Bible translated by Martin Luther into German - Unrevidierte lutherbibel
(1545)

BIBLE
in German

translated by Martin Luther

Martin Luther (1483-1546) - leader of the German Reformation, a translator of the Bible in it language. Born in the family of a Saxon miner, who, despite the cramped circumstances, was able to give his son a higher education. Initially, Luther prepared for a legal career, but in 1505 joined the Augustinian Order, known for its strict charter. In parallel, he began to study the Bible and theology and in 1512 became prof. Wittenberg University.

Severe medieval religiosity, ascetic exploits, mental pursuits did not save Luther from the deep crisis that had matured in him. He felt unworthy of salvation. By his own admission, he sometimes experienced "such terrible hellish torments that no language can express them." Only in Scripture did Luther finally find the light of hope. While preparing a lecture on the Epistle to the Romans, he suddenly realized that the "righteousness" of God is not ordinary "justice", but a saving mercy that is granted by faith. “The whole Bible,” Luther wrote of the coup, “appeared to me in a different way.” He found Christ "as the mirror of the fatherly love of God."

Confusion overwhelmed this internal source of his reformation activities in the face of the decline of church life. Secular life and abuse of hierarchs, especially in Rome, aroused passionate protest among Luther. But with the demand for the renewal of the Church, he openly came out only in 1517. His theses against indulgences marked the beginning of an uprising against the old order, although Luther had not yet thought about a split.

Neither disputes, nor the pressure of Cardinal Caetan, nor the threat stopped Luther. The patronage of the Elector Frederick of Saxony, dissatisfied with the exactions of the curia, saved Luther from persecution. ...

Renouncing ecclesiastical authority in the interpretation of the Bible, Luther proclaimed the personal religious experience of an individual to be the highest criterion. Based on this criterion, he introduced the concept of various degrees of divine inspiration. So, he did not consider Revelation to be an apostolic book. “Let everyone,” he wrote, “think of the Apocalypse, what he wants, what his spirit tells him. My spirit cannot tolerate this book.” He “respected and honored” the Epistle of Jacob, but again rejected his authenticity on the basis of his inconsistency with his spirit. Along with this subjective criterion, Luther recognized the historical and literary method. Noting that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews "speaks as a student who accepted the teachings of the apostles," Luther concluded that the message was not written by the apostle Paul (in his opinion, he was Apollos). Luther found features of the “second generation” in the Epistle of Jude. However, Luther did not want to absolutize scientific methods. “Grammar,” he wrote, “should not manage business, but should itself serve it.”

Of great importance was the translation of Scripture into German made by Luther. In Wartburg, he translated the New Testament, and then, together with his assistants, including Melanchton, 12 years worked on the translation of the Old Testament. The full text was published in 1534 by G. Lufft's printing house. Unlike previous German translators, Luther abandoned the Vulgate and translated from the original languages \u200b\u200b- Hebrew and Greek, based on critical studies of Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Luther was convinced that Scripture should be accessible to all. “The simple daughter of the miller,” he wrote, “if she believes, she can correctly understand and interpret him.” But for this it is necessary to convey the meaning of Scripture to the people. In the "Message of Translation" (1530), Luther pointed out the value of a living folk language. As a guide, he adopted one of the Saxon dialects, which has since become a literary common German language.

Teamwork was exceptionally stressful. “Over Job,” Luther recalled, “we all worked: Master Philip, Vurogallus and I; and what - in four days we managed to master barely three verses ... The reader does not suspect which stumps and decks lay where he is today he walks like on planked boards, and how we sweated and trembled, removing these stumps and decks from his path. " Luther strictly verified the correspondence of the translation with popular speech, which, in particular, explained the fact that sometimes he found only one word in a few weeks.

Rejection of the slavish adherence to the original made Luther's translation creative and highly artistic. He immediately won a huge audience. Typography has opened the Bible to a wide path. About 30 thousand copies were published 30 years after the first edition - the circulation for that era is unsurpassed. It should be noted that Luther translated non-canonical books, but later Protestant publications most often came out without them.

© about. Men Alexander: “Bibliological Dictionary”. Fund them. Alexandra Me, Moscow, 2002

Das 1. Buch Mose  (chapters in a book: 50)

Das 2. Buch Mose  (chapters in a book: 40)

Das 3. Buch Mose  (chapters in a book: 27)

Das 4. Buch Mose  (chapters in a book: 36)

Das 5. Buch Mose  (chapters in a book: 34)

Das buch josua  (chapters in the book: 24)

Das buch der richter  (chapters in the book: 21)

Das buch ruth  (chapters in the book: 4)

Das 1. Buch des Samuel  (chapters in a book: 31)

Das 2. Buch des Samuel  (chapters in the book: 24)

Das 1. Buch der Könige  (chapters in book: 22)

Das 2. Buch der Könige  (chapters in a book: 25)

Das 1. Buch der Chroniken  (chapters in a book: 29)

Das 2. Buch der Chroniken  (chapters in a book: 36)

Das buch esra  (chapters in a book: 10)

Das buch nehemia  (chapters in a book: 13)

Das buch esther  (chapters in a book: 10)

Das buch hiob  (chapters in the book: 42)

Die psalmen  (chapters in a book: 150)

Die Sprüche Salomos  (chapters in a book: 31)

Der Prediger Salomo  (chapters in a book: 12)

Das hohelied salomos  (chapters in a book: 8)

Der Prophet Jesaja  (chapters in book: 66)

Der Prophet Jeremia  (chapters in book: 52)

Die Klagelieder Jeremias  (chapters in the book: 5)

Der Prophet Hesekiel  (chapters in book: 48)

Der Prophet Daniel  (chapters in a book: 12)

Der Prophet Hosea  (chapters in a book: 14)

Der Prophet Joel  (chapters in a book: 3)

Der Prophet Amos  (chapters in a book: 9)

Der Prophet Obadja  (chapters in the book: 1)

Der Prophet Jona  (chapters in the book: 4)

Der Prophet Micha  (chapters in a book: 7)

Der Prophet Nahum  (chapters in a book: 3)

Der Prophet Habakuk  (chapters in a book: 3)

Der Prophet Zephanja  (chapters in a book: 3)

Der Prophet Haggai  (chapters in a book: 2)

Der Prophet Sacharja  (chapters in a book: 14)

Der Prophet Maleachi  (chapters in the book: 4)

Evangelium des matthäus  (chapters in a book: 28)

Evangelium des markus  (chapters in a book: 16)

Evangelium des Lukas  (chapters in the book: 24)

Evangelium des johannes  (chapters in the book: 21)

Martin Luther und seine Bibelübersetzung

Es ist üblich zu denken, dass die erste Bibelübersetzung in die deutsche Sprache von Martin Luther geschaffen wurde. In Wirklichkeit gab es lange vorher Versuche, einige alttestamentarische Bücher ins Deutsche zu übersetzen. Aber nur der Begründer der Reformation schaffte die ganze Übersetzung, die eine große Rolle für die Entwicklung der deutschen Sprache hatte.

