The Zürich Bible (''Zürcher Bibel'', also ''Zwinglibibel'') is a Bible translation historically based on the translation by

Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...

. Recent editions have the stated aim of maximal philological exactitude. It is thought to be the first Bible to contain a map.

Froschau Bible

Zwingli's translation grew out of the '' Prophezey'', an exegetical workshop taking place on every weekday, with the participation of all clerics of

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

, working at a German rendition of Bible texts for the benefit of the congregation. The translation of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

was used as far as it was already completed. This helped Zwingli to complete the entire translation four years before Luther. At the printing shop of

Christoph Froschauer Christoph Froschauer (ca. 1490 – 1 April 1564) was the first printer in Zurich, notably for printing the Froschauer Bible, the Zwinglian Bible translation. His workshop is the nucleus of the Orell Füssli publishing house. Froschauer was ...

, the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

appeared from 1525 to 1529, and later parts of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

, with a complete translation in a single volume first printed in 1530, with an introduction by Zwingli and summaries of each chapter. This ''Froschauer Bible'', containing more than 200 illustrations, became notable as a masterpiece of printing at the time. The translation is mainly due to Zwingli and his friend

Leo Jud Leo Jud (; also Leo Juda, Leo Judä, Leo Judas, Leonis Judae, Ionnes Iuda, Leo Keller; 1482 – 19 June 1542), known to his contemporaries as Meister Leu, was a Swiss reformer who worked with Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich. Biography Jud was bor ...

, pastor at the St. Peter parish. The translation of the Old Testament was revised in 1540, that of the New Testament in 1574. Verse numbering was introduced in 1589. In 1975, Amos Hoover of Denver, Pennsylvania, reprinted the 1536 edition, and the 1531 edition appeared under the imprint of the Theologischer Verlag Zürich in 1983.Froschauer Bibles and Testaments

Revisions

Up to 1665, the language of the translation was based on the written variant of High Alemannic (

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spelling ...

) used for official documents. In 1665, this was abandoned for the emerging

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...

of the chancery of the prince-electorate Saxony-Wittenberg.

Fraumünster The Fraumünster (; lit. in en, Women's Minster, but often wrongly translated to urLady Minster) is a church in Zürich which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for h ...

pastor

Johann Caspar Ulrich Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name '' Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

(1705–1768) in the 1755/1756 revision added commentaries, interpretations and concordances. From this edition, the Bible became known as the ''Zwinglibibel''. From 1817, the edition was in the hands of the Zürich Bible and Missionary Society (''Zürcher Bibel- und Missionsgesellschaft''). Another revision dates to 1868, reprinted in 1892.

1931 revision

In 1907, a commission was formed with the purpose of another revision, with the aim of considering as much as possible recent result of biblical scholarship. The revision was completed in 1931, constituting essentially a new translation.

2007 revision

In 1984, on the 500th anniversary of Zwingli's birth, another revision was initiated by the General Synod of the Protestant Reformed Church of the Canton Zürich. However, it soon was decided to undertake a new translation of the entire Bible. At a total cost of four million Swiss francs, the project was completed in early 2007, and the Bible was published in printed and electronic form in June 2007.

References

Online versions

1531 version

1534 version

External links

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1536 Bachman Froschauer Bible
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zurich Bible History of Zürich 1531 books Bible translations into German Huldrych Zwingli