Spanish translations of the Bible

Many Spanish translations of the Bible have been made during the last 1,000 years or so.

Jewish translations

Medieval Spanish Jews had a tradition of oral translation of Biblical readings into Spanish, and several manuscript translations were made, either for Jewish use or for Christian patrons. However, restrictions were placed on the private ownership of Spanish translations of the Bible, partly as a measure against Protestantism and partly for fear that crypto-Jews would use them as a resource for learning Jewish practices.

Following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the refugees took these versions with them. In 1553 a printed version, known as the Ferrara Bible, was made in Latin characters for Duke Ercole II d'Este of Ferrara. In Constantinople and Salonica Bibles were printed in Hebrew, flanked by translations into Ladino and Judaeo-Greek in Hebrew characters, for the use of the Sephardi Jews. Some later prints contained the Ladino text alone.

Reina-Valera translation

The classic Spanish translation of the Bible is that of Casiodoro de Reina, revised by Cipriano de Valera. It was for the use of the incipient Protestant movement and is widely regarded as the Spanish equivalent of the Authorized Version.

The first whole Bible in Spanish was printed in Basel in 1569, authored by Casiodoro de Reina, although some think that this Bible was a collective effort of some monks of the San Isidoro community in Spain, who, led by Casiodoro de Reyna, escaped Inquisition and persecution. This was the first version of the complete Bible in Spanish (including Apocrypha), and is known as "Biblia del Oso" because of the honey-eating bear on its title page. Reina presented the University of Basel with some volumes, one of them with Reina's dedicatory and signature.

For the Old Testament, the work was possibly based on the Ferrara Bible (printed 1553), with comparisons to the Masoretic Text and the Vetus Latina. The New Testament probably derives from the Textus Receptus of Erasmus with comparisons to the Vetus Latina and Syriac manuscripts. It is possible that Reina also used the New Testament versions that had been translated first by Francisco de Enzinas (printed in Antwerp 1543) and by Juan Pérez de Pineda (published in Geneva 1556, followed by the Psalms 1562). After the publication of the whole Bible by Reina, there was a version from Cipriano de Valera (printed in London 1596) which became part of the first Reina-Valera print (Amsterdam 1602).

This edition of the Reina-Valera Bible has been revised in the 19th and 20th century (1862, 1865, 1909, 1960, 1995). The discussion on these revisions especially concerning the 1960 version resulted in the "Monterrey Revision Project" aiming at a revision of the original version of 1602 according the so-called Textus Receptus.

Roman Catholic translations

Official Catholic Bibles must carry a Vatican imprimatur to ensure they contain the entire canonical text identified by Pope Damasus and the Synod of Rome (382) and the local Councils of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), contained in St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate translation (420), and decreed infallibly by the Ecumenical Council of Trent (1570).

Apparently the first official translation from the complete Catholic Bible was done by Nácar-Colunga (1944), followed by Bover-Cantera (1947) and Straubinger (1944-51).

Although there are several accepted versions, traditionally, the most widely accepted Catholic Bible is the "Biblia de Jerusalen". Its first Spanish translation was published in 1967 and was revised in 1973. It is also available in a modern Latin American version, and it comes with full introductory texts and comments.

Other popular versions include Biblia Latinoamericana (1972), Nueva Biblia Española (1975), Cantera-Iglesia (1975), Sagrada Biblia (1978), La Biblia (1992), Biblia del Peregrino (1993), and Biblia de América (1994) and La Biblia de Nuestro Pueblo (2006).

In recent years several ecumenical versions that carry the Deuterocanonical books, for example "Dios Habla Hoy" from the UBS, have been approved by the CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Council) for study purposes. Their acceptance, however, is limited and their use in liturgy avoided due to what CELAM claims are inaccurate translations in key passages for Catholics like Luke 1,26-38, Luke 1,40-45, John 20,22-23 and John 21,15-17.

List of Spanish translations

*"Biblia Alfonsina", 1280.
*"Biblia del Duque de Alba", 1430.
*"Antiguo Testamento del rabino Salomón", 1420.
*"Antiguo Testamento de traductor anónimo", 1420.
*"Nuevo Testamento de Francisco de Enzinas", 1543.
*"Ferrara Bible", 1553.
*"Nuevo Testamento de Juan Pérez de Pineda", 1556.
*"Reina o "Biblia del Oso" (RV), 1569, revised in 1602 by Cipriano de Valera (see Reina-Valera).
*"Biblia del padre Scío de San Miguel", 1793.
*"Versión Moderna", 1893.
*"Biblia de Petisco y Torres Amat", 1825.
*"Nuevo Testamento versión hispanoamericana", 1916.
*"Biblia Nácar-Colunga", 1944.
*"Biblia Bóver-Cantera", 1947.
*"Nuevo Testamento de monseñor Straubinger", 1948.
*"Nuevo Testamento traducción del Nuevo Mundo", 1963. Translation from English.
*"Biblia de Jerusalén", 1966.
*"Biblia traducción del Nuevo Mundo", 1967. Translation from English.
*"Biblia de Editorial Labor", 1968.
*"Biblia edición pastoral para Latinoamérica", 1972.
*"La Biblia de editorial Herder", 1975.
*"Nueva Biblia Española", 1976.
*"Biblia Interconfesional", 1978.
*"Dios Habla Hoy o Versión Popular" (DHH), 1979.
*"La Biblia al Día", 1979.
*"Biblia el libro del pueblo de Dios", 1980.
*"Nuevo Testamento de la Universidad de Navarra", 1983.
*"Biblia de las Américas" (BLA), 1986.
*"Biblia, versión revisada por un equipo de traductores dirigido por Evaristo Martín Nieto". 1989.
*"Biblia Casa de la Biblia", 1992.
*"Biblia del Peregrino", 1993.
*"Nuevo Testamento versión Recobro", 1994.
*"Nueva Versión Internacional" (NVI), 1999.
*"Nuevo Testamento traducción de Pedro Ortiz", 2000.
*"Nuevo Testamento la Palabra de Dios para Todos" (PDT), 2000.
*"Traducción en lenguaje actual" (TLA), 2003.
*"Biblia la Palabra de Dios para Todos" (PDT), 2005.
*"Santa Biblia Valera 1602 Purificada, publicada por Sembrador de la Semilla Incorruptible", 2007.

Comparison

External links

* [http://www.sobicain.org/menu_biblia.asp Biblia Latinoamericana (Sobicain)]
* [http://www.ibs.org/nvi/index.php Nueva Versión International (International Bible Society)]
* [http://www.biblebelievers.com/mcardle_which-spanish.html Which Spanish Bible is Correct? (fundamentalist site)]
* [http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Biblia_Reina-Valera_1602 Biblia Reina-Valera 1602 (Online version)]
* [http://www.valera1602purificada.blogspot.com/ Santa Biblia Valera 1602 Purificada]
* [http://semillaincorruptible.blogspot.com/ Santa Biblia Valera 1602 Purificada (2007)]
* [http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/ Bible Versions (biblegateway.com)]
* [http://es.catholic.net/biblia/ Biblia de Jerusalem]
* [http://www.wbtc.com/site/PageServer?pagename=downloads_spanish Spanish Bible PDT version]
* [http://www.vatican.va/archive/ESL0506/_INDEX.HTM Biblia en Español (vatican.va)]