Full Text for The Story of the German Bible, part 2 (Text)
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LEHRE UND WEHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY. THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. V May, 1934 No.5
CONTENTS
Page
Die rechte Mitte in del' Liturgie und Ordnung des Gottes-
dienstes. L. Fuerbringer . . . • . . . . . . • • . • . • • . • • • • • • • . • .• 337
The Story of the German Bible. P. E. Kretzmann. • • • • . . • • •• 344
ZUl' Lehre von del' Reue. Th. E n(elder • • . • • • • . . . . • . • • • . .. 369
Sermons and Outlines. .. . . .. .. .. .. . . . . .. . . .. .. .. . .... 382
Miscellanea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 388
Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches .... 394
Book Review. - Literatur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 409
Ein P rtdfgel' musa nicht alleln w..wu..,
al80 W3 er die Schafe untenreise, wie
sie rechte Christen aollen &ein, aondem
auch daneben den Woelfen weAren, dass
'rie die Bchaf n1cht angreifen und mit
fa1t,cber Lebre yerluebren nnd Irrtum eln·
fuebren. - L ulhe·.
Es at keln Ding, das die Leute mehr
bei der Kirche bebaelt denn die gute
Predigt. - Apologia, ..trl. ~
If the trumpet give an uncertain Bound,
who sba U prepare himself to the battle f
J Cor. If, 8.
Published for the
Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States
CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE, St. Louis, Ko.
ARCHIV
344 The Story of the German Bible.
fagt mit bem gronen 5!Bort: ,,~iefe5 if! genug au tuafjrer @:inigfeit ber
djriftridjen ~itdje, ban ba einiriidjtigIidj nadj reinem !8erftanb ba5
@:bangelium geptebigt un/} Die @Saframen1e bem giittIidjen m50rt gemiit
gercidjt tuetben; unb ift nidjt not au tuafjter @:inigfeit bet djtiftridjen
~rdje, ban aIIentfjaL6en gleidjfiirmige 3etemonien, bon ben W?enfdjen
cingefett. gefjarten tuerben"; fo entfdjieben Eutfjet gerabe in bet fdjon
iifter5 aitierten treffTidjen @Sdjrift ,,~eutfdje W?effe unb Orbnung be5
®otte§bienfte§" betont, ban e§ feine W?einung nidjt fei, ban man iiberall
"unfere m5iHenbergifdje Orbnung annegmen miinte": fo gat er bodj aud}
ebenfo entfdjieben betont, b-an e§ fdjiin fei, tuenn Grfjriften audj in biefem
@Siliefe "gIeidjer m5eife unb ®ebiirben" finb, unb gefag±: "iSein tuiire e§,
tuo in einer jegIidjen &;:lerrfdjaf± ber ®otie§bienft aUf einedei 5!Beife
ginge unb Die umTiegenben @Stiibtrein unb ~iirfrein mit ciner @Stab!
gfeidj padeten [teiIten]." (X, 226 f.) E. is .
. . ~
The Story of the German Bible.
A Contribution to the Quadricentennial of Lut'her's Translation.
IX. The Eighteen Pre-Lutheran Translations of the Bible.
For the student of the Bible and its various translations and
versions it is most stimulating to be told by scholars who know the
field that, in addition to more than a score of Psalters which have
till now been found complete or in parts, and at least a dozen render-
ings of other parts of Holy Scripture, as we have seen, there is an
immense field of study in the history of the German Bible whose pos-
sibilities are not yet exhausted. Among the men whose names are
prominent in this field are those of Ebert, Giese, Kehrein, Steigen-
berger, Panzer, and especially Wilhelm Walther. This eminent scholar
writes: "Of printed editions of the whole Bible at the end of the
Middle Ages there were eighteen in High German, five in Low Ger-
man. Kehrein, indeed, mentions nine other editions, 'whose existence,
however, was not proved, his purpose being to instigate further re-
searches.' But after we had addressed inquiries to about 400 libraries
and, in all cases where an unknown edition seemed to be extant, by
further research work determined the existence of an error, the pos-
sibility mentioned by him has become an improbability. It is not to
be assumed that a German edition of the Bible has been lost entirely.
Of the Bible printed by Koburger in Nuernberg in 1483 we have de-
termined the existence to this day of 58 copies, of the so-called first
High-German Bible, which is so often referred to as of great rarity,
28 copies, and of that High-German edition which is probably the
rarest in fact, we still found ten copies. As a matter of fact the num-
ber is somewhat greater, since we do not have the information on all
The Story of the German Bible. 345
libraries and some of them have two copies of these treasures, and
there are, furthermore, copies in the hands of private persons."
Walther himself enumerates eighteen impressions of complete
German Bibles between 1466 and 1521, of which fourteen are in High
German. These may be divided into three large groups as follows: -
A. 1. Strassburg, Mentel, ca. 1466; 2. Strassburg, Eggestein, 1470;
a. Augsburg, Pflanzmann, 1473. - B. 4. Augsburg, Zainer, 1473; 5. Swiss,
1474; 6. Augsburg, Zainer, 1477; 7. Augsburg, Sorg, 1477; 8. Augsburg,
Sorg, 1480 (practically a reprint of 6). - C. 9. Nuernberg, Koburger, 1483 ;
10. Strassburg, Grueninger, 1485; II. Augsburg, Schoensperger, 1487;
12. Augsburg, Schoensperger, 1490; 13. Augsburg, H. Otmar, 1507;
14. Augsburg, S. Otmar, 1518.
The Low-German Bibles include the Old Testament of Delft
{1477) without Psalms, the famous Picture Bible of Oologne (ca. 1478),
the Bible of Luebeck (1494), and the edition of Ludwig Trutebul of
Halberstadt (1522). To these may be added the Low-German Bible of
Muenster, which is very much like that of Delft.
On the basis of a number of factors it is now assumed that the
Bible which was printed by Mentel of Strassburg in 1466 is the oldest
Df the entire group. The edition by Eggestein was based on that of
Mentel, and Pfianzmann followed Eggestein. For that reason a sample
of Mentel's work will be of interest, namely, a few verses from Luke 1
(68-75) :-
Gesegent ist der herre gott isrI': wann er hat heimgesuocht vnd hat
gethan die derlosunge seins volcks. Vnd had vns aufgericht dz horn der
behaltsam in dem haus dauids seins kints: als er hat geredt durch den
mund seiner heiligen weyssagen die do seint von der werlt. Die behaltsam
von vnsern feinden: vnd von der hand aller die vns hassten. Zethuon die
derbermd mit vnsern vettern: Vn zegedencken seins heiligen geseugs. Daz
.geschworn recht das er schwuor zuo abraham vnserm vatter sich seIber vns
zegeben. Daz wir im dienen on vorcht: vn seine der lost von der hand
vnser feinde. In heiligkeit vn inrecht vor im: all vnser tag.
The fourth printed German Bible, that of Zainer, is a corrected
edition of the second Bible, that of Eggestein, but it is based entirely
upon the Vulgate, from a copy of which Walther believes that it
originated in Spain. The other printed Bibles of Group B are clearly
reprints of the work of Zainer or so largely dependent upon him that
very few striking differences have been noted by Walther. He writes:
"'In all the more important points the fourth to eighth Bibles are en-
tireJy similar. Only the last one, the second edition prepared by Sorg
in 1480, has an innovation. It has ... not only a list of the Biblical
books, but also a table which gives the contents of each chapter in
a short form."
