German Bible translations

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The most important and influential of translations of the Bible into German is the Luther Bible. The influence that Martin Luther's translation had on the development of the German language is often compared to the influence the King James Version had on English. The Luther Bible is currently used in a revised version from 1984. Despite the revisions, the language is still somewhat archaic and thus inadequate for non-native speakers who want to learn the German language using a German translation.

Another translation is the Catholic Einheitsübersetzung ("unified" or "unity translation"), so called because it was the first common translation used for all Catholic German-speaking dioceses. The text of the New Testament and the Psalms of the Einheitsübersetzung was agreed on by a committee of Catholic and Protestant scholars, and therefore was intended to be used by both Roman Catholics and Protestants especially for ecumenical services, while the remainder of the Old Testament follows a Catholic tradition. However, the Protestant Church of Germany refused to continue the cooperation for the current revision of the Einheitsübersetzung.

A modern version is the Neue Evangelische Übertragung (New Evangelical Version). This translation project is an initiative of Karl-Heinz Vanheiden, who releases each of his translations of a new book of the Bible on his website in MS Word format, and welcomes corrections and suggestions for changes from the public. This particular version seeks to make the Bible understandable to non-Christians as well, and places great weight in clarity of language. So far, the New Testament has been completed, and the Old Testament is being translated. [1]

Other well known German language Bible versions are: Zürcher Bibel, Elberfelder, Schlachter, Buber-Rosenzweig (OT only), Pattloch, Herder, Hoffnung für Alle (Hope for All), Die Gute Nachricht (The Good News), Gute Nachricht Bibel (Good News Bible, revision of "Gute Nachricht").

[edit] Comparison

Translation	John (Johannes) 3:16
Luther	Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, daß er seinen eingeborenen Sohn gab, auf daß alle, die an ihn glauben, nicht verloren werden, sondern das ewige Leben haben.
Einheitsübersetzung	Denn Gott hat die Welt so sehr geliebt, daß er seinen einzigen Sohn hingab, damit jeder, der an ihn glaubt, nicht zugrunde geht, sondern das ewige Leben hat.
Neue Evangelische Übertragung	Denn so hat Gott der Welt seine Liebe gezeigt: Er gab seinen einzigen Sohn dafür, dass jeder, der an ihn glaubt, nicht zugrunde geht, sondern ewiges Leben hat.
Gute Nachricht Bibel	Gott hat die Menschen so sehr geliebt, dass er seinen einzigen Sohn hergab. Nun werden alle, die sich auf den Sohn Gottes verlassen, nicht zugrunde gehen, sondern ewig leben.