.00002.rat/details |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Canon (i.e. Item) 59 of the [[Council of Laodicea|Synod of Laodicea]] in 363 specified that uncanonical books should not be read in church. Canon 60, whose authenticity is disputed,<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3806.htm "Synod of Laodicea"] ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series'', Vol. 14. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., (1900). "[''N. B.— This Canon is of most questionable genuineness''.]", retrieved 2011-10-06.</ref> then supplied a canon similar to that given by Bishop [[Cyril of Jerusalem]]'s catechesis in 350: both lacked the [[Book of Revelation]]. The canon of [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] in 367 added Revelation in his thirty-ninth Festal Letter. All three included the so-called [[deuterocanonical]] books of Baruch and Lamentations.

Jerome's ''Vulgate'' Latin translation dates to between AD&nbsp;382 and 405. Latin translations predating Jerome are collectively known as ''Vetus Latina'' texts. Jerome began by revising these earlier Latin translations, but ended by going back to the original Greek, bypassing all translations, and going back to the original Hebrew wherever he could instead of the Septuagint.

There are also several ancient translations, most important of which are in the [[Syriac language|Syriac]] dialect of Aramaic (including the Peshitta).

==== 4th to 6th century ====
The [[Codex Vaticanus]] dates to {{circa|325}}–350, and is missing only 21 sentences or paragraphs in various New Testament books: it is one of the four [[great uncial codices]]. The earliest surviving complete single-volume manuscript of the entire Bible in Latin is the [[Codex Amiatinus]], a Latin Vulgate edition produced in 8th-century England at the double monastery of [[Wearmouth-Jarrow]]. Latin and its early Romance dialects were widely spoken as the primary or secondary language throughout Western Europe, including Britain even in the 700s and 800s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parsons |first1=David N. |title=The Romance of Early Britain: Latin, British, and English, c . 400–600 |journal=Languages and Communities in the Late-Roman and Post-Imperial Western Provinces |date=28 December 2023 |pages=236–267 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198888956.003.0009 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Between the 4th to 6th centuries, the Bible was translated into [[Ge'ez]] (Ethiopic).

In the 5th century, [[Mesrob Mashtots]] translated the Bible using the [[Armenian alphabet]] invented by him.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hacikyan |first1=Agop Jack |author-link1=Agop Jack Hacikyan |last2=Basmajian |first2=Gabriel |last3=Franchuk |first3=Edward S. |last4=Ouzounian |first4=Nourhan |title=The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Oral Tradition to the Golden Age |year=2000 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |location=Detroit |isbn=978-0-8143-2815-6 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uvA-oV0alP8C&pg=PA87 87]}}</ref> Also dating from the same period is the first [[Georgian language|Georgian]] translation. The creation of the [[Georgian scripts]], like the Armenian alphabet, was also attributed to Mashtots by the scholar [[Koryun]] in the 5th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The life of Mashtots |author=Koryun |author-link=Koryun |translator=Bedros Norehad |work=armenianhouse.org |date=1981 |access-date=2024-06-06 |url=http://armenianhouse.org/koryun/mashtots-en.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927114022/http://armenianhouse.org/koryun/mashtots-en.html |archive-date=2011-09-27 |url-status=live}}</ref> This claim has been disputed by modern Georgian scholars, although the creation of a Georgian alphabet was likely still motivated by Christians who wished to translate holy scriptures.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/1355678 |title=The Creation of the Caucasian Alphabets as Phenomenon of Cultural History |first=Werner |last=Seibt |date=September 8, 2011}}</ref>

In the 6th century, the Bible was translated into [[Nubian languages|Old Nubian]].

By the end of the eighth century, [[Church of the East]] monasteries (so-called [[Nestorians]]) had translated the New Testament and Psalms (at least, the portions needed for liturgical use) from Syriac to [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Bible v. Sogdian Translations |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/bible-v |website=Encyclopaedia Iranica online}}</ref> the ''lingua franca'' in Central Asia of the Silk Road,<ref name="Lung2011">{{cite book |author=Rachel Lung |title=Interpreters in Early Imperial China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wa5xAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 |date=7 September 2011 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |isbn=978-90-272-8418-1 |pages=151–}}</ref> which was an [[Eastern Iranian language]] with Chinese loanwords, written in [[Sogdian alphabet|letters]] and [[logograms]] derived from Aramaic script. They may have also translated parts of books into a [[Bible translations into Chinese#Original Nestorian translations|Chinese]].