In the ninth Bible a number of innovations must be noted. The
printer, Koburger of Nuernberg, called by Badius librariorum facile
princeps (easily the first of booksellers), not only asserted that his
.edition was clear and correct, but added the boast: "mit hohem vnd
groszem vleusz gegen dem lateynischen text gerechtuertigt. vnder-
346 The Story of the German Bible.
schidlich punctirt. mit vberschrifften bey dem meysten teylder capitel
vnd psalm. iren inhalt vnd vrsach anzaygende. Vnd mit schoen en
figuren dy hystorien bedeutenden (with high and great diligence com-
pared with the Latin text, provided with clear punctuation marks, with
headings of most chapters and psalms, indicating their content and
object; and with fine figures explaining the stories). The work of
Koburger was so well done that- it was made the basis of the remaining
editions of Group 0, with only comparatively slight changes and cor-
rections. The following samples from the Koburger Bible will serve
for orientation: -
Ex. 15, 1. 2: (D) 0 sang moyses vnml die sun israhel disen gesang
dem herren vnd sprachen. Wir singen dem herren wunsamgklich. wan er
ist groszmechtig worden. er warf in das meere das rosz vn den aufsitzer.
Del' herre ist meyn stercke vnnd meyn lobe. vnnd ist mil' gemacht zu eynem
hey!. Del' ist meyn gott. vnnd ich will in glorifiziren gott meynes vaters.
vnnd ich erhoh in.
Luke 1, 68~71: Gesegent ist del' herre got israhel. wann eT hat
heymgesucht vnn hat gethan die erloszung seins volcks. Vnli hat uns auff-
gericht das horn des heyls in dem hausz dauid seins kindes. Als er hat
geredt dUTch den mund seiner hey ligen weyssagen die da sind von del' welt.
Das heyl ausz vnsern veinden. vnd von del' hand allel' del' die vns hassten.
The Low-German Bibles, which are related in language to the
Dutch Bibles, offer a fine field for study, since many of the words are
close to the Old German, the Anglo-Saxon, and the modern English.
The first verses of Genesis in the Delft Bible read: -
IN den beginne seyep god hemel ende eerde. Mer die eerde was
vnnutte en ydel. En donkerheden waren op die aensichte des afgronts.
En gods gheest wert gedragen bouen die water en. ENde got seide dat liehte
moet werden. An dat lichte wort gemaket.
But stimulating as the study of these various versions is in itself,
their importance cannot be compared with that of the German trans-
lation of the Bible made by Martin Luther, which is to engage our
attention in the next chapters.
X. The Beginning of Luther's Work as Translator.
The last of the so-called pre-Lutheran versions of the Bible in
High German, as we have seen, was published by Silvanus Otmar at
Augsburg, in 1518. This was at the time when Martin Luther was
already becoming prominent on account of his opposition to the traffic
in indulgences. But Luther's preparation for the greatest work of
his life began long before this, years before he posted his Ninety-five
Theses against Johann Tetzel.
It is noteworthy that the education which Luther received was
as comprehensive as that of most of the learned men of his day. The
secondary schools which he attended at Magdeburg and Eisenach of-
fered a good training in the course of study then in vogue for the
learned professions. The University of Erfurt enjoyed a very good
reputation among the European schools of the beginning of the six-
The Story of the Germa.n Bible. 347
teenth century, and Luther made good use of his time in studying
philosophy, logic, dialectics, rhetoric, ethics, the latter especially ac-
cording to Aristotle, and the classics, such as Oicero, Vergil, Livius,
Plautus, Herodotus, and others. After he had received his university
degree, and after his venture into the field of monastic living, he had
several further semesters of work both at Wittenberg and at Erfurt.
He became baccalaureus ad biblia on March 9, 1509, at Wittenberg,
and here he also received the degree of doctor in theologia, on Oc-
tober 19, 1512. The work connected with the attaining of these
degrees was in itself a training of the hardest kind, which gave Luther
much of the freedom and ease that he later displayed in his writings.
To this general education, also of an advanced form, we must add
the special training which Luther acquired in Greek and Hebrew.
As soon as he was admitted to the theological faculty at Wittenberg,
he began to lecture on the Bible, his first lecture on the Book of
Genesis being delivered on October 25, 1512. In August of the next
year he began his lectures on the Psalter, in April, 1515, on the Letter
to the Romans, in October, 1516, on the Letter to the Galatians, in
1517 on the Letter to the Hebrews. From 1513 to 1516 his friend
Johannes Lang was a member of the Wittenberg faculty, and Luther
did not hesitate to make use of his friend's knowledge of Greek in
'Order to search the original language of the New Testament. As soon
as the first edition of the New Testament issued by Erasmus was
on the market, in 1516, Luther made use of the Greek text in his
exposition of Romans, as may be seen from the edition published by
Ellwein. With regard to Hebrew the progress of Luther was also
remarkable, once he had mastered the rudiments of the language from
the grammar-dictionary of Reuchlin. He paid little attention to
grammatical details, but read rapidly and copiously until he had
entered into the spirit of the language and could thus use it with
pleasure and sympathy. Luther's own remarks on the original tongues
of the Bible are characteristic: "The Hebrew tongue is altogether
despised because of impiety or perhaps because people despair of
learning it. . .. Without this language there can be no understanding
()f Scripture; for the New Testament, although written in Greek,
is full of Hebraisms. It is rightly said that the Hebrews drink from
the fountains, the Greeks from the streams, and the Latins from the
pools. I am no Hebrew grammarian, nor do I wish to be, for I cannot
bear to be hampered by rules; but I am quite at ease in the language,
for whoever has the gift of tongues, even though he cannot forthwith
turn anything into another language, or interpret it, yet has a won-
·derful gift of God. The translators of the Septuagint were unskilled
in Hebrew, and their version is therefore extremely poor, even though
literal. We prefer it to the version of Jerome, even though we con-
fess that he who reviled Jerome as a good Jew was mistaken and did
348 The Story of the German Bible.
him wrong. But he has this excuse, that after the Babylonian Oap-
tivity the language was so corrupted that it could not be restored."
"The knowledge [of Hebrew] is of extraordinary advantage in under-
standing the Scripture clearly." "Without the Hebrew language it
is not possible to understand the Scripture, especially the prophets,
in a number of passages."
Luther's genius in linguistics was of particular value also in the
German which he chose for his translation of the Bible. The words
of McGiffert (Martin Luther, the Man and His Work, 225) present
the facts in a very satisfactory way: "The German employed by him
[Luther] was not his own creation, but it owed him much. The
dialects of the day were many and various, so that people living only
a few score miles apart, as he once remarked, could scarcely under-
stand each other. But a common diplomatic language had already
developed and became the medium of official communication between
all the principalities of the land. This he made the basis of his
written German. 'I use no special dialect of my own,' he once said,
'but the common German language that I may be understood by all
alike. I use the speech of the Saxon chancellery,3) which is followed
by all the princes and kings of Germany.' Formal, stilted, and clumsy
enough it was as employed in the state documents of the day, but he
greatly modified and enriched it, making it more flexible and col-
loquial and enlarging its vocabulary from the language of the people,
spoken and written. He had a wide knowledge of current literature,
devotional and otherwise, and an enormous fund of popular saws
and proverbs, and his style, as a rule, was not only simple and clear,
but wonderfully vivid and picturesque."
This quotation naturally suggests the question as to whether
Luther made use of the previous translations of the Bible. This
charge has been made repeatedly, occasionally even rising to the
height of a direct accusation of plagiarism. Geffcken writes: "That
the agreement of Luther with the old translation cannot be an ac-
cidental one the few passages which I shall have printed under the
text will prove." Hopf believed that he had found in Luther "definite
indications of his use of his predecessors." Kraft made the state-
ment: "Anyone who makes a comparison between these parallels will
hardly retain a doubt that tIle agreement of Luther with the Bible
of the sixteenth century is not accidental." W edewer thought he
could prove that "Luther had used the old Oatholic translation to
a large extent, resp. retained it essentially in the New Testament,
only revising it."4) A recent critic of the same school is Florer, who
3) This was practically the language developed in the chancellery of
the empire at Prague.