Nach der Abwendung von der katholischen Kirche wollte Martin Luther die Heilige Schrift übersetzen, um die Bibel für alle Leute verständlich zu machen. Früher benutze man in der Kirche nur Texte auf Latein, die nur gebildete Leute verstehen konnten. Deshalb war es notwendig, eine gute Übersetzung zu schaffen. Das größte Problem bestand darin, dass es im Mittelalter keine einheitliche deutsche Sprache gab. Auf dem Territorium des heutigen Deutschlands gab es zahlreiche Kurfürstentümer, in denen verschiedene Dialekte gesprochen wurden. In seiner Bibelübersetzung benutzte Luther mitteldeutsche Dialekte, vor allem Sächsisch. Es war für ihn auch wichtig, die biblischen Texte der Alltagssprache näherzubringen. Später erzählte der Theologe, dass er die Sprache verwendete, die er bei einfachen Menschen hörte. Er behauptete: "Man muss dem Volk aufs Maul schauen".

Während der Arbeit hatte Luther noch ein großes Problem: In der Sprache gab es häufig keine Analogien für einige biblische Wörter, deshalb musste er neue Begriffe schaffen, was die deutsche Sprache bereicherte.

Die katholische Kirche verfolgte Martin Luther, deshalb verbrachte er heimlich einige Monate auf der Wartburg, wo er das Neue Testament übersetze. Diese kolossale Arbeit wurde ziemlich schnell erledigt: von Dezember 1521 bis März 1522. Die erste Ausgabe wurde sofort verkauft, weil alle Leute die Heilige Schrift in ihrer Muttersprache lesen wollten. So wurde die Basis für die einheitliche deutsche Sprache gelegt.

Martin Luther and his Bible translation

It is generally accepted that the first translation of the Bible into German was made by Martin Luther. In fact, long before him, attempts were made to translate some Old Testament books into German. But the founder of the Reformation created a complete translation, which played a big role for the development of the German language.

After breaking up with the Catholic Church, Martin Luther wanted to translate the scriptures to make the Bible understandable to all people. Previously, the church used only texts in Latin, which only educated people understood. Therefore, it was necessary to create a good translation. The biggest problem was that in the Middle Ages there was no single German language. In today's Germany, there were many electors who spoke different dialects. In his translation of the Bible, Luther used Middle German dialects, primarily Saxon. It was important for him to bring the biblical texts closer to everyday language. The theologian later said that he used a language that he overheard in ordinary people. He argued: "You need to listen to the common people."

Luther had another problem during his work: the language often had no analogies for some biblical words, so he had to create new concepts that also enriched the German language.

The Catholic Church persecuted Martin Luther, and therefore he secretly spent several months at Wartburg Castle, where he translated the New Testament. This colossal work was carried out quickly enough: from December 1521 to March 1522. The first edition was immediately sold out, because all people wanted to read the Holy Scripture in their native language. So the foundation was laid for a single German language.

The German humanist, one of the “fathers” of the Reformation, Martin Luther (1483-1546), can rightfully be considered the father of modern German. German historians believe that the role of Luther for the formation and development of the German language is as great as the role of Cicero for Latin. The main brainchild of Luther the philologist was the translation of the Bible into German.

In 1522, the New Testament was published in Wittenberg - a translation into German by Luther (Das Neue Testament Teutsch).Work on the translation took only three months. But the subsequent translation of the Old Testament dragged on for many years. The full translation of the Bible came out only in 1534. Naturally, Luther did not work on the translation alone. In Wittenberg, something like a "translation workshop" was formed, the main master of which was Luther. He was assisted by his friend and follower Melanchthon and other scholars, specialists in Greek, Hebrew and Latin languages \u200b\u200band in interpreting biblical texts.

Luther's merit is not that he made the first full translation of the Bible into German. By the time he started this work, there were already a lot of High German and Low German Bible translations made after the first complete German Bible by Johann Mentel 1 was published in Strasbourg. Therefore, the main thing in assessing Luther's translation work is not that he was able to make a new translation of the Bible, but the language in which he translated it.

The purpose of this new translation was to give contemporaries the text of the Bible in a language they understand, in which they communicated daily with each other. This goal may well be elevated to the basic principle of translation activity, perfectly formulated by M. Lederer: to translate does not mean to understand the meaning of a foreign language text itself, it means to make it accessible to others.

To a certain extent, Luther continues Jerome’s tradition of translating the texts of the Holy Scriptures - to translate not words, but meanings. In his work on translating the Bible, he sees much in common with what Jerome had to experience. First of all, it is a constant need to explain to ignorant churchmen the meaning of their translation decisions. In his famous “Message of Translation,” Luther compares himself to Jerome: “It was the same with St. Jerome: when he translated the Bible, he was the master of the whole world, only he alone

Cm.: Bach A.History of the German language. M., 1956.P. 169.

understood in his case, and judged the work of a good husband (des guten Mannes), those who were not worthy even to clean his shoes (ihm nicht genug gewesen wären, daß sie ihm die Schuhe hätten sollen wischen) ”1. Luther and Jerome also have in common that both Bible translators expressed their views on the translation in the form of messages, trying to explain to the contemporaries their translation strategy. Both Jerome’s Letter to Pammachus, with the subtitle “On the Best Translation Method,” and Luther's “Message on Translation,” were included in the golden fund of theoretical treatises on translation and allow current translators to judge what problems their colleagues had to solve in the past.

At the same time, Luther was critical of the Vulgate text and found inaccuracies and distortions in it. D.Z. Gotsiridze and G.T. Hu-huni quote I.N. Golenishchev-Kutuzov that Luther hated Jerome, although he used the translation of the author of the Vulgate. The researchers see the reason for such a sharp assessment in the fact that the Latin version allegedly did not satisfy Luther, since it could not be read easily, without interference 2. In my opinion, the reason for criticizing the Vulgate and its author was different.

First, Luther was constantly forced to contrast his translation of the official Latin version adopted by the entire Catholic Church, i.e. his philological activity proceeded in the fight against the Vulgate. This forced struggle with “donkeys” could not but affect Luther’s attitude to the author of labor, which was considered to be as true for these “donkeys” as the text of the original Bible. Secondly, it is appropriate to recall the already quoted figurative statement by E. Kari that the reformation was primarily a discussion between translators. The main opponent of Luther the translator was Jerome, the author of the officially recognized translation church, as well as the main opponent of Luther the reformer was the Catholic Church, which officially recognized the Latin Vulgate as the only authority. But it can hardly be assumed that at the center of Luther's hypothetical discussion with the medieval master was the heaviness of Jerome’s syllable. After all, Luther, a delicate and attentive philologist, could not help but appreciate what was so highly praised by virtually all scholars of the translation of Jerome: the Vulgate is the best Latin translation of the Bible, a masterpiece of biblical translation. The object of criticism of Luther was the inaccuracies and distortions revealed by him in the text.

1 cit. by: Gotsiridze D.Z., Khukhuni G.T.Decree. Op. S. 89.

Vulgates. Recall that was the reason for the breakup of Luther with the Roman Church. Pope Leo X, having decided to finance the reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica, significantly expanded the sale of indulgences. Luther found these actions outrageous, equating them to ordinary trade. On October 31, 1517, he announced at the University of Wittenberg 95 theses in which indulgences were condemned.