=== Middle Ages ===
{{Main|Bible translations in the Middle Ages}}
Before the advent of the printing press and [[Literacy#Medieval and early modern eras|mass literacy]], medieval vernacular translation of scriptural texts was mainly and necessarily [[Middle English Bible translations#Sources of Scripture|mediated]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marsden  |first1=Richard |title=(Review) Approaching the Bible in medieval England |journal=Reviews in History|date=1 January 2016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/84164047}}</ref> and oral, memorized,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sanders |first1=Arnold |chapter=Illiterate Memory and Spiritual Experience: Margery Kempe, the Liturgy, and the "Woman in the Crowd" |title=Mindful Spirit in Late Medieval Literature |date=2006 |pages=237–248 |doi=10.1007/978-1-137-08951-9_17|isbn=978-1-349-73534-1 }}</ref> [[Popular sermon#Published sermons|extemporized]] or versified. The Western Catholic church utilized [[Vulgate|Latin]] as a pan-European ''[[lingua franca]]'' for liturgical, and scholarly use. Local efforts sporadically provided vernacular translations in major national languages,<ref>{{cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Versions of the Bible |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15367a.htm |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref> however personal study of the Bible does not necessarily occupy the same urgent role in lay Catholic life and devotion as it does in e.g. ''[[sola scriptura]]''-style Protestantism: "the Christian faith is not a 'religion of the book.'"<ref>{{CCC|108}}</ref>

==== Early Middle Ages ====
[[File:Devil codex Gigas.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Codex Gigas]] from the 13th century, held at the [[Swedish Royal Library|Royal Library]] in [[Sweden]]]]
When ancient scribes copied earlier books, they wrote notes on the margins of the page (''marginal [[Biblical gloss|glosses]]'') to correct their text—especially if a scribe accidentally omitted a word or line—and to comment about the text. When later scribes were copying the copy, they were sometimes uncertain if a note was intended to be included as part of the text. See [[textual criticism]]. Over time, different regions evolved different versions, each with its own assemblage of omissions, additions, and variants (mostly in [[orthography]]).

There are some fragmentary [[Old English Bible translations]], notably a lost translation of the [[Gospel of John]] into Old English by the Venerable [[Bede]], which is said to have been prepared shortly before his death around the year 735. An [[Old High German]] version of the Gospel of Matthew dates to 748. [[Charlemagne]] in c. 800 charged [[Alcuin]] with a revision of the Latin Vulgate. The translation into [[Old Church Slavonic]] was started in 863 by [[Cyril and Methodius]].

[[Alfred the Great]], a ruler in England, had a number of passages of the Bible circulated in the vernacular in around 900. These included passages from the [[Ten Commandments]] and the [[Pentateuch]], which he prefixed to a code of laws he promulgated around this time. In approximately 990, a full and freestanding version of the four Gospels in idiomatic Old English appeared, in the [[West Saxon dialect]]; these are called the ''[[Wessex Gospels]]''. Around the same time, a compilation now called the ''[[Old English Hexateuch]]'' appeared with the first six (or, in one version, seven) books of the Old Testament.

==== High Middle Ages ====
The arrival of the mendicant preaching orders in the 12th century saw individual books being translated with commentary, in Italian dialects.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of the Bible in Italy |url=https://www.aitb.it/en/history-of-the-bible-in-italy/ |website=AITB |date=6 April 2018}}</ref>

Typically the Psalms were among the first books to be translated, being prayers: for example, the [[Bible translations into Polish#Background|earliest Polish translation]] from 1280.

There are numerous manuscripts of the Psalms in Catalan from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, translated from the Vulgate, [[Occitan language|Occitan]], French and Hebrew, with a New Testament and full Bible translation made in the 1300s.<ref name="academia.edu">{{cite journal |last1=Casanellas |first1=Pere |title=Medieval Catalan translations of the Bible |journal=TERRADO, Xavier; SABATÉ, Flocel (Eds.). Les veus del sagrat (Verum et Pulchrum Medium Aevum; 8), pp. 15–34. |date=1 January 2014 |url=https://www.academia.edu/10897845}}</ref> Parts of an Old Testament in [[Old Spanish]] from the late 1300s still exist.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conde |first1=Juan-Carlos |title="A Neglected Old Spanish Biblical Translation: the 'Biblia de Alfonso Ximénez'" Published in Text, Manuscript, and Print in Medieval and Modern Iberia: Studies in Honour of David Hook. Ed. Barry Taylor, Geoffrey West, and Jane Whetnall (New York: HSMS, 2013) |url=https://www.academia.edu/5158920}}</ref>