4) See Walther, Die deutsche BibeWbersetzung des Mittelalters,
col. 40.
The Story of the German Bible. 349
-asserts: "It is absolutely certain that the extent of Luther's use of
the earlier versions has been greatly underestimated. Such extensive
similarities in any other literary work would provoke much criticism
as to the originality of the author. Due allowance must of necessity
be given to the fact that in a translation from one, in this case at
times from two languages, into another language certain similarities
are inevitable; but the correspondence between Luther's translation of
the New Testament and the Kobmger edition is so striking that one
may speak of changes rather than of similarities."5)
These statements would seem at first blush to be serious charges;
but as a matter of fact the situation is not nearly as gloomy as these
critics allege. .A. careful comparison of the various passages offered
by Florer yields nothing in favor of his position. We print a few
parallel columns from sections chosen almost at random, including
some of those in which the critics find evidence of plagiarism.
KOBURGER.
Luke 2: Vnd hyrten warn in deselben gegent. die do waehten. vnd
behiiten. die waehen del' llacht vber ir herde. vnd seht del' engel des
herre (n) stund bey in. vnd die klarheyt gots vm (b) leuehtet sie, vnd sie
forehten sich mit grosser voreht. vnd del' engel spraeh zu in. Nieht wolt
eueh fiirehten. Abel' seht. Ieh verkiinde eueh ei (n) grosse frewde die do
wirt aHem volek. wan (n) heut ist eueh geborn. der behalter del' do ist
christus del' herr in del' stat dauid.
LUTHER.
Und es waren Hirten in derselbigen Gegend auf dem Felde bei den
Hiirden, die hiiteten des Naehts ihrer Herde. Und siehe, des Herrn Engel
trat zu ihnen, und die Klarheit des Herrn leuehtete um sie; und sie
fiirehteten sieh sehr. Und der Engel spraeh zu ihnen: Fiirehtet eueh nieht,
siehe ieh verkiindige euch grosze Freude, die aHem Volk widerfahren wird;
denn eueh ist heute del' Heiland geborell, welcher ist Christus, del' Herr,
in del' Stadt Davids.
Now, although the text of the Vulgate in this instance is quite
close to the Greek, it is obvious at once that the Kobmger edition is
clumsy and unwieldy while that of Luther shows the true elegance of
idiomatic German. This appears still more strongly in other passages
throughout the New Testament, but particularly in the Old Testament.
KOB1JRGER.
Habakkuk 3: HErre ieh hab gehort dein hiirung. vnd hab mieh ge-
fiireht. Herr dein werek in dem mittel del' iar mache es lebendig. In de
mittel del' iare. wirst du maehen ofIenwar. so du bist zornig. du wirst
gedeneken del' erbermbde.
LUTHER.
HERR, ieh habe dein Geriieht gehoret, dasz ieh mieh entsetze. HERR,
du machst dein Werk lebendig mitten in den Jahren, und Hissest es kund
werden mitten in den Jahren. Wenn Triibsal da ist, so denkest du der
Barmherzigkeit.
5) Luther's Usc at the Pre-Lutheran Ve1'sious at the Bible, 32.
350 The Story of the German Bible.
A careful comparison of dozens of passages forces the conclusion
that in fewer than one-third of the New Testament passages is there
any kind of apparent agreement. These are practically all such pas-
sages as show a close agreement of the Vulgate with the Greek and
hence offer the possibility of a similarity in a translation into the
same tongue. It is probable that Luther had heard some of these
passages in German, and he may possibly even have read parts of these
translations, so that certain peculiar expressions adhered in his reten-
tive memory. More than this cannot be proved or even safely alleged
with regard to the New Testament. And as for the Old Testament,
the dissimilarity is so great as to make any charge of plagiarism
ridiculous. The matter is well put by Grimm: "In view of the great
difference between Luther's Bible and its predecessor it might seem
strange that both occasionally, especially in the New Testament, con-
etzensteiner, however, who had for good reasons not been informed of
The Story of the German Bible. 353
'Coming events, sprang out of the wagon like a frightened hare and dis-
appeared behind the bushes. Meanwhile the horsemen had approached
and now, with crossbows ready to shoot, demanded of the driver
whether he had Luther in the wagon. He in his terror immediately
acknowledged as much. Thereupon they drew the Reformer out of
the wagon with blasphemous curses, while Amsdorf raised a loud cry,
and quickly dragged him away on the road to Brotterode, so that he
had to run beside the nags in a trot over sticks and stones, like a dog.
It was only when the wagon was no longer in sight that they revealed
their identity and lifted him upon a horse. But then they rode, in
order to avoid the traveled paths and to obliterate their tracks, back
and forth for hours, so that he was thoroughly exhausted when finally,
toward 11 o'clock, he entered the court of the Wartburg over the
rattling drawbridge. There he was received by the knight Sternberg
and by the captain of the castle, Hans von Berlepsch." Thus began
Luther's memorable stay at the Wartburg, the "exile" which lasted till
the beginning of March, 1522, and was interrupted only by a secret
visit to Wittenberg in December, 1521.
During the first months of Luther's stay at the Wartburg the
literary labors of the Reformer followed lines which indicated the
trend of his interests. He produced a translation and an exposition of
the 68th Psalm, as noted above, also one of Psalm 22, of the Magnificat,
of the 37th Psalm, of Luke 17, 11-19, of Luke 21, 25-36, and other
sections of Scripture. He also wrote a number of treatises to defend
his previous books against the condemnations of the papists and to
attack, in turn, such as refused to accept the truth.
But Luther's chief work during his stay at the Wartburg, that
which is, in fact, ever associated with this period of his life, is his
translation of the New Testament. This was undertaken shortly after
his return from Wittenberg, where he had secretly gone between the
2d and about the 10th of December, in order to counteract the icono-
clastic activities of Oarlstadt and his friends. It is interesting to
follow the progress of the work from statements in Luther's own
letters. On December 18 he wrote to his friend Johannes Lang:
"I shall remain hidden here till Easter. Meanwhile I shall compile
the postils and translate the New Testament into German, wherewith
you also, as I hear, are engaged. Oontinue as you have begun. Would
to God that every single city had its interpreter, and this book alone
live in the mouth, the hand, the eyes, the ears, and the hearts of all."
(15, 2555.) Lang's translation of the gospel of Matthew had appeared
in June, 1521, but Luther had heard about it only toward the end of
the year. On December 20 Luther wrote to Wenceslaus Link in
Nuernberg: "I am now working on the postil and on the translation
of the Bible into German." (21 a, 372.)
Evidently the great Reformer worked with steady application, for
23
354 The Story of the German Bible.
on January 13 he speaks of his work at length in a letter to Amsdorf:-
"Meanwhile I shall translate the Bible, although I have taken a burden
upon me which transcends my powers. I now see what translating-
means and why till now it has not been undertaken by anyone who
would mention his name. But the Old Testament I shall not be able
to manage, unless you are present and work along. Yea, if it could be-
done that I could have a secret room with some one of you, I would
come at once and with your assistance translate it all from the begin-
ning that it might become a worthy translation, which would be read
by the Christians; for I hope that we can give to our Germany a better
translation than that which the Latins have. It is a great and worthy
work, in which we should all be engaged, since it is a public under-
taking and is to be dedicated to the public welfare." (15, 2559.)