Now let us recall the inaccuracy that Jerome made in his translation, literally introducing the concept of “atonement for sin by works” in the biblical text, because it was this concept that led to the introduction of the institution of indulgences.

Thus, Luther's dissatisfaction with the Latin version of the Bible consisted rather in its lack of accuracy than in the heavyness of its style.

The Bible translation reflects the concept of Luther the reformer. One of the main provisions of his spiritual concept was that the only source of faith is the Holy Scriptures, and also that every believer should be able to freely interpret it. Luther follows in this Hebrew truth recorded in the Talmud: “The Torah (Old Testament. - N.G.)600,000 persons ”, i.e. as many as her readers.

The translation strategy is built on this concept: firstly, to make the translation text meaningfully true and accurate, as appropriate as possible for the original text, and secondly, to make it understandable, accessible to everyone.

In search of forms of expression, Luther turns to the everyday language of ordinary people. The phrase from his “Message” illustrating this search method has already become a textbook: “You should not ask letters of the Latin language, how to speak German, you should ask about the mother of the family, children on the street, the common man in the market and look into their mouths as they say, and translate accordingly, then they will understand and notice that they speak German ”1.

Kopanev gives an interesting example of one of the ways in which Luther sought the forms of expression of the German language he needed. In order to choose the most appropriate forms of expression in the German language when translating a fragment about the Levites sacrificing a ram, Luther asked the butcher to kill the ram, refresh it, while commenting on the whole process in German 2. This technique, which consists in direct circulation

1 Luther. M.Sendbrief von Dolmetschen // Das Problem des Übersetzens, hrsg.
  V Hans Joachim Störig. Stuttgart, 1963. S. 21. Cit. by: Kopanev P.I.Decree. Op. S. 150.
  See also: Gotsiridze D.Z., Khukhuni T.G.Decree. Op. S. 92; Van Hoof H.Op. cit. P. 214.

2 Kopanev P.I.Decree. Op. S. 150.

translator to reality, the modern theory of translation can be correlated with the so-called "denotative model."

The Bible translation, led by Luther, has become one of the world’s masterpieces of biblical translation, influencing the development of translation practice not only in Germany but throughout Europe. All subsequent translations of the Bible into German are based on the Luther version, correcting and supplementing its text in accordance with the current state of the German language, with modern scientific knowledge.

The experience of translating the Bible into a folk language inspired the English reformer Tyndale, who took up the new translation of the Holy Scripture into folk English and checked his text with a translation of Luther. The translation concept of Luther formed the basis of the so-called Kralitsky Bible, a translation into Czech, made under the direction of Bishop Jan Blagoslav. This translation in many respects influenced the further development of the Czech literary language.

Luther’s translation of the Bible laid the foundations of the German national literary language and became a literary monument of paramount importance. In an effort to create a common German language for the whole nation, Luther did a great linguistic work, developing standards for spelling, phonetic transcription, and ordering grammatical forms. After the publication of the Luther Bible, the German language began to gain more and more confidence in Latin positions as the language of scientific communication and literature.

English Bible translations

a) John Wycliffe's Translation

It is advisable to start considering Bible translations into English from the XIV century, namely, translations made by the theologian John Wyclif (John Wyclif, 1324-1384). Almost until the end of his life, Wycliffe wrote in Latin. But in 1380, he was taken to translate the Bible into English, more precisely, he took up the translation of the New Testament and, possibly, part of the Old. Most of the Old Testament will be translated by Wycliffe's associates, Nicholas Hereford, and John Purvey. There are two versions of the Wycliffe Bible, both based on the Vulgate. The first is strict and in almost everything follows the Latin text, the second is more free, more English. One of the manuscripts says that the first version of the translation was made by Hereford, and the second, revised and in many ways superior to the first, by Purvey.

Despite the obvious collective creativity, John Wycliff is considered to be the ideological inspirer of this translation.

The translation of the Bible into English, carried out under the guidance of Wycliffe, despite all its imperfections, marks a milestone in the history of translation: it was the first complete translation of the Holy Scripture into the folk language. This translation not only laid the foundations of the English biblical language, but also served to the development of English prose in general.

b) Versions of William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale

In the XVI century. The ideas of the Reformation are spreading in England. Welsh Reformer William Tyndale, 1494- 1536) plans to re-translate the Bible into English and is accepted in London in 1523 for the translation of the New Testament. He substantiates his project with the usual argument in such cases - the search for truth. But, in addition, his goal is to destroy the delusion that the folk language is allegedly not able to properly convey the original. Tyndale begins when England was still closely associated with the pope. Therefore, in order to avoid possible complications caused by his reformist spirit, Tyndale moves to Germany, to Hamburg, meets with Luther in Wittenberg and begins to partially print his translation in Cologne. In 1525, he publishes the Gospel of Matthew and Mark as separate books. However, fleeing repression, he is forced to flee to Worms, where in the same year he publishes a full translation of the New Testament. Then he goes to Marburg, where he publishes the Pentateuch in 1530, and in 1531 the Book of the Prophet Jonah.

His translations characterizing the author as a subtle scholar, not indifferent to the harmony of words, were completely independent. The extensive knowledge of the translator allowed him to rely not only on the Vulgate, with whom the translation was made. Tyndale also consulted the German version of Luther and the Greek-Latin commentary on Erasmus. His introductory articles and notes are partly literally translated from the Luther version. By the time of his death, Tyndale had made significant progress in translating the Old Testament.

Modern scholars believe that it was Tyndale who established the principle of biblical translation into English.

However, Tyndale's contemporaries found in his translations many inaccuracies and errors. Thomas More wrote seven volumes of revealing articles against Tyndale. They noted the controversial nature of his comments in the margins, and some lexical replacements were criticized. It was said, in particular, about

that Tyndale unreasonably replaced some established church terms, for example, church (church)on the congregation (religious fraternity), priest (priest)on the senior (senior), charyty (mercy)on the love (love of one's neighbor).

In 1533, when Henry VIII's hostility to heretics seemed to be weakened, Tyndale decided to return to Anver, where he continued to work on the translation of the translation. However, because of betrayal, he falls into the hands of the police. In 1536 he was hanged and burned. Most copies of his translations were destroyed.

Tyndale's translation still attracts readers' interest. In 2000, the Library of the British Museum prepared the first from the 16th century. reprinting of the Tyndale Bible translation from one of the few copies.

Ironically, Tyndale’s Bible translation work, completed in 1535 by Augustinian monk Miles Coverdale (1488–1568), was actually officially adopted in England after Henry VIII broke off relations with the papacy and introduced the Reformation into England.

Coverdale, perhaps less learned than Tyndale, was an inspired translator. His translation of the Bible, according to some accounts, relied more on the Swedish-German version, and not on the Latin-German version, as in Tyndale. The first edition of the Coverdale Bible came out in Zurich.

Against the backdrop of Protestant Bibles, later, in 1582, the first Catholic Bible in English appears.