Monks completed a translation into [[Franco-Provençal]] (Arpitan) c.1170-85, commissioned by [[Peter Waldo#Life and work|Peter Waldo]]. The complete Bible was translated into Old French in the late 13th century. Parts of this translation were included in editions of the popular ''Bible historiale'', and there is no evidence of this translation's being suppressed by the Church.<ref>Sneddon, Clive R. 1993. "A neglected mediaeval Bible translation." ''Romance Languages Annual'' 5(1): 11–16 [http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/RLA-Archive/1993/French-html/Sneddon,Clive.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611111152/http://tell.fll.purdue.edu/RLA-Archive/1993/French-html/Sneddon,Clive.htm|date=2011-06-11}}</ref> In England, "about the middle of the fourteenth century—before 1361—the Anglo-Normans possessed an independent and probably complete translation of the whole of the Old Testament and the greater part of the New."<ref name=paues>{{cite book |last1=Paues |first1=Anna C. (Anna Carolina) |title=A fourteenth century English Biblical version : consisting of a prologue and parts of the New Testament |date=1902 |publisher=Cambridge : University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/fourteenthcentur00paueuoft}}</ref>{{rp|xvii}}

Friar [[Giovanni da Montecorvino]] of the large Franciscan mission to Mongol China in the early 1300s translated the Psalms and New Testament into the language of the [[Tartars]]: the [[Uyghur language]] or perhaps the [[Mongolian language]].<ref>{{cite web |title=ASIA/CHINA – Franciscans in China: 1200–1977, 1,162 Friars Minor lived in China |url=https://www.fides.org/en/news/25844-ASIA_CHINA_Franciscans_in_China_1200_1977_1_162_Friars_Minor_lived_in_China |website=www.fides.org}}</ref>

A royal [[Bible translations into Swedish#Magnus Eriksson's and Saint Birgitta's Bibles|Swedish version]] of 1316 has been lost. The entire Bible was translated [[Bible translations into Czech|into Czech]] around 1360.

The provincial [[Council of Toulouse|synods of Toulouse]] (1229) and Tarragona (1234) temporarily outlawed possession of some vernacular renderings, in reaction to the [[Cathar]] and [[Waldensian]] heresies, in South France and Catalonia. This demonstrates that such translations existed: there is evidence of some vernacular translations being permitted while others were being scrutinized.

==== Late Middle Ages ====
A group of [[Middle English Bible translations]] were created: including the [[Wycliffe's Bible|Wycliffean Bibles]] (1383, 1393) and the [[The Paues' New Testament|Paues' New Testament]], based on the Vulgate. New translation efforts were regulated in England by the provincial [[Oxford Constitutions|Oxford Synod]] in 1408 under church law to require the approval of a bishop; possession of material that contained [[Lollard]] material (such as the so-called General Prologue found in a few Wycliffite Bibles) was also illegal by [[De heretico comburendo|English state law]], in response to Lollard uprisings.

Later, many parts of the Bible in Late Middle English were printed by [[William Caxton]] in his translation of the [[Golden Legend]] (1483), and in the loose paraphrase ''Speculum Vitae Christi'' (''[[The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ]]''), which had been authorized into English around 1410.

A [[Cornish language|Cornish]] version may have been made.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grigg |first1=Erik |title=The Cornish Bible of John Trevisa |journal=Cornish Studies |volume=16 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3439905}}</ref>

The Hungarian [[Hussite Bible]] appeared in 1416.

Individual books continued to be translated: for example the [[Bible translations into Slovak#Gospel of John, 1469|Gospel of John in Slovak]] (1469). The first 12 books of the [[Bible translations into Danish#Prior to the Reformation|Old Testament in Danish]] (also used for Norwegian) was made in c. 1480.

The invention of printing saw complete Catholic Bibles produced in German (1466 and after; multiple), [[Valencian Catalan]] (1478), Tuscan (1471), Venetian (1471) and Dutch (1477).<ref name="academia.edu" />

From the late 1300s, the [[Brethren of the Common Life]] encouraged their laypeople to read the Gospels they would hear at church at home beforehand, in the vernacular.<ref name=folkerts/>{{rp|177}} The early public demand for printed Dutch vernacular scriptures seems to have been for translations of the daily or weekly liturgical readings, and most printed books were of this ''Gospels and Epistles'' type; from the 1520s this reverted to a demand for pandect (full) Bibles.{{efn|"On the basis of the analysis of hundreds of manuscripts containing Middle Dutch Bible translations we concluded in earlier studies that medieval people could read the complete Bible, but did not ''want'' to: they preferred to read liturgical lessons. [...] We may conclude, then, that readers in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries preferred
to read the Bible according to the liturgical reading schedule, and that is the reason they were printed that way from 1477 on."<ref name=folkerts>{{cite journal |last1=Folkerts |first1=Suzan |last2=Oostindiër |first2=Arend Elias |title=New Bibles and Old Reading Habits Around 1522. |journal=Quaerendo |date=14 December 2017 |volume=47 |issue=3–4 |pages=175–198 |doi=10.1163/15700690-12341381|hdl=11245.1/f1722cf9-755d-4d1f-961d-af90762ad4b5 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|186}}  }}