There are no further letters on this topic from the Wartburg-
available; but after Luther's return to Wittenberg, on March 6, we
find that his translation of the New Testament was finished. He so'
states in a letter to Spalatin on March 30: "I had translated not only
the Gospel of John, but the entire New Testament in my Patmos;
but now we, Philip and I, have begun to file on it, and if God will, it
will become a worthy effort; but we want to make use also of your-
help occasionally in order to place the words in the proper form. Get
ready therefore, but in such a way that you give us simple words, not
those in use in the castle and at court, for this book requires to be
made clear through simplicity. And to begin with, see that you give
us the names as well as the colors of the precious stones in Rev. 21 and.
that you, please God, either from the court or from any other place,
provide us with a sight of them." (15, 2555 f.) By May 10 the work
had progressed to a point that the first form of the German trans-
lation of the New Testament could be sent out, for on that day Luther-
wrote to Spalatin: "I am sending you a sample of our new Bible, but-
with the idea that you retain it, that it may not be propagated. I am
expecting the precious stones; they will be kept faithfully and re--
turned." (15, 2556.) Five days later, in writing to the same friend"
Luther refers to a slight difficulty in finding a good word and also,
speaks of the precious stones again. (21a, 407.)
At the end of May, Luther again writes to Spalatin, with ref-
erence to the forms of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which had been
sent to just a few people: "I hope that you have received the entire
German Matthew, with the other things; for it seemed good to us to
honor you alone in this way, since we presuppose that this will be'
shown also to the prince. A copy will also be sent to Duke John;-
besides him nobody will get to see as much as a leaf, not even those
who work in the print-shop. I should like to know how you like this-
work." (15, 2566.) The progTess had been very rapid, as a letter of
Luther to Spalatin on July 26 informs us: "Up till now I have sent
The Story of the German Bible. 355
,-you a copy of the New Testament piecemeal up to the Gospel of Luke
.and the Letter to the Corinthians. I am now sending the rest; if it
should not have reached you, make inquiry where inquiry ought to
. be made or write me in case it is lost that I may not continue to waste
:,also the next forms. In addition, I am sending another, complete
,copy, as far as it is printed, what I have received from them for the
prince; for on that account they conscientiously keep the impressions.
The work is proceeding slowly. For now you have only half, and there
: are still eighteen forms remaining. It will not be finished before the
Day of St. Michael, although they daily with three presses print ten
thousand pages with prodigious labor and diligence." (15,2574.) Lu-
.ther's estimate concerning the date of the complete printed copy of the
New Testament (September 29) was not quite correct; for on Sep-
tember 20 he wrote to Spalatin: "Behold, you now have the entire New
'Testament for you and for the Elector, with the exception of the
Preface to Romans, which will be finished to-morrow. I am also
sending a copy for the younger prince, which you will give him in
'my name; this Lucas [Cranach] and Christian [Doering] have given
into my hand. For I believe that Wolfgang Stein has already sent
. one for the older prince." (21a, 446 f.)
It was surely an amazing piece of work for Luther to translate
the entire New Testament, revise and polish his translation with the
,help of Melanchthon and Spalatin, see it through the press, and have
it ready for the book market in the short space of nine months. It
·shows the Reformer's immense energy and working ability in addition
to his genius. In order to expedite printing, the manuscript was
,divided into three parts, so that the gospels and the Acts were set at
·the same time with the epistles and the Book of Revelation. The book
was embellished with twenty-one woodcuts from the shop of Lucas
"Oranach, who followed a series by Albrecht Duerer. The title of the
'book was:-
Das Newe Testa/ment Deutzsch. Vuittemberg. (Date not given.)
. The printer was Melchior Lotther, the publishers Christian Doering
.:and Lucas Cranach. The price per copy was one and a half gulden,
the value of which can be estimated by considering that the salary of
Bugenhagen as professor at the university was forty gulden per year
,until 1526.
The date of the first edition of the New Testament, in agree-
:ment with the last letter quoted above and a further one written on
the next day (21a, 447) is September 21, 1522. This edition is known
'as the September-Bibel. No sooner was it on the market than prep-
:arations were made for a second revised edition. This problem has
:been studied very thoroughly by Kuhrs (Verhaeltnis der Dezember-
bibel zur Septemberbibel). The edition was on the market on De-
«cember 19, 1522, and was hailed with as much delight as had been the
356 The Story of the German Bible.
first printing. Melchior Lotther was again the printer, and the wood--
cuts of the previous edition were again pressed into service. A feature
of both editions were the introductions which Luther wrote for the
various books and the special notes or glosses, largely in the form of
side-heads, which served for the better understanding of the text. The
Preface of the Letter to the Romans is rightly regarded as one of the
classics of Lutheran literature. It has been repeatedly translated into
English, and its testimony is said to have brought J ohn Wesley to the
knowledge of the truth of salvation. The Preface to the Book of
Revelation as prepared by Luther for the editions of 1522 was sup-
pressed by him in later editions as being too sweeping in its emphasis
upon the book as an antiZegomenon. But even at that Luther conceded
that one might well take issue with him concerning his opinion. It is
well known that Luther's interpretation of this book in later years
may rightly be regarded as an outstanding achievement.
In closing this chapter on Luther's German translation of the
New Testament we quote at length from the appreciation which ac-
companies the new edition of the September-Bibel, issued by Kawerau
and Reichert in 1918. We read there, in part: "In December of the
year 1521 we meet the announcement in his letters that he was en-
gaged in the translation of the New Testament into German 'that our
friends demand.' At the beginning he was still undecided whether he
ought not rather to start with the Old Testament; but he realized
well that he would not be equal to this task without consulting various
sources of assistance, that he would even have to go to Wittenberg in
order to employ the help and advice of the learned men there. So he
quickly made up his mind to translate the New Testament into Ger-
man. Such was the speed with which he pursued his labors that he
could report to his friend Spalatin after his return from the Wartburg,
in sending him a translation of the Gospel of St. John, that he had
translated not only this gospel, but the entire New Testament. This
is a surprising performance if one considers that he had hardly eleven
weeks at his disposal for this work. If one is aware of the fact that
the Greek New Testament in the widely spread edition of the Stutt-
gart Bible Society comprises 657 pages, so that about ten pages of
the Greek text had to be translated daily, and if one takes note of the
fact that during this short span of time Luther had many another bit
of work in hand, one is amazed at his energy and endurance. It has
recently been conjectured that this could have been possible only if he
had placed the medieval German Bible translation beside him and had
then changed this in keeping with his linguistic genius and on the
basis of a comparison with the original. But would that really have
been an alleviation of the work? In the simple narrative texts the
reference to an older German version would have been superfluous, and
in the case of more difficult texts with complicated sentence structure'
The Story of the German Bible. 357
the older translation with its totally different form of sentence struc-
ture and word sequence would have been an obstacle rather than an
alleviation. Not one trace can be noted which would lead us to assume
that Luther had that medieval Bible available on the Wartburg. His
performance is rather explained in this manner, that any piece of
work went forward with unusual speed once he had his pen in hand
and that he had an amazing endurance in working. But in addition it
should be considered that, as preacher of the divine Word and as theo-
logical teacher, he had for years lived in the Scripture and was thor-
oughly at home in it, that he had lectured on the more difficult books of
the New Testament (Romans, Hebrews, Galatians), and had thus
worked through them in the most intensive fashion. He did not take
his work easy; for he makes the significant confession that he only
now realized what it meant to translate and that he now understood
why earlier translators had not mentioned their names. Through this
very work, as he says, it had been brought home to him that he must
not think he was learned. For his Greek text he very likely used the
edition which a friend in Strassburg, Nicolaus Gerbel, had sent him
the summer before.9) But the work of this man was essentially a re-
print of the great work of Erasmus of 1519, in which this man had
combined with the Greek text a Latin translation and detailed re-
marks." Thus the German New Testament of 1522 came into being.
