Evan Blackmore has been preaching the gospel in Western Australia for almost forty years. With his wife Marie, he has received the American Literary Translators' Association Prize and the Modern Language Association Scaglione Prize for Literary Translation. Several volumes of their literary translations have been issued in the Oxford World's Classics series. Their most recent books are Leviticus (Truth Commentaries), Between Malachi and Jesus, and Let Us Search Our Ways: A Commentary on the Book of Lamentations (both for DeWard Publications).

Now that international travel is so easy, more and more of our brethren are traveling to foreign countries, while more and more people from foreign countries are visiting the USA. Therefore, you can never tell when you yourself may want to get someone a reliable Bible in a foreign language. This article offers some brief information about Bible versions in some of the western European languages.

It's thrilling to open a good foreign language Bible for the first time, and see how page after page comes out exactly the same as it does in our own language. It can also be instructive, because different languages express different things particularly clearly, drawing your attention to aspects of God's word that you never noticed in English. Many foreign translators look longingly at the English rendering of Genesis 2:23, "She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." In English, as in Hebrew, the words for "woman" and "man" look similar-but in many other languages they don't, which makes the meaning of that verse hard to express. Conversely, there are points that English can't express easily but other languages can. (The comments on Dutch versions below give two examples.)

In any language, don't assume that the latest Bible version must be the best. The human race may advance in understanding other things, but we don't necessarily advance in understanding God's word; indeed, the last generation of all might have the least wisdom (Luke 18:8). Some Bible versions have been damaged rather than improved by revision (in English, the NIV is a well-known example). If you examine them closely against the original Hebrew and Greek, from time to time you will notice details in the classic older translations-such as the 1602 VRV in Spanish, the 1611 KJV in English, the 1637 SV in Dutch, and the 1641 Versione Diodati in Italian-which have never been rendered so precisely in any more modern version.

As we saw when discussing Spanish Bibles, no translation is perfect, because no translator is perfect; different versions have different strengths and weaknesses. Just as you yourself may find it helpful to have two or more English Bible versions on your shelves, so a reader of Scripture in another language may find it helpful to have two or more versions in that language.

German Versions

Martin Luther's famous German translation of the Bible was completed in 1534. His own final revision appeared in 1545; also available are later major revisions dating from 1912 and 1984. All revisions of Luther's Bible have tried to preserve the imprint of his flamboyant personality with all its quirks and oddities-including his notorious addition of the word allein ("alone") in Romans 3:28, which changes it to read der Mensch gerecht werde ohne des Gesetzes Werke, allein durch den Glauben ("man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith alone"; this passage remains exactly the same in the 1545, 1912, and 1984 revisions). Luther Bibles have considerable literary and historical importance, but they are by no means the most accurate renderings of the Scriptures in German.

In most passages, the German version that follows the original Hebrew and Greek most closely is the Elberfelder Bible (first published in 1871). This is now available in two recent revisions, which are called the Revidierte Elberfelder Bibel (the "Revised Elberfelder Bible," RELB) and the Überarbeiteten (or CSV) Elberfelder Bibel (the "Retouched Elberfelder Bible," ELB-CSV). Overall, perhaps the ELB-CSV tends to match the original a fraction more closely (in Rom. 1:16-17, for instance, it uses the same German word, denn, in all three places where the original uses the same Greek word, gar, "for"). But there is very little difference between the two revisions, and in some places the RELB has a slight advantage. I personally would be happy with either, and count it a great blessing that both are available. A solidly bound German-English bilingual hardback edition with the RELB and NASB on facing pages has been published.

Germany is the traditional stronghold of theological liberalism. Therefore, the majority of modern German translations-including the 1984 Luther Bible and the new Zurich Bible (Zürcher-Bibel)-are tinged throughout with skepticism, like the RSV and NRSV in English, but to a much more extreme degree. The Zurich Bible even contains notes stating that virtually nothing is really known about the life of Jesus, that the last historical event in His life was the crucifixion, and that the resurrection was a "belief of the disciples" rather than a historical event.

Dutch Versions

The classic Dutch translation of the Bible, the Statenvertaling (SV), appeared in 1637. It is very similar to the KJV in English; if anything, it follows the original Greek and Hebrew even more closely in small details (as the sample from Rom. 1:16-17 in the accompanying table illustrates). Another impressively precise Dutch version is the 1951 Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap-vertaling (NBG 1951). This was translated over almost half a century, so different parts of it are written in different styles, but in most areas it is very accurate indeed. It uses the Dutch word dodenrijk ("realm of the dead") to translate Hebrew Sheol and Greek Hades; I wish we had an English word as good as that!