In 1611, the so-called “Authorized Version”, otherwise referred to as the “King James Bible”, was published. Its creation, according to some researchers, is random. Van Of, in particular, writes that in 1603, King Jacob (1566-1625) convened a council to study the claims of the most fanatical Puritans. Studying the requirements of the Puritans showed the urgent need to create a single translation of the Bible, approved and approved by the monarch. The king creates a commission to prepare a new, completely revised translation. For seven years, from 1604 to 1611, forty-seven scholars, led by Bishop of Winchester Lancelot Andrew, have been working on a new version of the translation. The bishop himself makes a new translation of the Pentateuch. Based on the biblical English language formed by the translations of Wycliffe and Tyndale, the translators removed archaisms from the previous texts, but left in them everything that was understandable and clear. As a result, an artistic

a text that, however, had neither size, nor rhyme, nor prosody, but possessed simplicity and vitality. “The greatest of all Bible translations, this version,” says Van Of, “is also the greatest of books in English, the first work of English classics to have the greatest impact on English.” 1

Chapter 4

THE BEGINNING OF THE TRANSLATION THEORY. TRANSLATION AND ART OF SPEECH

§ 1. Cicero: the first opposition of the categories of “free” and “literal”

Less than ten centuries after Carthage, the great writer and orator of Rome, Mark Thulius Cicero (106-43 BC), describing his translation experience in the now widely known preface to his own translations of the speeches of Aeschineus and Demosthenes, opposed himself, the great orator and a writer, a simple translator. With this contrast, he clearly demonstrated the attitude of Roman society towards the profession of translator.

From a historical point of view, Cicero was perhaps more fortunate than other ancient authors, since a significant part of his works (almost half of his speeches, treatises on rhetoric and philosophy, a huge number of letters) were preserved. Apparently, this preserved heritage was one of the reasons that Cicero is one of the figures of the ancient world, whose statements are still cited in various sciences and whose art of speech is a role model.

The history of translation science did not fail to recall Cicero. After all, it is in his treatises that we find references to translation, about translators, as well as some theoretical considerations that indicate understanding of the problems of translation activity.

It is at Cicero that we first find the opposition of the categories of translation theory, namely, the opposition of free translation to literal.

In fact, free translation and literal translation can be considered as primary and fundamental categories of translation theory. These categories reflect two opposed translation strategies. Throughout

1 Van Hoof H.Op. cit. P. 143.

for more than two millennia, translators, writers, critics, linguists and philosophers reflecting on the problems of translation activity argue about which translation can be considered free and which is literal, which translation is preferable, whether there are intermediate types of translation, or can any translation be attributed only to one of these species.

Before analyzing the concept of Cicero in relation to translation activities, we briefly consider the historical context, which largely determined his views.

The ancient Romans differed little from the Hellenes in their confidence in the perfection of their language and culture, and, accordingly, in disregard for the languages \u200b\u200band cultures of other nations. Only Greek culture was recognized by them as a role model. Everything else that did not belong to Hellenic or Roman civilizations was considered barbaric. Why was it translated into great languages \u200b\u200bfrom barbaric?

The Greek culture, recorded in the texts, was known to the Romans from the original sources: for an educated Roman, command of the Greek language was natural. Apparently, there was no desire to enlighten the people among the Romans. Accordingly, translations from Greek into Latin turned out to be unnecessary, and translations from barbaric and even more so. Translation, therefore, fell into the category of secondary activities that did not require great intellectual abilities, at least not comparable to literary activity and oratory.

Hence the Romans neglect of the translation and the translator. Public recognition of a particular profession and respect for it are determined solely by the degree of its necessity - either real or imagined - for the life of society. In ancient Carthage, where, probably, none of the languages \u200b\u200bcould occupy a dominant position, like Latin in Rome or Greek in Greece, translators were necessary not only to ensure “intercultural communication” of a multilingual and multinational people, but also to govern this people. In modern Canada, where the official state languages \u200b\u200bare not one, but two languages \u200b\u200b(English and French), where bilingual people are controlled by translation, the profession of a translator is also respected.

In ancient Rome, the Latin language dominated. At the same time, Greek literature, Greek verbal creativity as a whole was an object of admiration for the Romans and a model for

zhaniya. To write like the great Greek masters, and perhaps even surpass them in the art of eloquence - in this many Roman speakers and writers saw evidence of their own mastery.

Without getting into the field of oratory or any other areas of Cicero’s work, but considering only his contribution to the development of translation theory, we can confidently say that Cicero was one of the first to understand the complexity, inconsistency and diversity of this type of creative activity , laid the foundations of the theory of translation, contrasting its primary categories.

It was the pagan writer Cicero who turned out to be the creative "mentor" of a deeply pious Christian who took up the translation of the Holy Scriptures - St. Jerome. The essence of the spiritual conflict of the great translator of the Bible, the heavenly patron of modern translators, was that he, a Christian, was a Cicero in his soul and worshiped the power of the beautiful Word.

Much later, already in the 16th century, in one of the first treatises on translation, its author - E. Dole - also refers to Cicero. The question arises, why did Cicero turn out to be a Teacher of translators of both the early Middle Ages and the Renaissance? Why so far, when discussing many controversial issues of translation, we mention Cicero? Why do we honor Cicero as one of the thinkers who left a bright trace in the history of translation, despite the fact that Cicero himself never ranked himself among the translators, but, on the contrary, opposed himself to them?

The answer to these questions, perhaps, lies in the fact that Cicero in his characteristic laconic and elegant form posed (of course, did not solve, but only posed) questions, many of which are still being heatedly discussed by translation theorists.

For Cicero, as well as for many of his contemporaries - poets and speakers, translation was a type of secondary literary activity. Translation is primarily an exercise that helps develop eloquence. In one of his treatises on oratory, Cicero writes that in his youth he often practiced eloquence, trying to rephrase in more precise and beautiful terms what was said in exalted speeches or written in beautiful verses. However, he quickly realized that this imitation exercise was useless and even harmful, as he either repeated the expressions that he found in the texts of the copied originals, or used those forms that were inferior to the expressions of the original: “Expressions

the most accurate and, at the same time, the most beautiful and most successful, ”he writes,“ were already anticipated either by Ennius, if I practiced poetry, or by Gracchus, if it was his speech that I took as a model ”1. And then he came up with another exercise, translation. Cicero decided to shift from the Greek speech to the best speakers. “From the reading of them I took out the benefit that, transmitting in Latin what I read in Greek, I had to not only take the best of the most common words, but also mint some new words for us, if only they were to the place ”2.

One hundred years later, another Roman orator and eloquence teacher Mark Fabius Quintilian (c. 35 - c. 96), in his main work, fortunately, has come down to us in which he developed a full course of the theory of rhetoric, also mentions translation as one of very productive oratory exercises. At the same time, he refers to the experience of Cicero: “What we are going to talk about now is the most reliable means to achieve an abundance and ease of speech. Our old speakers did not know anything better than translating from Greek into Latin. Krasus writes in his books about the speaker that he did a lot of it. Cicero advises the same. It is known that he published his translations of Plato and Xenophon ... The usefulness of such an exercise is obvious: since Greek speakers are usually complete and substantial, and also because they have made infinitely skillful speech, those who translate them are completely free to To use the best words, these words belong to them. As for the figures, the main decoration of speech, since the genius of languages \u200b\u200bis not the same, it is often necessary to replace one with another, which also has a certain difficulty. ”3

Today it is quite difficult to say whether these exercises were really a translation in the modern concept or some other kind of bilingual activity. In the modern theory of translation, an opinion often arises that it is necessary to distinguish between translation and interpretation. Translation histories are also known for other distinctions. Zhukovsky did not call his poems translations. His Russian version of Gottfried August Burger’s ballad “Lenora”, which received the name “Lyudmila” from him, was called by him a free arrangement, not a translation. Marshak, creating his own

1 Cicero M.T.About the speaker // Cicero M.T. Three treatises on oratory
  art. M., 1972.P. 104.

3 Cit. by: Horguelin P. A.Anthologie de la manière de traduire. Domaine français.
  Montréal, 1981. P. 21 (translation from French. - N.G.).

he also didn’t call them translations, but rather used the evasive and elegant wording “From ...”.