XII. The Completion of the Whole Bible in German.
Even before the second edition of Luther's New Testament In
German, the so-called Dezember-Bibel, was on the market, he began
work on the Old Testament, a project which he had contemplated for
some time. Some of these references have been noted above, and
another is contained in a letter addressed to Nicolaus Gerbel in
Strassburg, dated November 1, 1521. (15, 2518 f.) After the last
proofs of the September-Bibel had been read, Luther evidently turned
at once to the Old Testament, of which he possessed the Hebrew
edition issued by Gerson ben Mosheh in Brescia, dated 1494. With
what energy he applied himself to his task appears from a letter ad-
dressed to Spalatin on November 3, 1522: "In the translation of the
Old Testament I am now at the Book of Leviticus, for it is in-
credible to what degree letters, business, social duties, and many other
things have hindered me. But now I have decided to lock myself in
at home and to hurry in order that Moses may be sent to the presses
by January. For him we want to issue separately, then the historical
books, and the prophets last. For the size and the price of the books
make it necessary for us thus to divide them and to issue them
gradually." (15,2578.) The progress made by December 11 is re-
9) This- was a reprint of the second edition of Erasmus. Cpo Wahl,
Die dwtsche BibeZ vom 15. bis 18. Jahrh.; also St. Louis Ed., 15,2517 ff.
358 The Story of the German Bible.
gistered in at least two places. To Spalatin, Luther wrote on that
date: "In this week I shall complete the Book of Deuteronomy, and
we are even now revising the printed sheets that it may be put on the
presses." (21a,461.) And to Wolfgang Stein in Weimar he addressed
the words: "In this week I shall complete the translation of the books
of Moses." (18, 1434.)
Meanwhile, on November 7, 1522, the mandate of Duke George of
Saxony had gone out which demanded that the New Testament as
issued in German by Luther should be delivered to the designated
officials. The mandate closes with the warning: "If we should find
anyone, whether woman or man, who in spite of this our command
should be in possession of these books or reprints or copies of them,
we shall not permit them to remain unpunished, but shall give such
an exhibition of our power as to have every one take note that we
intend to enforce the obedience of the Ohristian Ohurch and of its
supreme heads as much as we possibly can." (19, 489.)
However, if Luther knew of these formidable threats, he did not
permit them to be an obstacle in his work. On December 12 he sent
a letter to Spalatin in which he asked for the proper German names
of quite a number of birds, mammals, and reptiles in order to get
the lists in Lev. 11, 29 f. and Deut. 14, 5 £'. correct. And on Decem-
ber 19 he wrote to Wenceslaus Link in Altenburg: "Be commended
to the Lord and pray for me. Moses I have finished in the transla-
tion. A second edition of the New Testament [the so-called Dezember-
Bibel, mentioned above] is finished; now they intend to take up
Moses. It is surprising how much we have need of you in the
German language. Whether your bookseller has paid I do not know.
To me he has given nothing, and I have given him orders that he
should pay Lotther; whether he has given it to him I cannot ascertain,
for he does not know either." (15, 2581.) In January, 1523, Luther
had an opportunity to show his friend Nicolaus Gerbel his apprecia-
tion of the kindness shown by the latter in forwarding to the Wart-
burg a copy of his Greek edition of the New Testament, which had
been printed by Thomas Anshelm at Hagenau. (15, 2519, note 10.)
In sending Gerbel a copy of his translation of the New Testament,
Luther makes an interesting comparison: "I am returning you your
bride [that is, his translation of the New Testament], which you have
o£'ered to me, and she is still pure and uncontaminated. And what
is marvelous and new in this woman, she desires very seriously and
su£'ers countless rivals and is the more chaste, the more betrothals
are arranged for her." (21a, 477.)
The five books of Moses having appeared in 1523 and the his-
torical books from Joshua to Esther inclusive in 1524, Luther prepared
for the more difficult sections of the Old Testament. That he was
constantly on the alert for assistance in this work is seen from a letter
to Johannes Hess, dated August 27, 1523. In this letter he says:
The Story of the German Bible. 359
"Greetings, preacher of the Preacher Ecclesiastes [Hess having de-
livered a series of lectures on this book at Breslau]; but see to it
also that that Preacher be alive, for we also want to hear him or at
least read him through you. Attend to it, therefore, that we receive
your expositions of this book in order to make use of them when this
book is to be translated into German." (21a, 542.) Early the next
year, when Luther was working on the poetical books of the Old
Testament, he wrote to Spalatin, the letter being dated February 23,
1524 : "With us everything is getting along well. Only in the transla-
tion of Job we had much trouble on account of the sublimity of its
transcendently majestic style, so that he seems to be much more im-
patient on account of our translation than on account of the comfort
of his friends . . ., if the author of this book did not indeed desire
that it should never be translated. This factor retards the printing
of this third part of the Bible." (21a, 596.) At another time he
wrote to Wenceslaus Link: "How great and laborious a task it is
to force Hebrew writers to talk German! How they strive against it
and rebel at being compelled to forsake their native manner and
follow the rough German style! It is just as if a nightingale were
made to give up its own sweet melody and imitate the song of the
cuckoo though disliking it extremely." Another saying of Luther's
is also found in practically all biographies: "With Philip [Melanch-
thon] and Aurogallus 1 sometimes pondered a full fourteen days upon
the meaning of a word or line before the proper idiomatic phraseology
was discovered." Mathesius, who quotes these words, has also other
information concerning the further work of Luther, as we shall see
below.
About this time, in the year 1525, Luther was also working on
another edition of the Pentateuch, for on February 11 he wrote to
Spalatin: "1 have been urged to finish Deuteronomy that the printers
may not suffer loss." (21a, 720.) Somewhat more than a year later,
on April 20, 1526, Luther wrote to Johann Ruehel: "This matter has
so disturbed me that 1 have almost neglected the Psalter and the
psalms. . .. The Psalms are not yet ready, for 1 have too much to do.
Talking and doing is not the same thing. But you shall have your
Psalter." (21a, 854.) 10) On August 28 of the same year the Reformer
10) In this connection a few paragraphs on Luther's translation of
the Psalter will prove interesting. "As Luther progressed in his knowledge
of Hebrew, ... he refrained more and more from using the Vulgate and
St. Jerome's translation in his endeavor to make his translation conform
better to the meaning of the Hebrew original. The method used was the
comparison of the way he translated individual words and phrases in
the different versions of the Psalms. His translation of the seven Peni-
tential Psalms in 1517 was not made from the Hebrew original, but from
the Vulgate with the assistance of Jerome's text and Reuchlin's Septene.
At that time Luther did not possess a Hebrew Psalter, but later received
a copy from his learned friend Johann Lang, to whom he had sent the
manuscript for correction. The influence of pre-Lutheran German transla-
360 The Story of the German Bible.
tions is shown in the choice of words such as rechtfertigen for jU8tifiaari
and of erloe8en, which were familiar to Luther through the language of the
Church. - When we come to his translation of the Both Psalm, Augsburg,
1518, we find that Luther begins to consult the Hebrew original, although
not in large measure. Three years later, in 1521, Luther published a trans-
lation of three psalms (68, 119, 37). Here his use of the Hebrew is evident
from Bome marginal notes, from the transcription of two Hebrew words
giving their pronunciation, and from the vocabulary. Reuchlin's Hebrew
Grammar (Rudimenta Linguae Hebraicae) was used to help him in de-
ciphering the original. Only in the first of these psalms does Pahl find
traces of the influence of the VUlgate. Luther endeavors to get nearer to
the Hebrew and to follow it in preference to other sources. - Coming now
to the eight psalms taken up into his Betbuechlein of 1522, we find con-
siderable difference in the style as compared with his other translations.