Because of language changes, both the SV and (in places) the NBG 1951 are hard for many Dutch readers to understand nowadays. Of versions in more modern Dutch, the best so far is the 2010 Herziene Statenvertaling (HSV). It uses more paraphrase than either the SV or the NBG 1951 (especially in the Old Testament), but it too has some fine renderings impossible to imitate in English. I particularly admire the way it translates Hebrew hebel ("vanity") in Ecclesiastes as vluchtigheid (approximately "volatility"-something insubstantial, airy, changeable, and fleeting).

Italian Versions

The classic Italian Bible version was translated by Giovanni Diodati, one of the most hardworking of all Bible translators. He issued his first Bible translation in 1607, and painstakingly revised and improved it throughout for the second edition in 1641. In addition, he provided a rhymed metrical translation of the complete book of Psalms for congregational singing, and finished his career by producing a fine French translation of the whole Bible in 1644! Most current reprints of Diodati's Italian Bible reproduce an 1894 reissue of the 1641 edition; it has modern spelling and slightly modernized wording.

Three major revisions of Diodati's version have appeared during the past century: the Versione Riveduta translated by Giovanni Luzzi (VR, 1925), the Nuova Diodati (ND, 1991), and the Nuova Riveduta (NR, 1994, revised 2006). All three are reliable translations. On the whole, the ND keeps most closely to the detailed wording of the original Hebrew and Greek, while the NR tends to use a little more paraphrase than the others. (Also, the ND uses italics to mark words added by the translators, whereas the VR and NR do not.) A bilingual Italian-English edition with the VR and the 1901 ASV in parallel columns is available.

Romans 1:16-17

KJV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

RELB

Denn ich schäme mich des Evangeliums nicht, ist es doch Gottes Kraft zum Heil jedem Glaubenden, sowohl dem Juden zuerst als auch dem Griechen. Denn Gottes Gerechtigkeit wird darin offenbart aus Glauben zu Glauben, wie geschrieben steht: "Der Gerechte aber wird aus Glauben leben."

ELB-CSV

Denn ich schäme mich des Evangeliums nicht, denn es ist Gottes Kraft zum Heil jedem Glaubenden, sowohl dem Juden zuerst als auch dem Griechen. Denn Gottes Gerechtigkeit wird darin offenbart aus Glauben zu Glauben, wie geschrieben steht: "Der Gerechte aber wird aus Glauben leben."

SV

Want ik schaam mij des Evangelies van Christus niet; want het is een kracht Gods tot zaligheid een iegelijk, die gelooft, eerst den Jood, en ook den Griek. Want de rechtvaardigheid Gods wordt in hetzelve geopenbaard uit geloof tot geloof; gelijk geschreven is: Maar de rechtvaardige zal uit het geloof leven.

NBG 1951

Want ik schaam mij het evangelie niet; want het is een kracht Gods tot behoud voor een ieder die gelooft, eerst voor de Jood, maar ook voor de Griek. Want gerechtigheid Gods wordt daarin geopenbaard uit geloof tot geloof, gelijk geschreven staat: De rechtvaardige zal uit het geloof leven.

HSV

Want ik schaam mij niet voor het Evangelie van Christus, want het is een kracht van God tot zaligheid voor ieder die gelooft, eerst voor de Jood, en ook voor de Griek. Want de gerechtigheid van God daarin geopenbaard uit geloof tot geloof; zoals geschreven is: Maar de rechtvaardige zal uit het geloof leven.

Diodati 1641

Perciocchè io non mi vergogno dell'evangelo di Cristo; poichè esso è la potenza di Dio in salute ad ogni credente; al Giudeo imprima, poi anche al Greco. Perciocchè la giustizia di Dio è rivelata in esso, di fede in fede; secondo ch'egli è scritto: "E il giusto viverà per fede."

VR

Poiché io non mi vergogno dell'Evangelo; perché esso è potenza di Dio per la salvezza d'ogni credente; del Giudeo prima e poi del Greco; poiché in esso la giustizia di Dio è rivelata da fede a fede, secondo che è scritto: "Ma il giusto vivrà per fede."

ND

Infatti io non mi vergogno dell'evangelo di Cristo, perché esso è la potenza di Dio per la salvezza di chiunque crede, del Giudeo prima e poi del Greco. Perché in esso la giustizia di Dio è rivelata di fede in fede, come sta scritto: "Il giusto vivrà per fede."

NR

Infatti non mi vergogno del vangelo; perché esso è potenza di Dio per la salvezza di chiunque crede, del Giudeo prima e poi del Greco; poiché in esso la giustizia di Dio è rivelata da fede a fede, com'è scritto: "Il giusto per fede vivrà."