Bible translations into Icelandic

The history of Bible translations in Iceland began with the country's conversion to Christianity around 1000 CE but efforts accelerated with the Icelandic Reformation in the mid-16th century. Since then, 11 complete translations of the Bible have been completed into Icelandic. Currently, the Icelandic Bible Society oversees translation and production of Icelandic-language Bibles with the most recent full translation completed in 2007.

Beginning of the Gospel of John from Oddur Gottskálksson's 1540 translation of the New Testament into Icelandic
Title page of the elaborate printed bible of Guðbrandur Þorláksson, bishop, Hólar, 1584

Pre-Reformation

With the Christianization of Iceland, so-called þýðingar helgar (weekend translations) were written in Old Norse/Old Icelandic to help explain the new religion and practices to the populace. These included religious interpretations alongside translations of Bible stories. The oldest Icelandic biblical texts date to c. 1200 when the Old Icelandic Homily Book, which compiled sermons, lessons, and prayers.[1] During the following century, more systematic efforts were made to translate sections of the Bible, eventually being collected into the Stjórn around 1350.[2]

By the early 16th century, the only Icelandic translation available was Catholic Bishop Jón Arason's translations of the four Gospels, although copies of this work have not survived.[3]

Post-Reformation

When the Reformation reached Iceland in the mid-16th century, a full translation of the Bible into Icelandic was needed. This work began with a translation of the New Testament by Oddur Gottskálksson published in Roskilde in 1540 (text here). Oddur's translation followed the Latin Vulgate with reference to Martin Luther's 1552 German translation.[4]

Guðbrandur Þorláksson, the Protestant bishop at Hólar, published the first complete translation, the Guðbrandsbiblía, in 1584. Guðbrandur's Old Testament translation was based on Luther's 1534 full German translation and Christian III's 1550 Danish translation. The New Testament used Oddur’s translation with corrections. It is believed that Oddur translated the Psalms and Gissur Einarsson translated the Book of Proverbs and Book of Sirach. It is possible Guðbrandur himself translated other books of the Old Testament.[5]

Afterwards, a number of other translations followed, such the 1644 Þorláksbiblía overseen by Bishop Þorlákur Skúlason and printer Halldór Ásmundsson in Hólar and the 1747 Waysenhússbiblía printed by Det Kongelige Vajsenhus in Copenhagen. In 1813, in the same city, the British Bible Society published the Grútarbiblía (or Hendersonsbiblía), just two years before the founding of the Icelandic Bible Society by the British Bible Society's Ebenezer Henderson.[4]

A new translation, the Viðeyjarbiblía, was released in 1841 and revised in 1863 by Pétur Pétursson and Sigurður Melsteð, who compared it with the Greek and Hebrew originals and with the Norwegian, Danish, English and French versions. This edition (just the New Testament and Psalms) was edited by Eiríkur Magnússon and reprinted in 1866 in two editions: a single volume with the New Testament and Psalms and a set with the full Old and New Testaments. Both the 1863 and 1866 editions were printed by the British Bible Society at Oxford.[4] These translations were used for the 1903 illustrated New Testament of the Scripture Gift Mission (London & Akureyri). By 1906, the British Bible Society was printing in Reykjavík a new New Testament translation based on the original texts by Haraldur Níelsson and, in 1908, the entire Bible.

The current publisher of the Icelandic Bible is the Icelandic Bible Society, which was founded on 10 July 1815 with the goal of making the Bible widely available and accessible in Iceland.[6] In 1859 it printed the so-called Reykjavíkurbiblía, essentially the Viðeyjarbiblía from 18 years earlier. By 1899, the society was printing the Old Testament translations of Þórir Kr. Þórðarson, which were used into the early 21st century. The latest full translation, a new complete translation by Guðrún Guðlaugsdóttir, was published in 2007.[6]

List of translations

In total, 11 Icelandic versions of the Bible have been published with revisions made with each new version.[6]

Comparison of text
Translation John 3:16
Hið Nýa Testament Jesu Christi
(Oddur Gottskálksson, 1540)		 Því að svo elskaði Guð heiminn að hann gaf út sinn eingetinn son til þess að allir þeir á hann trúa fyrirfærust eigi, heldur að þeir hafi eilíft líf.
Lundúnabiblían
(Pétur Pétursson & Sigurður Melsteð, 1863/1866)		 Því svo elskaði Guð heiminn, að hann gaf sinn eingetinn Son, til þess að hver, sem á hann trúir, ekki glatist, heldur hafi eilift lif.
Nýja Testamentið (Ný Þýðing)
(Haraldur Níelsson & Brezka Biblíufélag, 1906)		 Því að svo elskaði Guð heiminn, að hann gaf son sinn eingetinn, til þess að hver sem á hann trúir glatist ekki, heldur hafi eilíft líf.
Biblía 21. aldar
(Guðrún Guðlaugsdóttir, 2007)		 Því svo elskaði Guð heiminn að hann gaf einkason sinn til þess að hver sem á hann trúir glatist ekki heldur hafi eilíft líf.

References
  1. Heimir Pálsson; Veturliði Óskarsson. "Þýðingar" [Translations]. Alfræði íslenskra tungu [Encyclopaedia of the Icelandic language]. Málsgreinar (in Icelandic). Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  2. Kirby, Ian J. (1986). Bible Translation in Old Norse. University of Lausanne, Publications de la Faculté des Lettres. 27. Geneva, Switzerland: Librairie Droz. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  3. Sigurður Ægisson (20 August 2006). "Þýðingar helgar". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  4. Guðbrandur Vigfússon; Powell, Frederick York (1879). "The Gospel of Matthew". An Icelandic Prose Reader: With Notes, Grammar, and Glossary. Clarendon Press. pp. 433–443. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  5. Gunnlaugar A. Jónsson (1990). Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar: Biblíuþýðingar í sögu og samtíð [Theological Institute Series: Bible Translations in History and the Present] (in Icelandic). Reykjavík, Iceland: Háskóli Íslands, Guðfræðistofnun. pp. 145–174. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  6. "About the Icelandic Bible Society". Hið íslenska Biblíufélag. Retrieved 4 February 2021.

Further reading
  • Guðbrandur Vigfússon; Powell, Frederick York (1879). "The Gospel of Matthew". An Icelandic Prose Reader: With Notes, Grammar, and Glossary. Clarendon Press. pp. 433–443. Retrieved 4 February 2021. This chapter provides an extended discussion of the translations up until Guðbrand's and Powell's time.
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