This, Pahl attributes to the fact that the work was to be used as a devo-
tional book, or for family prayers. Here, too, the Hebrew original is used
in the main, resort being had to the Vulgate or to Jerome only in difficult
passages. Frequently Luther deviates considerably from the Vulgate in
favor of the Hebrew text. - The translation of the whole Psalter in 1521
shows still further progress in the understanding of the Hebrew. In dif-
ficult passages, however, we find him again resorting to Latin translations
,and commentaries, especially to that of Felix Pratensis of 1522. By this
time the Vulgate and Jerome's Psalter had lost their value for him as
sources; so he used them but little. As a theologian who had been brought
up on the Latin Bible, however, he could not escape their influence entirely.
His use of Pratensis is clear from quotations and translations he makes
from it. His independence from the Vulgate and St. Jerome is shown by
the fact that he frequently follows the Hebrew where they differ from it.
The fact, too, that he translates the same Hebrew word by the same Ger-
man word where the Vulgate and Jerome use different words shows that
he has penetrated deeply into the understanding of the Hebrew by this
time, especially with reference to the meanings of individual words. But
in syntactical matters as well Luther shows his independence by differing
more and more from the Vulgate. Only in one especially difficult case does
he resort to it for an explanation. Occasionally the influence of Jerome
may be seen. When he reaches the Psalms he had already translated be-
fore 1524, we find him revising them carefully according to his newly
,acquired principles of translation to make them conform in style and accu-
racy to the other psalms. - In the new edition of 1528 we find a thorough
revision of the text of 1524, with special reference to its philological and
critical accuracy. Very few changes can be traced to the Vulgate or
St. Jerome, but it is evident that Luther has changed his opinion as to the
exact connotation of several Hebrew words. By this time he has acquired
considerable virtuosity in the treatment of the Hebrew original. He dis-
tinguishes between Hebrew synonyms by corresponding differences in the
German terms. - In the revision of 1531 we find more radical changes than
in any of the former. They are mainly in the direction of improving the
German style. Not infrequently the translation deviates considerably from
the Hebrew in order to make the German more idiomatic. Luther was
now no longer working alone, but was helped by a whole staff of trans-
lators. Some of the unprinted Jewish commentaries used could not have
been read by Luther himself, and he must have had the help of learned
friends. Just what part Luther played in this revision we are unable to
say. Perhaps his share consisted mainly in inspiring his fellow-workers
and in bringing them under the spell of his thoughts and purposes. He
modestly uses the plural we in speaking of the revision. The Hebrew titles
'Of the psalms are difficult even for scholars of to-day and may have given
rise to sharp debates among the translators. - After 1531 very few changes
were made in the text. In the revision of 1534 and in that of 1539/41
they were mainly linguistic or stylistic in character or have to do with
typographical errors." (Quoted from a review of Daniel B. Shumway of
,a book by Thea. Pahl, Quellenstudien zu liuthers Psalmenilbersetzung.
Weimar 193L)
The Story of the German Bible. 361
made the following statements in a letter to Wenceslaus Link in
N uernberg: "I am reading Ecclesiastes, who on account of such
reading is extraordinarily unwilling and impatient; there are so many
Hebrew forms of speech and obstacles of the unknown tongue; but
by the grace of God I am finding my way through." (21a, 883.)
About May 4, 1527, Luther wrote to the same man: "I am now at
the point of rendering the prophets into German, while I at the same
time intend to lecture on Isaiah in order not to be idle." (21a, 936.)
The work proved quite arduous, for a letter to the same man on
June 14, 1528, contains the sigh: "We are now working to the point
of fatigue in translating the prophets into German." (21a, 1167.)
And again he writes to the same friend on May 21, 1529: "The Book
of Wisdom we have translated, while Philip was absent and I was
sick, in order that I might not be idle; it is now in print, after
I had revised it with the help of Philip." (21a, 1303.)
Shortly after the close of 1530 the work was nearing its end.
But Luther continued with undiminished vigor and energy. On
October 10, 1531, he wrote to Spalatin: "Every day I spend two'
hours in revising the prophets" (making corrections of the first draft
of his translation). (21a, 1701.) In February, 1532, while Luther
was at the court of the elector, he wrote to Veit Dietrich in Witten-
berg: "I am working on a preface to the prophets." (21 a, 1731.)
On November 2,1532, the work was almost finished; for Luther wrote
to Amsdorf that he was engaged in the translation of the Book of
Jesus Sirach. (21 a, 1783.)
The translation of the Old Testament, as indicated in Luther's
letters, was published in parts, as follows: -
1. The Pentateuch, in two folio editions and one octavo edition.
Wittenberg, 1523; then in four new editions, 1524--28, and in various
reprints.
2. The historical books Joshua to Esther. Wittenberg, in three
editions, 1524 and 1527, and in many reprints.
3. Job, the Psalter, and the writings of Solomon. Wittenberg,.
1524; in new editions, 1525 and 1526, and in many reprints.
4. The prophets. Wittenberg, 1533, and in a number of other
cities. Even before that Luther had issued the book of Jonah (1526),
Habakkuk (1526), Zechariah (1529, Ezekiel 38 and 39 (1533), also
Isaiah (1528) and Daniel (1530), all printed at Wittenberg in the
first edition.
5. The apocryphal books of the Old Testament, Wisdom (1529),
Jesus Sirach (1533), also the Prayer of Manasseh.
These five parts were published, together with the entire New
Testament, in 1534 under the heading: Biblia, das ist, die gantze
Heilige SchrifJt deudsch. Mart. Luth. Wittemberg. Begnadet mit
K urfiirstlicher zu Sachs en f1·eiheit. Gedruckt durch Hans Lufft. 1534.
362 The Story of the German Bible.
Thus the great work was finished.11)
But Luther did not rest on his laurels. On the contrary, he im-
mediately began the work of revision, and that not alone, but with the
help of his faithful Jriends. He himself remarked at one time: "Inter-
preters or translators should not be alone, for good and appropriate
words will not always come to an individual person." (22, 5.) The
work of revision is best summarized in the words of Mathesius: "When
the entire German Bible had gone out for the first time and one day
with its tribulation taught the other, Doctor Luther takes the Bible
and revises it from the beginning with great diligence, earnestness,
and prayer; and since the Son of God has promised to be present
where several would come together in His name, Doctor Luther im-
mediately orders a sanhedrin of his own of the best people who were
then available, who came together weekly several hours before supper
in the monastery of the doctor, namely: Doctor Johann Bugenhagen,
Doctor Justus Jonas, Magister Philip, Doctor Oruciger, Matthaeus
Aurogallus, with whom was also Magister Georg Roerer, who was the
~orrector; often also strange doctors and learned men came to this
important work, as Doctor Bernhard Ziegler, Doctor Forstemius.
"When, now, the doctor had previously gone over the Bible as
issued and had taken instruction from Jews and outside philologists,
also had addressed questions to older Germans concerning proper
words (just as he had several sheep slaughtered in order that a Ger-
man butcher might tell him the names of each part of the sheep),
then Doctor Luther came into the council with his old Latin and with
his new German Bible, together with which he constantly had also
the Hebrew text; Master Philip brought his Greek text, Doctor
Cruciger, beside the Hebrew, the Ohaldaic Bible; the professors had
their rabbinical commentaries along, Doctor Pommer also had a Latin
text before him, in which he was well versed. Everyone had prepared
himself in advance for the text which was up for discussion and had
looked over Greek and Latin besides the Jewish commentators.
Thereupon this chairman proposed a text and called upon everyone's
vote, hearing what everyone had to say on the passage according to
the peculiarity of the language or the exposition of the ancient doctors.