=== Reformation and Early Modern period ===
{{See also|Early Modern English Bible translations}}
[[File:Bible Kralicka.JPG|thumb|upright=1.13|Czech Protestant [[Bible of Kralice]] (1593)]]

In the early 1500s there were several independent scholarly Catholic efforts to produce polyglot editions of the bible or updated Latin translations: these included the [[Complutensian Polyglot]] sponsored by Castillian [[Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros|Archbishop Ximénez]] at his new [[Complutense University of Madrid#History of|University of Alcalá de Henares]], Augustinian canon Erasmus' ''[[Novum Instrumentum omne]]'' (New Testament only) sponsored mainly by English bishops, and Italian Dominican friar [[Santes Pagnino]]'s ''Veteris et Novi Testamenti nova translatio'' eventually sponsored by the Pope.

The earliest printed edition of the Greek New Testament appeared in 1516 from the [[Froben]] press, by [[Desiderius Erasmus]], who reconstructed a Greek text from several recent manuscripts of the Byzantine text-type, to accompany his Latin revision and philological annotations. This led to a gradual shift by subsequent translators away from Latin sources to Greek or Hebrew sources, though initially his Latin renditions and annotations were more influential. Erasmus produced four revised editions.

During 1517 and 1519 Catholic layman [[Francysk Skaryna]] printed a translation of the Bible in [[Old Belarusian language]] in twenty-two books.<ref>Полная биография Георгия (Доктора медицинских и свободных наук Франциска) Скорины, Михаил Уляхин, Полоцк, 1994</ref>

In 1521, fiery former friar [[Martin Luther]] was placed under the [[Ban of the Empire]], and he hid in the [[Wartburg Castle]]. During his time there, he quickly translated the New Testament into German, using the 2nd edition of [[Erasmus]]' [[Novum Instrumentum omne|New Testament]], which provide a new Latin translation, detailed annotations on Greek words, and a Greek text for reference.<ref>C. Burger, "Luther's Thought Took Shape in Translation of Scripture and Hymns", in ''The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology'' (Oxford University Press, 2014).</ref> It was printed in September 1522. It was a freer but more idiomatic translation than the [[Bible translations into German#Overview of the German Bibles before Luther|numerous other German translations]] in print, which were often intended as aids to following the Latin Vulgate and so more literal but less idiomatic.

The first complete Dutch Bible, partly based on the existing portions of Luther's translation, was printed in [[Antwerp]] in 1526 by [[Jacob van Liesvelt]].<ref>Paul Arblaster, Gergely Juhász, Guido Latré (eds) Tyndale's Testament, Brepols 2002, {{ISBN|2-503-51411-1}}, p. 120.</ref> Early Protestant translations into Germanic languages, such as the [[Bible translations into Dutch#Reformation era translations|Dutch]], [[Gustav Vasa Bible|Swedish]], [[Bible translations into Danish#The legacy of Luther (16th – 17th century)|Danish]]/[[Bible translations in Norway#Danish editions 1524-1873|Norwegian]], [[Bible translations into Icelandic#Post-Reformation|Icelandic]], [[Zurich Bible of 1531|Swiss German]], [[Luther Bible#Contemporaneous|Middle Low German]] and to some extent the [[Tyndale Bible|English]], were based in Luther's [[Early New High German#Chancery languages|Early New High German]] translation with [[Erasmus]]' Latin annotations rather than all from the Greek directly.

The first printed edition with ''[[critical apparatus]]'' (noting variant readings among the manuscripts) was produced by the printer [[Robert Estienne]] of Paris in 1550. The Greek text of this edition and of those of Erasmus became known as the ''Textus Receptus'' (Latin for "received text"), a name given to it in the [[House of Elzevir|Elzevier]] edition of 1633, which termed it as the text ''nunc ab omnibus receptum'' ("now received by all").

The use of numbered chapters and verses was not introduced until the Middle Ages and later. The system used in English was developed by Stephanus ([[Robert Estienne]] of Paris). (See [[Chapters and verses of the Bible]].)

The churches of the [[Protestant Reformation]] translated the Greek of the Textus Receptus to produce [[vernacular]] Bibles, such as the German [[Luther Bible]] (1522), the Polish [[Brest Bible]] (1563), the Spanish "Biblia del Oso" (in English: Bible of the Bear, 1569) which later became the [[Reina-Valera]] Bible upon its first revision in 1602, the Czech [[Melantrich Bible]] (1549) and [[Bible of Kralice]] (1579–1593) and numerous English translations of the Bible.