Cicero’s main work on translation, which has already become a textbook, is a preface to his own translations of the famous speeches On the Wreath by Demosthenes and Aeschine, also known as the treatise De optimo genere oratorum, where Cicero comments on his translation of speeches by Greek speakers. The main significance of this short text of the great orator of antiquity is that for the first time, as far as we can judge from documents that have reached us, a free translation is justified. As M. Ballar rightly notes, “with this statement Cicero appears, if not as a theorist, then at least as the first defender of a“ free ”, as defined by some, or“ dynamic ”, as defined by others, translation” 1.

Let us turn to the text of the treatise.

“I translated the authors of the two most eloquent Attic speeches directed against each other - Aeschinus and Demosthenes. But I did not translate them as a simple translator, but as a writer, preserving their statements with figures of words or thoughts, using, however, words familiar to the Latin tradition. Thus, I did not consider it necessary to convey a word with a word, but I retained the meaning and power of words. In fact, I thought it was important for the reader to get not the same number, but, so to speak, the same weight ... And if, as I hope, I managed to convey these speeches, preserving all their advantages, i.e. statements, figures and constructions of speech, and following the words, however, only to the extent that they did not contradict our taste, and if we did not translate all the words of the Greek text, we tried to reproduce the meaning ”2.

From this text we see that Cicero clearly distinguishes between translation and literary creation. He, the speaker, translates not as a simple translator, but as a writer. The translation is already put in the “table of ranks” below the actual literary activity. As a writer, Cicero allowed himself a number of liberties in translations. Preserving the structure of phrases of the original texts, the arrangement of words, the figures of speech, the interconnection of thoughts, he uses words familiar in Latin usage. Cicero does not seek to convey the word by word, he conveys the concepts contained in the words. Moreover, he emphasizes that not

1 Ballarci M.Introduction // Bachet de Méziriac C.-G. De la traduction.
  Artois, 1998. P. XXXVI.

2 Horguelin P. A.Op. cit. P. 19 (translation from French. - HJ.).

sought to maintain the same number of words. For him, the meaning, the "weight" of the word is important. It must be assumed that Cicero has in mind the translation peripherals, when one word of the original, without a single-word equivalent in the translating language, is replaced in the translation by a combination of several words. This is confirmed by an excerpt from another work by this Roman speaker - the treatise De fïnibus bonoram et malorum (On the Definition of Happiness and Unhappiness), where Cicero clarifies the translation method that directly relates to working with vocabulary: “You do not always have to follow in your speech Greek, as an inept translator would do, especially if thoughts become more understandable when expressed in simple words. As for me, when it comes to translation, and if I can’t just as concisely convey what is expressed in Greek in one word, I use a few words. Sometimes I use the Greek word if there is no equivalent in my language. ”1

Interestingly, Cicero again contrasts himself with an inept translator. In this passage, he also speaks of borrowing as one of the means of transfer in the absence of equivalent. The last part of the phrase from the preface is also very important for understanding the technique of "literary translation" of that period. Cicero admits that he did not translate all the elements of the Greek text, nevertheless retaining its meaning. In other words, some fragments of the original text in the translation were deliberately omitted. Thus, in the translation method described by Cicero, one can easily distinguish between actions that are defined in the modern theory of translation as translation transformations, namely, substitutions, additions and omissions. Only in the fourth form of transformations — permutations — is Cicero cautious. He seeks to preserve the main decoration of the phrase - figures and arrangement of elements, as well as the sequence and logic of the presentation of thoughts.

Bible translated by Luther  // Christian.-
1991.- No. 1. - S. 7–9

Bible translated by Luther

The Bible is the foundation of the Christian life and Christian culture. Right now, when the souls of millions of our compatriots turn to God and look for answers to the main questions of being, in our country interest in the Bible, its content and origin has increased unusually. The role of the Word of God is especially great in Protestantism - one of the three main directions of Christianity. In Protestant churches, the Bible is carefully studied not only by shepherds, but also by all believers, and its Word is embodied in their lives. At the same time, over the past decades, we have very few popular studies relating to the Protestant culture. But she played and continues to play one of the dominant roles not only in European culture, but also worldwide. The following essay is dedicated to the “cornerstone” of Protestant culture, the first translation of the Bible into a folk language by Martin Luther.

Since its inception, the true Church has been affirmed “on the basis of the Apostles and prophets, having Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2, 20). The teachings of the prophets, as set out in the books of the Old Testament, and the New Testament teachings of the Apostles were the foundation of the whole life of the Church. The Bible was a guide to all actions of believers, they were constantly read by them, discussed and interpreted. “The word of Christ dwells abundantly in you, with all wisdom,” the apostle calls (Col. 3, 16). The earliest, the Apostolic Church zealously studied the Old Testament (Acts 1, 15-20; 2 Peter 1, 19). And after the advent of the New Testament books, they began to be constantly read aloud and explained at a meeting of believers. “Blessed is he who reads and listens to the words of this prophecy and observes the written in it,” exclaims the Apostle John (Rev. 1, 3). It is clear that the observance of the Word of God is preceded by its reading and understanding. It must be heard - not only by external hearing, but also by the heart.

The apostle Paul calls the Word of God “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6, 17), the most powerful weapon against the forces of evil. It is not surprising, therefore, that the dark forces always fought with the greatest fury precisely against the Word of God, trying to hinder the distribution of the Bible, to prevent or suppress its study. In the Middle Ages there came an era in which, it would seem, these dark forces achieved their goal: on behalf of the prelates of the official church, formidable decrees were issued forbidding ordinary believers not only to study, but also to read the Bible. This was done directly contrary to the words of Jesus Christ: “Search the Scriptures” (John 5, 39). And this happened in fulfillment of His prediction: “Beware, lest anyone deceive you; for many will come under My name, and they will say that it is I, and they will deceive many ”(Mark 13, 5-6). Under His name and under the cover of His authority, i.e. being called Christians, “fierce wolves that did not spare herds” entered the Church (Acts 20, 29). Some of the highest hierarchs of the ruling Church surrendered, contrary to the teachings of the Gospel, self-interest - “the seduction of bribe, like Balaam” (Jude. 1.11). They tried to turn off the light of the Word of God that exposed them, or at least hide it. Jesus Christ teaches us: “And when they light a candle, they do not put it under a vessel, but on a candlestick, and it shines on everyone in the house” (Matthew 5, 15). It is said of the Word of God: “Your Word is a lamp to my foot and light to my path” (Psalm 119, 105). It was this lamp, called to shine to everyone in the house of God, that the dark forces tried in every possible way to hide, "put under the vessel."

