Category:Bible--Finnish tr. (text)

Bible Translations into Finnish

Overview

1548 -- The first Finnish translation of the New Testament (and Psalms) by Mikael Agricola was based on the Greek original text (ed. Philipp Melanchthon), a Latin collection by Erasmus of Rotterdam, the German translation by Martin Luther, as well as the Swedish bibles by Olaus Petri; see Se Wsi Testamenti (1548 Agricola), book. Agricola worked on this project for more than ten years, since 1537. He had not only to translate the text but also to create a new language, since his work was the first major work ever published in written Finnish.

1642 -- The first Finnish edition of the whole Bible (Old and New Testament), based of the Textus Receptus, was translated from the original languages by a team of Finnish scholars between 1638 and 1641, and published in 1642 under the patronage of Queen Christina of Sweden; see Biblia (1642 Petraeus, Stodius, Hoffman, Matthaei), book. This version of the Bible, periodically revised, still remains the standard Finnish Bible.

1685 -- The Finnish Bible underwent its first major revision by Henrik Florinus; see Biblia (1685 Florinus), book.

1776 -- As the Finnish written and spoken language evolved over the centuries, a second major revision of the Finnish Bible was published in 1776 by Anders Lizelius; see Biblia (1776 Lizelius), book. This was the first edition meant not only for the clergy but also for domestic use, and was the first to be written in Modern Finnish.

1933-38 -- In 1912 the Synod of the Finnish Church appointed a Committee to revise the text of the Finnish Bible. For the first time the translation would not be based, as previously, on the Textus Receptus. The original members of the Committee were S.E. Stenij (who died in 1925 and was replaced by A. Filemon Puukko), T.J. Schwartzberg (who died in 1915 and was replaced by R.F.P. Oinonen for a year and later by J.A. Mannermaa), and Arthur Hjelt (who died in 1931 and was replaced by A.F. Peltonen). Juhani Aho and O. Manninen were the Committee's experts on the Finnish language. The first volume containing the Old Testament was published in 1933. The Preface, giving the history of Finnish Bible translations from 1548, was signed by J.A. Mannermaa (Dean and Chairman of the Translation Committee), A. Filemon Puukko, and Aug. F. Peltonen. The complete Bible was published in 1938, marking the third major revision of the Finnish Bible; see Pyhä Raamattu (1933-38 Mannermaa, Puukko, Peltonen), book.

1992 -- The fourth major revision of the Finnish Bible (Old and New Testament) was completed in 1992. The so-called Uusi kirkkoraamattu (New Church Bible) was the first Finnish ecumenical edition. For the first time, the translation committee included representatives not only of the Finnish Lutheran Church, but also of the Finnish Orthodox Church and the Finnish Catholic Church; see Pyhä Raamattu (1992 Nikolainen, Toivanen), book. The OT Apocrypha, not included in the 1992 edition, were published in 2004.