German Versions

Luther

A German Bible printed by Sylvan Otmar at Augsburg did indeed appear during the year 1518—only a few months after Luther had published his theses. But it belonged to the series of editions of the German translation made in about 1350 and first printed in 1466 by Johann Mentelin at Strassburg. In the next fifty years or so there were thirteen further editions. This translation was not made from the original languages but only from the Vulgate, and was moreover—despite several revisions, especially in 1475 and 1483—clumsy in its linguistic form, and partly incomprehensible. Hence it answered neither of Luther's two requirements for such a translation, that it should be based on the original texts and should use a German comprehensible to all; and it is not surprising that this medieval version did not have Luther's approval. He had already used the Greek original in his lectures on Romans in 1515–16, and the Hebrew in his commentary on Hebrews in 1517–18. And since it was one of his cardinal principles that the Scriptures were the only true key to the faith, it is not surprising either that he decided to translate the Bible into German himself. It seems as if the idea of such a translation was already current in Wittenberg in 1520. Andreas Carlstadt's treatise on the canon (Welche bucher Biblisch seint), which was published at Wittenberg in November, said ‘Shortly, as I hear, new German Bibles are to be printed’. But it was a whole year before the plan was put into effect.