At the same time, the Bible, not the first glance, remained in the dominant Church an object of profound reverence. She was solemnly taken out of the altar during the service. Excerpts in Latin were read aloud from it, for most parishioners it was incomprehensible. Oaths and oaths were made on it. But its contents for centuries remained for the people "a book with seven seals" ...

Some scholars are still trying to prove today that the people’s ignorance of the Bible in those days had objective reasons. They say that, firstly, before Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, manuscripts were very expensive and not widely available. Secondly, if the peoples who spoke Romance languages \u200b\u200b(Italian, French, Spanish and some others) could still partially understand the text of the Latin Bible - the Vulgates (similar to how we partially hear the Church Slavonic language), then the peoples of the German group ( Germans, Dutch, British and others) without special education could not understand a word from the Vulgate.

But such evidence is groundless. First, the First Apostolic Church, as you know, consisted of people who knew well and constantly studied the Scriptures. Secondly, the tradition of teaching children the Holy Books was already widespread among Jews since ancient times, and in the Middle Ages, for the most part, they knew the Old Testament well. But in the early Christian times, and in the Middle Ages, up to the 15th century, all books were copied by hand! Finally, the very situation in which only the text of the Vulgate was used in the Church (however, even its laity was strictly forbidden to read and study!) Speaks for itself.

The prelates of the dominant Church began to be especially intolerant towards believers who were interested in Scripture, after the suppression of the “heresies” of the 12-13th centuries - the movement of the Cathars (Albigensians) and others. Indeed, among the "heretics", exterminated by tens and hundreds of thousands, there were many who called to return to the spirit and letter of the Gospel! And all the more dangerous seemed to the authorities the familiarity of the people with the Bible.

The Inquisition, created to suppress the "heresies", acted vigilantly. One of the 16th-century Italians, Antonio del Pallarici, exclaimed: “It is almost impossible, as a Christian, to die in one’s bed!” So \u200b\u200bthe Apostle Paul’s prophecy came true: “And everyone who wants to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3, 12). In those days, the famous phrase was passed from mouth to mouth in a whisper: “If Christ were embodied in our days a second time, he would be immediately crucified or burned alive by the Inquisition.” Looking ahead, let's say that after the translation of the Bible into the European languages, the persecution of believers by the Inquisition has become even tougher.

That was the power of evil with which the fighters for the Reformation entered into a spiritual battle. And one of the most important things was to enable the people to read the Bible in their native language ...

Even before Luther’s translation of the Holy Scriptures in Germany, the lists of the Bible in different translations already went around. But they did not at all reflect the peculiarities of the Hebrew and Greek original. Books of Scripture were often not fully presented. The literary level of translations was low. And, finally, translations were always carried out into some local dialect of the German language. In this sense, Saxony - the region where Luther lived - was the most suitable place for a German translation of Scripture: there was a historical and geographical crossroads of all German lands, here a common German literary language began to take shape.

The idea of \u200b\u200bgiving believers a Bible in their native language came to Luther shortly after the famous burning of the papal bull, which excommunicated him from the Roman Catholic Church. This event is considered the "second step" of the Reformation (the "first step" - 95 Theses against trade in indulgences, written by Luther in 1517). In 1521, a year after the bulls were burned, Luther was called by the Emperor Karl Fifth to Worms in the Landtag, where he was invited to "renounce his views before it was too late." Luther's response in defense of a personal faith based on a study of the Bible made a great impression on many of the German princes present. And one of them - Elector of Saxony Frederick the Wise - with the help of his knights “kidnapped” Luther on his way back from Worms and hid in the Wartburg castle, fearing that otherwise the Vatican would be tracked down and killed by agents of the Vatican.

It was in Wartburg that Luther began his Bible translations. He began with the New Testament, and then went on to the Pentateuch of Moses. The year 1521 was coming to an end. The whole translation of the Bible took 12 years - from 1522 to 1534.

These were the years of extreme stress of all the spiritual, emotional, physical forces of Martin Luther, who realized what a great responsibility and significance for the people the Lord entrusted him with the Lord. Luther, who had a good theological education and was fluent in several languages, did not, however, consider himself fully prepared for the translation of Scripture. He inspiredly devoted himself to a thorough study of the Hebrew and Greek scripts of the Bible, and invited the largest scholars in Germany, experts in ancient languages, as closest assistants. Among them were: his closest associate is the reformer Philip Melanchthon, who was fluent in ancient Greek; Aurogallus is a Hebrew teacher at the University of Wittenberg; Kruziger is a connoisseur of the Aramaic (otherwise called Chaldean) language; Bougenhagen, well versed in the intricacies of Latin, on which the Vulgate is written; there were other theological scholars.

When translating, different versions of the Bible were compared: the Hebrew "Masoretic" ("masora" - in Hebrew "tradition") the text, the original of the Old Testament, was compared with the Greek Septuagint ("translation of seventy interpreters") and with the Latin Vulgate; parts of the Bible written in the ancient Aramaic language (some chapters of the Book of Daniel) were carefully studied. The New Testament shifted from the Greek text that was exemplary for that time, prepared shortly before that by the great philologist and humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, and Luther also used the Latin translation of Erasmus himself. Interestingly, both texts of the New Testament were prepared by Erasmus in 1516 and 1519, respectively: their appearance, thus, coincided with the very beginning of the Reformation.

But Luther was not only concerned with fidelity to the original Bible. He was also extremely worried about the sound of the translation, its accessibility, accuracy, and the beauty of the language. Luther himself was the greatest expert on German speech, all its dialects and dialects, well-written words and expressions. In the early thirties, he composed, for the first time in the history of German philology, a collection of German proverbs and sayings, which included about two thousand sayings. Around the same time, he translated into German and some of the famous fables of Aesop, looking for each Greek expression corresponding to his German accuracy. Undoubtedly, all these works of Luther exacerbated his sense of native language and helped to more accurately convey the Word of God. In addition, the translator constantly sought to appeal among the common people - on the streets, fairs, squares, where he carefully listened to folk speech. With great zeal, he selected the German words, which certainly corresponded to the Bible script. For this purpose, for example, he once asked a Jewish rabbi to go with him to a butcher. The butcher who carved the lamb carcass, at the request of Luther, said how the people call each internal organ and every part of the carcass, and the rabbi explained how their names sound in the Hebrew Bible. This knowledge was necessary for Luther in the translation of those chapters that describe in detail animal sacrifices (Lev. Ch. 1-9).

It was difficult for Luther and his staff to translate almost every verse, and a great thing was slowly moving forward. Luther himself writes in his introduction to the Book of Job that one day, together with Melanchton and Aurogallus, "he managed to barely complete three verses in four days." The translator, whose childhood was spent in a poor peasant family, found a fresh and accurate folk comparison for his work: he compares the translation with deforestation and uprooting of stumps. “The reader does not even imagine how many stumps and logs were in the place where he now passes freely, as if on planed boards, and how we, covering ourselves with fear and fear, removed all these stumps and logs from the road ...”

