The
Brest Bible was the first comprehensive
Polish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
Protestant
Bible translationThe Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Indeed, the full Bible has been translated into over 450 languages, although sections of the Bible have been translated into over 2,000 languages....
, published in 1563 in
BrestBrest , formerly also Brest-on-the-Bug and Brest-Litovsk , is a city in Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the city of Terespol, where the Bug River and Mukhavets rivers meet...
and dedicated to King
Sigismund II AugustusSigismund II Augustus I was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548...
.
Polish full original title: "
Biblia święta, Tho iest, Księgi Starego y Nowego Zakonu, właśnie z Żydowskiego, Greckiego, y Łacińskiego, nowo na Polski ięzyk, z pilnością y wiernie wyłożone."
It is sometimes also named after the Radziwiłł family surname of Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł, the benefactor of the undertaking, or after
PińczówPińczów is a town in Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodship, about 40 km south of Kielce. It is the capital of Pińczów County. Population is 12,304 .-History:...
, where the translating was commissioned and translators chosen and authorized at the
CalvinistCalvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
synodA synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
s of 1559 and 1560, and where the work was accomplished.
The Brest Bible is one of the earliest
modern eraModern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution...
translations of all of the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, from, for the most part, the
originalBiblical languages are any of the languages employed in the original writings of the Bible. Partially owing to the significance of the Bible in society, Biblical languages are studied more widely than many other dead languages...
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and
Koine GreekKoine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
languages.
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
VulgateThe Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
was also utilized to a lesser degree and so was a French translation. The Brest Bible, produced by a group of Calvinist scholars, was preceded by the
Luther BibleThe Luther Bible is a German Bible translation by Martin Luther, first printed with both testaments in 1534. This translation became a force in shaping the Modern High German language. The project absorbed Luther's later years. The new translation was very widely disseminated thanks to the printing...
of 1534 and the
Geneva BibleThe Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into the English language, preceding the King James translation by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of the 16th century Protestant movement and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John...
of 1560.
The text of the translation, which stresses contextual and phraseological, rather than word-for-word translating, is highly reliable in respect to the originals and represents some of the finest Polish usage of the period. Among the leading
theologiansTheology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
involved with the team translation project were Grzegorz Orszak,
Pierre StatoriusPierre Statorius was a French grammarian and theologian, who settled among the Polish Brethren, becoming rector of a the Calvinist Academy in Pińczów at the invitation of Francesco Lismanino....
, Jean Thénaud of Bourges, Jan Łaski,
Georg SchomannGeorg Schomann was a Socinian theologian.In his youth, was distinguished by a deep Catholic religiosity. In the years 1552-1554 he studied at the Krakow Academy and then at Wittenberg, where he was Lutheran...
, Andrzej Trzecieski, Jakub Lubelczyk,
Szymon ZacjuszSzymon Zacjusz or Szymon Żak was a Polish Protestant pastor, supporter of Reformation in Lesser Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania....
,
Marcin KrowickiMarcin Krowicki was a Polish Catholic priest, then from 1551 Calvinist, then finally from 1562 Unitarian. He was one of the translation team for the original Pinczow Bible. He was one of those who argued against a fully pacifist stance in the Polish Brethren. He published in Vilnius in 1561 Obraz...
,
Francesco StancaroFranciscus Stancarus was an Italian priest, professor of Hebrew at the University of Königsberg.He engaged in debate with Jan Laski and Peter Martyr Vermigli.- References :...
of Mantua, and Grzegorz Paweł of Brzeziny. The translation work took six years to complete.
Mikołaj Radziwiłł's son, Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł, converted to
CatholicismCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
and as a
Counter-ReformationThe Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
zealot arranged for a public burning of all the specimens of the Bible of Brest that he could locate and buy (some have survived) at
VilniusVilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
' central market.
- For other Polish Bibles see Slavic translations of the Bible
This article deals with the history of translation of the Bible into Slavic languages, beginning in the second half of the 9th century....
Links
"Biblia święta..." - digitised version by Polska Biblioteka Internetowa (Old and New Testament),
"Biblia święta...", New Testament, Transcribed into HTML format,
"Biblia święta...", Old Testament - digitised by Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.