[[William Tyndale|Tyndale's]] [[Tyndale's Bible|New Testament translation]] (1526, revised in 1534, 1535 and 1536) and his translation of the [[Pentateuch]] (1530, 1534) and the [[Book of Jonah]] were met with heavy sanctions given the widespread belief that Tyndale ''changed'' the Bible as he attempted to translate it. Tyndale's unfinished work, cut short by his execution, was supplemented by [[Myles Coverdale]] and published under a pseudonym to create the [[Matthew Bible]], the first complete English translation of the Bible. Attempts at an "authoritative" English Bible for the [[Church of England]] would include the [[Great Bible]] of 1538 (also relying on Coverdale's work), the [[Bishops' Bible]] of 1568, and the Authorized Version (the [[King James Version]]) of 1611, the last of which would become a standard for English speaking Christians for several centuries.

The first complete French Bible printed was a translation by [[Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples]], published in 1530 in Antwerp.<ref>Paul Arblaster, Gergely Juhász, Guido Latré (eds) Tyndale's Testament, Brepols 2002, {{ISBN|2-503-51411-1}}, pp. 134–35.</ref> The [[Froschauer Bible]] of 1531 and the [[Luther Bible]] of 1534 (both appearing in portions throughout the 1520s) were an important part of the [[Reformation]].

By 1578 both Old and New Testaments were translated to [[Slovene language|Slovene]] by the [[Protestant]] writer and theologian [[Jurij Dalmatin]]. The work was not printed until 1583. The [[Slovenes]] thus became the 12th nation in the world with a complete Bible in their language. The translation of the New Testament was based on the work by Dalmatin's mentor, the Protestant [[Primož Trubar]], who published the translation of the [[Gospel of Matthew]] already in 1555 and the entire Testament by parts until 1577.

Following the distribution of a Welsh New Testament and Prayer Book to every parish Church in Wales in 1567, translated by [[William Salesbury]], Welsh became the 13th language into which the whole Bible had been translated in 1588, through a translation by [[William Morgan (Bible translator)|William Morgan]] then vicar of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant (later Bishop of Llandaf and St Asaph.<ref>J. Davies, "Hanes Cymru". 1990, p. 236</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Glanmor |date=1959 |title=MORGAN, WILLIAM (c. 1545–1604), bishop, and translator of the Bible into Welsh |url=https://biography.wales/article/s-MORG-WIL-1545 |website=Dictionary of Welsh Biography}}</ref>

In 1613, Jesuits in Kyoto published a [[Bible translations into Japanese#Jesuit missions|lectionary of the Sunday Gospel readings]] and other Gospel material in Japanese; this is now lost.

[[Samuel Bogusław Chyliński]] (1631–1668) translated and published the first Bible translation into [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]].<ref>S. L. Greenslade, ''The Cambridge History of the Bible: The West, from the Reformation to the Present Day''. 1995, p. 134</ref>

In 1660, [[John Eliot (missionary)|John Eliot]] published the [[Eliot Indian Bible]] in the language of the [[Massachusett people]], an indigenous American group who lived in the area around what is today [[Boston, Massachusetts]]. This was the first translation of the Bible into an [[Native Americans in the United States|indigenous American]] language. This translation was produced by Eliot in an effort to convert the dwindling population of [[Massachusett]] to Christianity in praying towns such as [[Natick, Massachusetts]].

In 1671, a [[Bible translations into Arabic#17th century|complete Bible translation into Arabic]] was made in Rome. In 1671, the annual [[Ignazio Arcamone#Works|Gospel readings]] were translated by a Jesuit into [[Konkani language|Konkani]], an Indian language.

== Modern translation efforts ==
{{See also|International Bible Society|Wycliffe Bible Translators|Institute for Bible Translation}}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; front-size:95%; float:right;"
|+ Bible Translation Statistics (for selected years)
|-
! Year !! Full Bible !! New Testament !! Portions !! Total
|-
| 1996 || 308 || 764 || 1014 || 2086
|-
| 2006 || 426 || 1114 || 862 || 2402
|-
| 2010 || 457 || 1211 || 897 || 2565
|-
| 2011 || 513 || 1276 || 1015 || 2804
|-
| 2012 || 518 || 1275|| 1005 || 2798
|-
| 2013 || 513 || 1309 || 1028 || 2850
|-
| 2014 || 531 || 1329 || 1023 || 2883
|-
| 2015 || 554 || 1333 || 1045 || 2932
|-
| 2016 || 636 || 1442 || 1145 || 3223
|-
| 2017 || 670 || 1521 || 1121 || 3312
|-
| 2018 || 683 || 1534 || 1133 || 3350
|-
| 2019 || 698 || 1548 || 1138 || 3384
|-
|2020
|704
|1551
|1160
|3415
|-
|2021
|717
|1582
|1196
|3495
|-
|2022
|724
|1617
|1248
|3589
|-
|2023
|736
|1658
|1264
|3658
|-
|2024<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=2024 Global Scripture Access |url=https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics2024/ |access-date=2025-09-03 |website=Wycliffe Global Alliance |language=en-US}}</ref>
|756
|1726
|1274
|3756
|-
|Oct 2025<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Bible translation statistics |url=https://wycliffe.org.uk/statistics |access-date=2025-10-09 |website=Wycliffe Bible Translators |language=en-GB}}</ref>
|781
|1804
|1473
|4058
|}
The Bible is the most translated book in the world, with more than half of the world's languages having at least some portion of the biblical text in their language,<ref name=":2" /> and around 99% of people being able to access the biblical text in a language they understand.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=2025 Global Scripture Access |url=https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics/ |access-date=2025-09-03 |website=Wycliffe Global Alliance |language=en-US}}</ref>