Note: Luther speaks here not only of hard work, but also of fear. After all, it is terrible for a believer to make any mistakes in transmitting the Word of God, his responsibility to God and people is great! According to Luther's recollections, he, along with his assistants, often for three to four weeks searched for one word that was most suitable for a given Bible verse.

Luther not only did not insist on the uniqueness of the solutions he found during the translation, but constantly asked connoisseurs (and ordinary readers) to object to him, to suggest other options. Until the last days of his life, the great translator improved, improved his work. He constantly gathered special “test commissions for the translation of the Holy Scriptures”, of which the most representative acted in Wittenberg in 1540-1541. Literally every word of the translation was meticulously considered, and much was specified.

While the Roman hierarchies were hiding behind discussions about the “complexity” of the Bible, its “incomprehensibility” for the common man, Martin Luther wrote: “There is no book clearer on earth than this ... The simple miller’s daughter, if she is a believer, can correctly understand and explain it. " These words Luther said back in 1520 - at the beginning of his open confrontation with the papacy. And until the end of his days, the reformer did everything in his power to make the Bible accessible to the common people. He initiated the teaching of literacy and scripture to German children of all classes.

And his desire to “bring the whole nation to the gospel Truth” bore beautiful results. The Lutherian translation of the Bible, published in 1534, became the reference book of the entire German people. Over 50 years - until 1584 - about 100,000 copies of this Bible were published, - a huge circulation, at that time! ..

The first edition of the Luther Bible was printed at the printing house of Hans Lufft and provided with a large number of comments. The appearance of the book was unusually attractive: the great German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder created illustrations for it.

The Protestant Churches, as is known, called their followers to the direct fulfillment of the second commandment of the Lord: “Do not make yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on earth below, and what is in water below earth. Do not worship them and do not serve them ... ”(Exodus 20, 4-5). The second commandment does not prohibit, however, the creation of any images, but prohibits precisely worshiping them. For example, the images of the Cherubim, who were by no means given divine honors, were created at the command of the Lord already at the time of Moses and were placed in the Tabernacle (Exodus 25, 18-22). Therefore, strict execution of the second commandment freed the creative power of Protestant artists from slavery to the canon, and this contributed to the flowering of the visual arts.

Luther expressed his attitude to art in the following words: “I do not adhere to the opinion of those who think that the gospel will amaze and destroy all arts, as some holy men believe, but I would very much like to see all the arts, and especially music, in the service of The one who created them and gave us. Therefore, let every pious Christian act in this direction as he pleases, to the best of the powers bestowed upon him by God. "

And today, after more than 450 years, the majority of the German-speaking population of the world reads the Bible translated by Martin Luther.

By his example, Luther inspired other Protestant translators. For example, in 1611, England received its Protestant translation of the Bible, made by 50 theologians (“The Bible of King James”). To this day, it is, in its way, unsurpassed and read by most English-speaking believers around the world.

Luther’s translation - “the father of all Protestant translations” - will forever remain a living monument not only to the first European reformer, but also to the Reformation itself - the great spiritual movement for returning to the Gospel Truth.

The Bible is called the “Book of Books,” for it is the Word of God, and no book can equal it in this respect. But in many other ways the Bible surpasses all other books. As we already know, she is the first "real" book in form. But, in addition, she also became the first translated, first printed and, finally, the first book of worldwide significance.

Some of its texts were translated into other languages \u200b\u200balready in very old times. As far as we know, the Bible was the first book to be fully translated. This refers to the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek - the Septuagint.

The legend tells that King Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BC) wished to purchase the scriptures of the Jews in the Greek translation for his famous library in Alexandria and applied for the purchase of the Bible to the Jewish high priest. In response, the high priest sent the king seventy-two learned scribes, six from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. These seventy-two husbands - each independently, working in a separate cell - and had to translate the Bible. They not only finished translations at the same time - all the texts received sounded exactly the same! After which the Septuagint received the name "Translation of the Seventy."

In reality, however, everything happened a little differently. In the last centuries before the beginning of a new era in Egypt, especially in Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, many Jews lived. They spoke Greek, and therefore there was a need for translation. So in the III century. BC R. began the translation of the Old Testament scriptures, completed only in the next century.

The Septuagint was also the Bible of the Apostles. They could quote from it in their travels to the countries of the Mediterranean Sea and Asia Minor, since Greek was then an international language. And today we are grateful to nameless scribes for the opportunity to read the Septuagint. For the translation, created at a time when Hebrew was still a living language, is invaluable for the study of biblical texts.

In the first Christian centuries, new translations of the Bible appeared. The most famous of them is the Latin translation, “Vulgate”, begun in 386 by R. X. by the learned Jerome and completed by him in 405.

The first Bible in German, translated by Ulfilah, “the Apostle is ready”, is dated to the 4th century. But before he had to create a gothic font. So the Ulfilah Bible at the same time became the first monument of Gothic writing. A particularly valuable copy of the Gothic Bible - a purple-colored parchment with silver and gold print - is stored today in the Swedish city of Uppsala, Sweden.

FIRST PRINT BOOK

In the XV century, new horizons were opened in many areas of human life. In 1492, Columbus discovered America, and in 1498 Vasco da Gama - the sea route to India. However, the invention of book printing became even more significant than these events that shocked the world.

Strictly speaking, books were printed before, carving a font or images on wooden plates. But Johannes Gutenberg invented typing with movable letters. Now it was possible to compose a set of individual letters, and after printing to disassemble it and use the font for a new job. Gutenberg was the first to print the Latin Bible, a voluminous folio with more than 320 large format double sheets. Gutenberg worked on it from 1452 to 1455. To prepare parchment sheets, it took the skin of one hundred and seventy calves.

The art of printing spread throughout Europe unusually quickly. In 1466, ten years after the appearance of the first Gutenberg Bible, Johann Mentelin published the first printed German Bible in Strasbourg.

Naturally, these primitive Bibles could not be acquired by ordinary people. At the end of the XV century, for one instance, the price of three breeding bulls was paid. However, the demand for the Bible was great. The invention of printing has opened up new possibilities for the design of the Book of Books and its distribution.

MARTIN LUTHER TRANSLATES THE BIBLE

Luther's translation of the Bible and the Reformation turned out to be a revolutionary moment in the triumphal march of the great book. Before Luther, there were eighteen Bibles printed in German. But they abounded in so many flaws that they were not widespread. Reading the Bible was also hindered by the fact that during the time of Luther there was still no single German language, the country spoke many different dialects. The genius of Martin Luther helped to overcome all obstacles. After the Reichstag in Worms, Luther had to hide in Wartburg. The great reformer used forced inactivity to translate the New Testament and made it for an incredibly short period - from December 1521 to March 1522. And in September 1522, the New Testament translated by him was printed by Melchior Lottat in Wittenberg. It is called the September Testament. 5000 copies were sold instantly, and already in December of that year the second, revised edition (December Testament) was published. From 1522 to 1533 Luther made seventeen editions.

More time was needed to translate the Old Testament. Luther made it with Philip Melanchton in five years: (1529-1534). In the “Translation Message” he tells what difficulties both men had to face: “It often happened that for two, three, even four weeks we searched and asked about one single word, and sometimes we couldn’t find the answer.”