"After this preliminary admonition everyone brought out what
he knew from the gra=ar and the context, as it agreed with the
preceding and the following, or sought to bring proof of learned men,
until finally, in 1542, the work, by the grace of God, was completed;
although afterwards, when Doctor Luther wrote against the Jews,
the understanding grew from day to day and many passages were ren-
dered in a clearer fashion, which after the decease of the Doctor, with
11) The printing of the first complete Luther Bible was going on in
June. On August 6 the ~~lector granted the printing privilege to Johann
Lufft. On October 17 Levin Metzsch had a complete copy of Luther's Bible.
The Story of the German Bible. 363
the knowledge and council of the learned men of Wittenberg, were
entered into the last editions of the Bible by Magister Georg Roerer,
as, for example, the confession of Eve, Gen. 4, of her son Cain, whom
she believed to be the promised Messiah: 'I have received the man,
the Lord, or God.' Also in the last words of David the Doctor has the
text: 'Is that the ordinance of men?' in later editions thus: 'That is
the manner of a man, who is God from heaven.' Master Philip after-
wards likewise rendered some texts in a very fine manner, as Job
19, 25: 'I believe that my Redeemer lives, and at the end of the world
He will arise,' where the ancient Bible speaks of our resurrection.
Doctor Ziegler likewise explained some texts from the Hebrew very
beautifully, especially Is. 53: 'The Messiah died poor, in order that
He might make us rich'; also, Habakkuk in the 2d chapter: 'Write
the prophecy on a tablet that those who are busy in office and preach
have a certain form, how they may speak of the promised Seed of the
Woman in the proper way; for he who believes will be justified, ac-
cepted, and saved; he who is rebellious and does not believe will be
damned.'
"Doctor Forstemius explained many texts in a very happy and
comforting way in his lexicon, as he expounded Jacob's last words
concerning Dan in a thoroughly Christian manner of the promised
Seed of the Woman (Gen. 49, 18): 'Lord, I have waited for Thy
salvation; Samson and Gideon will not help me and mine from sin
and death; Thou alone art the one and true Helper, who will take
away sin and death forever and bring righteousness and life to all
that trust in Thee.' The verse Gen. 8,21 fi., where God speaks from
heaven, later also became clearer, where God promises that He would
henceforth not curse the world again on account of man, ... but that
He would bless all nations in Isaac's name, which is Christ, as
St. Paul testifies.''' (Pp.240-242.)
.As Mathesius indicates, the revision of the Bible continued prac-
tically as long as Luther lived. As early as 1535 a second edition
of the Bible became necessary; a third in 1536. The fourth edition,
thoroughly revised, was published in Wittenberg 1540-41; and the
last edition, the :fifth, as issued under Luther's supervision appeared
in 1545. The orner of the books was the same as that of the Latin
Vulgate except that Luther took the apocryphal writings, which in
the Latin were intermingled with the canonical sections, and placed
them in a separate volume or part.
In evaluating the worth of Luther's translation, one must keep
in mind what he himself said of his work. In his Preface to the Old
Testament of 1523 he writes: "Herewith I commend all my readers to
Christ and pray that they may help me to obtain the power from
God to conclude the work in a profitable way. For I confess freely
that I have ventured too much, particularly in rendering the Old
364 The Story of the German Bible.
Testament into German. For the Hebrew language, sad to say, is
in an unfortunate condition, so that even the Jews know little enough
about it and we cannot depend upon their glosses and explanations,
as I have attempted it. . .. But as for myself, although I cannot
boast of having attained all, I may nevertheless say this, that this
German Bible is clearer and more certain in many places than the
Latin, so that it is true: where the printers with their customary lack
of diligence do not corrupt it, the German language here most cer-
tainly has a better Bible than the Latin language ... , I have well
considered it from the beginning that I might sooner find ten thou-
sand who criticize my work than find one who would follow me
in the twentieth part." (14, 16. 17.) And in his Sendbl'ief vom
Dolmetschen, of September 8, 1530, in which he defends certain parts
of his translation, especially Rom. 3, 28, against the attacks of his
enemies, he has also the following passages: "In the second place,
you may say that I translated the New Testament into German ac-
cording to my best ability and conscience; I have compelled no one
to read it, but have left it free, only trying to be of service to such as
cannot produce a better translation. No one is forbidden to make
a better one. He who cannot read it, may let it lie. I do not beg,
nor do I praise, anyone for it. It is my Testament and my transla-
tion, and it is to remain and be mine. . .. I have used all diligence
in translating so that I might offer a pure and clear German. And it
often happened to us that we for fourteen days, for three and even
four weeks, searched and asked for an individual word and yet oc-
{)asionally did not find it. In Job we, that is, Magister Philip,
Aurogallus, and I, worked with such diligent application that we
sometimes barely finished three lines in four days. But now that it is
translated and ready, everyone can read and criticize it, with his
eyes quickly running over three or four pages and finding no harsh
place. But he does not notice what kind of obstacles and logs lay
there where he now walks as over a planed board, where we had to
perspire and were troubled before we removed such obstacles and logs
so that others could walk there so easily. . .. For this I can testify
to with a good conscience, that I showed my highest faithfulness and
,diligence therein and was not actuated by selfishness; for I neither
took nor sought nor gained a farthing thereby, nor did I set forth
my honor therein, that God, my Lord, knows, but I have done it to
serve the dear Ohristians and to the honor of Him who sits above, who
every hour grants me so many blessings that, if I had worked at my
translation with a thousandfold application and diligence, I should
thereby not have deserved one hour of my life." (19, 968 ff.)
These and other expressions of Luther concerning his work of
translating the Bible should be kept in mind at all times. All those
who have used the German Bible of Luther have carefully abstained
The Story of the German Bible. 365
from declaring it to be the authentic Bible text, knowing full well
that no translation can aspire to an honor which pertains to the
original text alone. But it is clear that Luther made his translation
with a linguistic equipment second to that of no other scholar of his
age, that he approached his work with a minimum of preconceived
notions and prejudices, and that his attitude throughout was that
of a consecrated believer.
But there is one phase of his work which deserves special men-
tion, namely, that phase which has given him the name "the creator
of modern High German." This was shown, for one thing, in Luther's
choice of words; for he possessed an amazing facility and fertility
in selecting words which exactly reproduce the sense of the original,
although he rarely became a literalist. But his genius in the field of
language was particularly prominent in his poetical ability, as it
appears in his use of rhythm, of alliteration, and of rime. Among
those given by Grimm we find the following especially interesting:-
Is. 7, 9: Glaenbet ihr, nicht, so bleibet ihr nicht.
Eccl. 12, 6: Ehe denn del' Eimer zerleohe im Born und das Rad zer-
breche im Born .
. Tohn 16, 12: leh habe euch noch viel zu sagen, aber ihr koennet's jetzt
nieht tragen.
Story of Susanna (apoer.):
Unter einer Linden. . .. Del' HErr wird dieh fi,nden.
Unter einer Eichen. . .. Del' HErr wird dich zeichen.
There are hundreds of passages in which the alliteration agrees with
the rhythm, as in the following cases: -
Ps. 8, 2 (v. 1 in English Bible): HErr, unser Herrscher, wie herrlich
ist dein Name in allen Landen, da man dir danket im Himmel.
Ps. 20, 7 (6 in English Bible): Nun merke ieh, dasz del' HErr seinem
Gesalbten hilft und el'hoeret ihn in seinem heiligen Himmel;
seine reehte Hand hilft gewaltiglieh.
Ps. 52, 4 (2 in English Bible): Deine Zunge traehtet nach Schaden und
sehneidet mit Luegen wie ein scharf Sehermesser.
Ps. 86, II: Weise mil', HErr, dcinen Weg, dasz ich wandIe in deiner
Wahrheit.
Ps. 104,3: Du woelbest es oben mit Wasser; du faehrest auf den Wol-
ken wie auf einem Wagen und gehest auf den Fittichen des
Windes.