The [[United Bible Societies]] announced that as of 31 December 2007<ref>{{cite web |last=United Bible Society |author-link=United Bible Society |title=Statistical Summary of languages with the Scriptures |year=2008 |url=http://www.ubs-translations.org/about_us/#c165 |access-date=2008-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308041939/http://www.ubs-translations.org/about_us/ |archive-date=8 March 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> the complete Bible was available in 438 languages, 123 of which included the deuterocanonical material as well as the [[Tanakh]] and New Testament. Either the Tanakh or the New Testament was available in an additional 1,168 languages, in some kind of translations, like the interlinear [[morpheme]]-by-morpheme translation (e.g. some Parallel Bible, with [[interlinear gloss|interlinear morphemic glossing]]).

In 1999, Wycliffe Bible Translators announced ''Vision 2025'' — a project that intends to commence Bible translation in every remaining language community by 2025. It was realised that, at the rates of Bible translation at that point, it would take until at least 2150 until Bible translation began in every language that was needing a translation. Since the launch of Vision 2025, Bible translation efforts have increased dramatically, in large part due to the technology that is now available. By 2019, there had been a sustained reduction in the time it took to begin a new translation, and it was estimated that a new translation will begin in every language by 2038, thus being 112 years faster.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Creson |first1=Bob |title=Bible Translation as We Approach 2025 What's Been Accomplished and What Remains |url=https://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/bible-translation-as-we-approach-2025 |website=Mission Frontiers |access-date=26 October 2019 |archive-date=26 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026144739/https://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/bible-translation-as-we-approach-2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> A new translation was beginning every 120 hours (5 days), and by 2025 it was estimated a new translation work was beginning every 14 hours.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Wycliffe's Vision: Start Bible Translation for Every Language by 2025 - Wycliffe Bible Translators USA Homepage |url=https://www.wycliffe.org/vision-2025 |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=www.wycliffe.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

As of September 2023, they estimated that around 99.8 million people spoke those 1,268 languages where translation work still needs to begin. This represents 17.1% of all languages (based off an estimate of 7,394 total languages) and 1.3% of the human population (based on a global population of 7.42 billion). By April 2025, this had fallen to 801 languages<ref name=":1" /> and further reduced to 550 by October 2025 which represented about 38.9 million people.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2025 |title=State of the Bible: 2025 |url=https://cfbecdc18044a5f9a723.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/State-of-the-Bible-2025-report.pdf |website=Wycliffe Bible Translators}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

In total, it was estimated in 2024 that there are 3,736 languages without any Bible translation at all, but an estimated 1,148 of these (with a population of 9.6 million people) are likely to never need a Bible because they are very similar to other languages, or spoken by very few speakers where the language will likely die out very soon.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=2024 Global Scripture Access |url=https://www.wycliffe.net/resources/statistics/ |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=Nov 30, 2024 |website=wycliffe.net}}</ref> In October 2025, this had reduced to 3,333 languages without any scripture.<ref name=":4" />

Bible translation is currently happening in approximately 4,447 languages in 167 countries.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /> In November 2024, it was estimated that this work impacts 1.15 billion people, or about 15.5 percent of all language users, who have (or will soon have) new access to at least some portions of Scripture in their first language.<ref name=":0" /> In April 2025, this had risen to 1.78 billion individuals (21% of the global population).<ref name=":1" />

== Differences in Bible translations ==
[[File:Gutenberg Bible.jpg|thumb|This [[Gutenberg Bible]] is displayed by the United States [[Library of Congress]]]]
{{Further|Dynamic and formal equivalence|Bible version debate}}

Modern critical editions incorporate ongoing scholarly research, including discoveries of Greek papyrus fragments from near Alexandria, Egypt, that date in some cases within a few decades of the original New Testament writings.<ref>Metzger, Bruce R. ''Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Paleography'' (Oxford University Press, 1981) cf. [[Papyrus 52]].</ref> Today, most critical editions of the Greek New Testament, such as [[UBS4]] and [[NA27]], consider the Alexandrian text-type corrected by papyri, to be the Greek text that is closest to the original ''autographs''. Their ''apparatus'' includes the result of votes among scholars, ranging from certain {A} to doubtful {E}, on which variants best preserve the original Greek text of the New Testament.