In September 1534, finally, the first Wittenberg Bible appeared, published in German literary language and printed by Hans Luft. The demand for Luther's translation was so great that before his death in 1546, thirteen editions were published, each time being revised and improved by Luther and his friends. From 1534 to 1584, Hans Luft, a Wittenberg-based book printer, printed about 100,000 Bibles - the greatest achievement of his time! Luther's Bible was reprinted in four places outside Wittenberg.

Luther put “Saxon clerical language” as the basis of his translation, and this was a good choice. He sought to write so that the text was easily understood by ordinary people. “You need to ask the mother in the house, the children on the street, the common man in the market, look into their mouths as they say, and translate in the same way. Then they understand that they speak German with them, ”Luther explained in his“ Translation Message ”.

The ability to deeply penetrate the content of Scripture and a good sense of language, characteristic of Luther, made the Bible a folk book in Germany, which decisively contributed to the emergence of a single literary language in the country. How much the Luther Bible has influenced people's lives, culture, literature and art is shown, among others, by the fact that 705 common winged words are of Biblical origin: 368 words from the Old Testament and 337 from the New Testament (according to Buchman). Who today every time doesn’t remember that he quotes the Bible when he says that he was crawled “to compositions and brains” (Hebrews 4:12), that he wants to “wash his hands in innocence” (Matthew 27:24) or “stunned by blindness” (Genesis 19:11; 4 Kings 6:18) that “as if the scales had fallen from the eyes” (Acts 9:18) or would like to “pour out your heart” (1 Samuel 1:15; Psalm 61: 9) , or that he wrote “a letter of the length of the elbow” (Zechariah 5: 2) ?!

The deeply popular language of Luther, the scholarship of the author of the translation provided his work with extraordinary success. But they are not alone. Martin Luther himself felt the power of the gospel. His faith and deep piety lived the Word of God. Not only reason built Luther phrases! The word of God was passed on by one who himself was inspired by it!

The Luther New Testament was cordially accepted in Switzerland, where the Zwingli and Calvin led the Reformation. In this country, too, undertook the translation of the Bible. And before Luther finished translating the Old Testament into German, the “Zurich Bible” was published, which for our days is of the greatest value. Subsequent translations by representatives of various nations rely mainly on the Luther Bible.

GOD'S WORD FOR ALL PEOPLES

The September Testament of 1522 was sold for one and a half guilders. By the way, eight gold guilders could live for a year. However, this edition of the New Testament was considered cheap compared to previous Bibles. For example, the 1430 Bible cost 300 gold guilders, the 1450 Latin one cost about 60, and the first German printed Mentelin Bible (without binding) sold for 12 gold guilders. Subsequently, the purchase price of the Bible remained equally high. For it had to pay the cost of harnessing draft bulls. The commoner, of course, could not afford such a purchase. However, now the Word of God could be heard in many parts of Europe, as well as buy, with money, the Holy Scripture. August Herman Franke, founder of the Galle Orphanages, lamented very much that the Bible was still inaccessible to many people because of its high cost. Berlin Baron von Kanstein, his associate and fellow, shared the concerns of Franke. Kanstein proposed founding a society to manufacture and distribute cheap Bibles. With donations, they acquired a sufficient number of letters so that the printing house could save, without scattering each time, a collection of the Bible. This significantly reduced the cost of printing. On October 21, 1710, the Bible Society of Kanstein began its activities. The principle of the first such society in the world was the following: “... Excluding profits from printing and publishing, publish the Bible in a profitable, non-profit enterprise and distribute it at cost.”

As a result, the price of the New Testament became two pennies, and the full Bible, nine pennies. In the following decades, every tenth German had a Bible.

A similar situation has developed in England. As early as 1800, there were very few Bibles in the country with very high demand. The situation changed one girl, herself, however, not knowing about it. Mary Jones from Wells once a week traveled a very long way, going to her friend to read the only Bible in the whole neighborhood. Mary really wanted to have her own holy book, and earnestly saved money for it. Six years later, she collected the right amount. The girl went to the pastor and asked for a Bible. He thought for a while, and then said that only Pastor Charles from Bala, a city forty kilometers from their arrival, could help her. Mary set off again and set out to Pastor Charles her request. He was saddened and began to thoughtfully pace his office. Then he asked: “So is it true that you saved up money for the Bible for six years, and yesterday you walked forty kilometers to finally buy it?” Yes Mary? Alas, I have to upset you: I can’t give you the Bible. ”

The girl burst into tears.

“Mary,” said the pastor then, “look here, I have only two Bibles in this cupboard, and both are already sold. But at my own peril and risk I will give you one. You should not return home empty-handed. ”

Pastor Charles told this story in 1802 at a meeting of a religious community in London, supplementing his story with a request to find a way to print a Bible for the poor in Wells. In response, the Baptist preacher Hoogs, jumping up from his seat, exclaimed: “Why only for Wells, why not for the Kingdom, why not for the whole world?”

The hour of great awakening has struck. After the pastor’s excited speech that there are not enough Bibles in many countries, on March 7, 1804, with a large gathering of people (attended by over 600 people), British and foreign Bible societies were founded. Soon other organizations of this kind arose in Basel (1804), Philadelphia (1808), Finland 1812), Amsterdam (1814), Elberfeld (1814), Berlin (1814), Dresden (1814), New York (1815), Scotland and Norway (1816). These Bible societies took von Kanstein as a fundamental principle, following which the publisher makes no profit. Societies widely introduced technical innovations in their printing houses, such as, for example, the high-speed printing press (1810). From now on, the opportunity appeared to publish the Bible in previously unimaginable circulations.

Bible societies also took care of translating the Word of God into other languages. Missionaries dispersed around the world. They penetrated into the jungles of Africa, into Central and South America, into the wilderness of Asia. They also needed Bibles. Often, missionaries began by writing script for locals, and the Bible became the first book by which Aborigines learned to read.

Bible societies now have entire institutions involved in translation. Every year, several languages \u200b\u200bare added that are spoken somewhere in the wilds of the jungle or in the steppes, newly discovered areas. Here in the near future also must have its own Bible.

The spread of the Bible in our century has reached astonishing proportions. Statistics, of course, calculated not only the number of books in the complete Bible, but also separately the New Testament and various rare editions. Indeed, in some dialects, which are spoken by only a few tribes, one single book of the Bible was published.

Here are the statistics:

1900   - 8 million Bibles;

1950   - 22 million, of which about 2.5 million full Bibles;

1960   - 35 million, of which about 4 million are complete Bibles;

1970   - 145 million, of which about 5 million complete Bibles;

1980   - 440 million, of which about 9.5 million are complete Bibles.

The number of languages \u200b\u200binto which the Bible or parts of it is translated is also impressive:

1600   - 40 languages;

1700   - 52 languages;

1800   - 71 languages;

1900   - 567 languages;

1950   - 1034 languages;

1965   - 1250 languages;

1985   - 1829 languages.

According to experts, the world speaks 3,000 languages \u200b\u200band dialects. Of these, more than 1,500 are consumed only by relatively small ethnic groups. Without a doubt, the Bible in our time remains a bestseller. Not a single book is in such demand as Scripture, and not one book has been translated into so many languages. The Bible is truly a Book of Books!