Jer. 25, 16: Dasz sie trinken, taumeln und toll werden.
Is. 40, 31: Dasz sie laufen und nicht matt werden, dasz sie wandeln
und nicht muede werden.
These examples could be multiplied almost indefinitely. And that
this was not accidental or intuitive, but the result of deliberate choice
is shown by a comparison between earlier and later translations of the
same passages in the various editions prepared by Luther between
1522 and 1545. The following examples will bear this out, the first
line showing the earlier work, the second the revision.
366 The Story of the German Bible.
Deut. 32, 6: Du naerricht und unweises Volk.
Du toll und toericht Volk.
Ps. 33, 1: Freuet euch im HErrn, ihr Gerechten! Den Aufrichtigen.'
stehet das Ruehmen wahl an.
Freuet euch des HErrn, ihl' Gerechten! Die Frommen sollen"
ihn schoen preisen.
Ps. 46, 4: Wenn gleich das Meer tobete und auf einen Haufen fuehre.
Wenn gleich das Meer wuetete und wallete.
Ps. 88, 8: Dein Grimm haelt an ueber mich und draenget mich mit;
allen deinen Fluten.
Dein Grimm druecket mich und draenget mieh.
Ps. 111,9: Heilig und schrecklieh ist sein Name.
Heilig und hehr ist sein Name.
Provo 14, 13: Das Herz hat aueh im Lachen Schmerzen, und das Ende'
del' Freude ist Graemen.
Nach dem Lachen kommt das Trauern, und nach del"
Freude kommt Leid.
Jer. 2, 32: Vergisset doch eine Jungfrau ihres Kranzes nicht noeh eine'
Braut ihres Schleiers.
Vel'gisset doch eine Jungfrau ihres Schmuckes nicht noch.
eine Braut ihres Schleiers.
Mark 14, 33: Und :ling an zu erzittern und zu aengstigen.
Und :ling an zu zittel'll und zu zagen.
Luke 2, 7: Sie hat ihn in Tuchle gewickelt und geleget.
Und wickelt.e ihn in Windeln.
Instances of this kind could likewise be multiplied almost indefinitely,.
as a comparison of the various editions of Luther's German Bible'
will show.
It is not surprising therefore that we find men of all kinds,.
historians, literary critics, theologians, writers, and others, joining in
their praise of Luther's German Bible. A few of these co=ents may'
be included here:-
"That this excellent man transmitted to us a work which was·
composed in styles that differed so widely from one another, at the·
same time maintaining the poetical, the historical, the commanding,.
and the didactic note, so that all seems cast into one mold, this has
done more to further the cause of religion than if he had attempted:.
to imitate the individual points of the peculiarities in the original.
Vain were the later attempts to render the Book of Job, the Psalms,.
and other songs into poetical form and thus to make them palatable.
For the average person, who is to be influenced by a translation, the
simple form will always remain the best." (Goethe.)
"Luther was the man who took the decisive step. The literary
authority of official documents was relatively small; only few people
read the products of the chancelleries. But Luther's powerful per-
sonality moved the German people in its very foundations; here ques-
tions were concerned which touched the hearts of man, no matter
what his position in life. For that reason the thought-provoking con-
The Story of the German Bible. 367
;:tent of his writings, which had a direct bearing upon their propaga-
tion, was bound to have an extraordinary influence also upon their
form. And this all the more since this content was of a nature to be
.assimilated in the memory of men according to its wording. This
is true in particular of his Bible translation and of his hymns. But
the form chosen by Luther in itself bore the guarantee of a far-
.reaching effect; for it was with full consciousness that he' chose the
language which even then was fairly generally acknowledged ....
The language of Luther can hardly be separated from his spirit;
it was the bearer of Protestant ideas." (Behaghel, Die deutsche
Bprache.)
"Luther's German translation represents an enormous intellectual
·energy, of which but few people have an inkling. One of the greatest
intellects of the German people, a man with German depth of heart,
with an unmatched linguistic ability, and with an iron capacity for
work has made the old Bible a gripping German book of the people."
(Risch, Was iedermann von seiner Lutherbibel wissen muss.)
Since testimonials of this kind can readily be collected from most
,biographies of Luther as well as from discussions of German language
,and literature, these may suffice for our present purpose. But there
is one additional excellence in the translation of Luther, emphasized
by Hirsch (Luthers deutsche Bibel), which has not been brought
out by anyone else in the same degree. Hirsch writes: "Every
reader of Luther's Bible who is sentitively attuned has noticed how
strongly the individual Biblical books show their individuality, how
.strongly the contrasts in tone and content in the indivdual parts
-of these books have been brought out. Luther's Bible possesses a
wealth and a variety which the work of one individual does not
-ordinarily possess. . .. As a rule, a translation covers such pecu-
liarities more or less. How did Luther manage to bring about
the opposite effect? By gradations in the use of the linguistic helps.
They appear so plainly that one is obliged to think of thoughtful
understanding, of an art which was consciously exercised. The most
striking exhibition of this fact is found in the placing of words in
sentences. In the narrative sections of the Bible it is as plain and
natural as possible. Take, for example, Luke 7. The simple, popular
Greek, which strings words and sentences together without inversion,
is followed [by Luther] in a German which is equally simple and
popular; one may even say that the effect is increased by dissolving
the participles into small independent sentences .. " But the dif-
"ierence appears in the words of Jesus which the chapter offers. They
,clearly paint the eager and energetic manner which Luther believed
to have noticed in Christ." If one compares, for example, Luke 7,
11-17 with 31-35, the point made by Hirsch will immediately stand
368 The story of the German Bible.
out. Another chapter showing this peculiarity in a marked degree
is 1 Oor. 15. One has but to take the Greek text and make a com-
parison with that of Luther, possibly also with later translations in
German and other languages, and the excellence of Luther's work will
appear with increasing impressiveness. It was a truly great work
which this man of God performed when he gave to the German
people and to the world his translation of the Bible into the modern
High-German tongue.
Before closing this chapter, we ought to refer, at least in a few
brief words, to some features of Luther's Bible which are often
overlooked. The first outstanding feature of this kind is his use of
prefaces and glosses, or explanatory remarks, in the margin. Some
of these introductions, or prefaces, are rightly considered as belonging
to his masterpieces, in particular that prefixed to the Letter to the
Romans of 1522 and that prepared for the entire Old Testament in
1523. Luther possessed the faculty of summarizing both clearly
and adequately the chief points of any book or treatise, and he made
excellent use of this ability in his introductions to various books of
the Bible. But his short explanatory remarks, which in some cases
completely filled the margins of his Testament, are also worthy of
careful study.
The other outstanding feature of Luther's September-Bibel and
other early editions is his employment of vignettes, initial letters,.
and woodcuts as illustrations. Thus the initial letter at the begin-
ning of chapter 1 of St. Luke shows the evangelist writing at a desk,
while a corner of the picture shows an ox, the symbol of the third
evangelist. The sketches for the illustrations were made in part by
some of the leading artists of the day, those for the Book of Revela-
tion, for example, by Albrecht Duerer himself or by some artist wh()
followed his work very closely. The Wittenberg artist Lucas Oranach
likewise did much work for Luther's editions of the German Bible,
and somewhat later even Hans Holbein provided sketches. It is stated
by at least one contemporary of Luther that the Reformer himself
indicated to the artists just how he wanted the figures of the illustra-
tions to be arranged. Thus the Bilderbibel of the pre-Lutheran days
served as a model for Luther's first editions and subsequently exerted
a great influence on some of the finest printed Bibles, down to that
by Schnorr von Oarolsfeld and the very recent Palaestina-Bilderbibel.
P. E. KRETZMANN.