Critical editions that rely primarily on the Alexandrian text-type inform nearly all modern translations (and revisions of older translations). For reasons of tradition, however, some translators prefer to use the Textus Receptus for the Greek text, or use the ''[[Majority Text]]'' which is similar to it but is a critical edition that relies on earlier manuscripts of the Byzantine text-type. Among these, some argue that the Byzantine tradition contains scribal additions, but these later interpolations preserve the orthodox interpretations of the biblical text—as part of the ongoing Christian experience—and in this sense are authoritative. Distrust of the textual basis of modern translations has contributed to the [[King-James-Only Movement]].

=== Dynamic or formal translation policy ===
A variety of linguistic, philological and ideological approaches to translation have been used. Inside the Bible-translation community, these are commonly categorized as:
* [[Dynamic equivalence]] translation
* [[Formal equivalence]] translation (similar to [[literal translation]])
* [[Idiomatic]], or [[Paraphrase|paraphrastic]] translation, as used by the late [[Kenneth N. Taylor]]

though modern linguists, such as Bible scholar Dr. [[Joel Manuel Hoffman|Joel Hoffman]], disagree with this classification.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://goddidntsaythat.com/2009/10/05/formal-equivalence-and-dynamic-equivalence-a-false-dichotom/ |title=Formal Equivalence and Dynamic Equivalence: A False Dichotomy |date=October 5, 2009 |access-date=June 25, 2023 |archive-date=March 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331122700/https://goddidntsaythat.com/2009/10/05/formal-equivalence-and-dynamic-equivalence-a-false-dichotom/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Other translation approaches include:

* [[Literary translation]], where the reader's experience of the piece as literature is prized, as used in the [[Knox Bible]]
* [[Metrical psalter|Metrical translation]], where prose is rendered in a rhythmic form, as represented by Old English and Middle English texts
* Prose translation, where no attempt is made to render the lyrical aspect of some poem or song, as [[King Alfred]]'s prose translation of the first fifty Psalms.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Discenza |first1=Nicole G. |last2=Szarmach |first2=Paul E. |date=1 January 2015 |chapter=A Companion to Alfred the Great |url=https://brill.com/display/title/18170 |title=Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition |volume=58 |doi=10.1163/9789004283763_011|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

As [[Hebrew]] and [[Koine Greek|Greek]], the original languages of the Bible, like all languages, have some [[idiom]]s and concepts [[Untranslatability|not easily translated]], there is in some cases an ongoing critical tension about whether it is better to give a word-for-word translation, to give a translation that gives a parallel idiom in the target language, or to invent a neologism.

For instance, in the [[Douay Rheims Bible]], [[Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition]], [[New American Bible Revised Edition]], which are the English language [[Catholic]] translations, as well as [[Protestant]] translations like the [[King James Bible]], the [[Darby Bible]], the [[Recovery Version]], the [[Literal Standard Version]], the [[New Revised Standard Version]], the [[Modern Literal Version]], and the [[New American Standard Bible]] are seen as more literal translations (or "word-for-word").

Translations like the [[New International Version]] and [[New Living Translation]] sometimes attempt to give relevant parallel idioms. [[The Living Bible]] and [[The Message (Bible)|The Message]] are two paraphrases of the Bible that try to convey the original meaning in contemporary language.

Less literal translations reflect the translator's theological, linguistic or cultural interpretations; the result is more easily consumed by [[lay readers]]. This contrasts with more literal translations where interpretation is left to the reader; lay readers may be unfamiliar with ancient idioms and other historical and cultural contexts.

=== Doctrinal differences and translation policy ===
In addition to linguistic concerns, theological issues also drive Bible translations. Some translations of the Bible, produced by single churches or groups of churches, may be seen as subject to a point of view by the translation committee.

Historian David Lawton notes that in the Middle Ages in the West, even up to the late period, there was "little or no sense that the Bible, even if seen as single or whole, should necessarily stand alone and self-sufficient. It [was] a period without fundamentalists in the modern sense."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Diem |first1=Matthew |title=Doublespeak: Translational Doubling in the Wycliffite Bible and Other Old and Middle English Biblical Text (Dissertation) |date=2022 |publisher=University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |url=https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/b5645242n}}</ref>{{rp|}} The Bible was translated (usually from the Vulgate) in accordance with Catholic [[Sacred Tradition]].

However, in modern times, the [[Second Vatican Council]] commended approved [[ecumenism|ecumenical]] cooperation on biblical translation, so that versions could be available which "all Christians" could use.<ref>[[Holy See]], [https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html ''Dei verbum'': Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation], paragraph 22, published on 18 November 1965, accessed on 14 September 2025</ref>

==== Names of God ====
{{Further|Tetragrammaton in the New Testament}}
Renderings of the name of God relate to doctrinal positions. For example, the [[New World Translation]], produced by [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], provides different renderings where verses in other Bible translations support the deity of Christ.<ref>Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, [https://archive.today/20140411203409/http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/new-world-translation-accurate/ Is the New World Translation Accurate?]</ref> The NWT also translates ''kurios'' as "[[Jehovah]]" rather than "Lord" when quoting Hebrew passages that used YHWH. The authors believe that Jesus would have used God's name and not the customary ''kurios''. On this basis, the anonymous New World Bible Translation Committee inserted ''Jehovah'' into the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament) a total of 237 times while the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) uses Jehovah a total of 6,979 times to a grand total of 7,216 in the entire 2013 Revision New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures while previous revisions such as the 1984 revision were a total of 7,210 times while the 1961 revision were a total of 7,199 times.<ref>''New World Translation'' appendix, pp. 1564–66. When discussing "Restoring the Divine Name," the New World Bible Translation Committee states: "To know where the divine name was replaced by the Greek words Κύριος and Θεός, we have determined where the inspired Christian writers have quoted verses, passages and expressions from the Hebrew Scriptures and then we have referred back to the Hebrew text to ascertain whether the divine name appears there. In this way we determined the identity to give Kyʹri·os and The·osʹ and the personality with which to clothe them." Explaining further, the Committee said: "To avoid overstepping the bounds of a translator into the field of exegesis, we have been most cautious about rendering the divine name in the Christian Greek Scriptures, always carefully considering the Hebrew Scriptures as a background. We have looked for agreement from the Hebrew versions to confirm our rendering." Such agreement from Hebrew versions exists in all the 237 places that the New World Bible Translation Committee has rendered the divine name in the body of its translation.</ref>

A number of [[Sacred Name Bibles]] (e.g., the [[Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition]]) have been published that are even more rigorous in transliterating the tetragrammaton using Semitic forms to translate it in the Old Testament and also using the same Semitic forms to translate the Greek word ''Theos'' (God) in the New Testament—usually Yahweh, Elohim or some other variation.

====Other differences====
Other translations are distinguished by smaller but distinctive doctrinal differences. For example, the [[Purified Translation of the Bible]], by translation and explanatory footnotes, promotes the position that Christians should not drink alcohol, with New Testament references to "wine" translated as "grape juice".{{cn|date=September 2025}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Bible}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
; Ancient and classical translations: 
* [[Early translations of the New Testament]]
* [[Targum]] and [[Peshitta]] (Aramaic)
* [[Bible translations into Greek|Greek versions of the Bible]]
* [[Vetus Latina]] and [[Vulgate]] (Latin versions)
* [[Syriac versions of the Bible]]
* [[Coptic versions of the Bible]]

;English translations:
* [[Bible translations into English]]
* [[Old English Bible translations]]
* [[Middle English Bible translations]]
** [[Wycliffite Bible]]
* [[Early Modern English Bible translations]]
** [[Tyndale Bible]]
* [[Modern English Bible translations]]
* [[List of English Bible translations]]

; Other languages:
* [[Bible translations by language]]

;Difficulties:
* [[Gender in Bible translation]]
* {{Section link|Translation#Fidelity and transparency}}

;Others:
* [[Bible version debate]]
* [[Byzantine text-type]]
* [[Bible concordance]]
* [[Exegesis]]
* [[Hermeneutics]]
* [[Institute for Bible Translation]]
* [[List of languages by year of first Bible translation]]
* [[Skopos theory]]
* [[Textus Receptus]]
* [[Textual variants in the New Testament]]
* [[Translation]]
* [[Bible names in their native languages]]
}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Garry Wills|Wills, Garry]], "A Wild and Indecent Book" (review of [[David Bentley Hart]], ''The New Testament:  A Translation'', [[Yale University Press]], 577 pp.), ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', vol. LXV, no. 2 (8 February 2018), pp.&nbsp;34–35.  Discusses some pitfalls in interpreting and translating the [[New Testament]].
* {{cite journal |last1=Sharma |first1=Sandeep |title=Chichewa and Hindi Back Translations of the Bible: A Comparative Check of Translation Techniques |journal=Journal of Translation |date=2018 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=42–47 |doi=10.54395/jot-69624 |doi-access=free}}

== External links ==
* [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/12/24/repackaging.bible/index.html#cnnSTCText Repackaging the Bible] by Eric Marrapodi, ''CNN'', December 24, 2008
* [http://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-versions/ Bible Versions and Translations] on BibleStudyTools.com
* [http://www.bibleinmylanguage.com/ Huge selection of Bibles in Foreign Languages –  bibleinmylanguage.com]
* [http://www.biblegateway.com/ BibleGateway.com (has many translations to select)]

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