The Brest Bible () was the first complete Protestant Bible translation into Polish, published by Bernard Wojewodka in 1563 in Brest and dedicated to King Sigismund II Augustus. Polish full original title: ''Biblia święta, Tho iest, Księgi Starego y Nowego Zakonu, właśnie z Żydowskiego, Greckiego, y Łacińskiego, nowo na Polski ięzyk, z pilnością y wiernie wyłożone.''

Overview

It is sometimes also named after the Radziwiłł family surname of Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł, the benefactor of the undertaking, or after

Pińczów Pińczów is a town in southern Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about 40 km south of Kielce. It is the capital of Pińczów County. The population is 10,946 (2018). Pińczów belongs to the historical region of Lesser Poland (Polish: ...

, where the translating was commissioned and translators chosen and authorized at the

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

s of 1559 and 1560, and where the work was accomplished.Various authors, ed. Marek Derwich and Adam Żurek, ''Monarchia Jagiellonów, 1399–1586'' (The Jagiellon Monarchy: 1399–1586), pp. 131–132, Urszula Augustyniak.

Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie is a publishing company founded in 1986 with cooperation with Bertelsmann Media. External links * http://www.wd.wroc.pl/index.php?id=1 * http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&q=Wydawnictwa+dolnosl%C4%85skie+Bertelsm ...

, Wrocław 2003, .''Polskie przekłady Biblii'' (Polish translations of the Bible) from Biblia, biblijna.strona.pl web site''Biblia Brzeska'' (Brest Bible) from Biblia – serwis biblistyczny, www.biblia.wortale.net web site The Brest Bible is one of the earliest

modern era The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

translations of all of the Bible, from, for the most part, the original

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

languages.

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

was also utilized to a lesser degree and so was a French translation. The Brest Bible, produced by a group of Calvinist scholars, was preceded by the

Luther Bible The Luther Bible () is a German language Bible translation by the Protestant reformer Martin Luther. A New Testament translation by Luther was first published in September 1522; the completed Bible contained 75 books, including the Old Testament ...

of 1534 and the

Geneva Bible The Geneva Bible, sometimes known by the sobriquet Breeches Bible, is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the Douay Rheims Bible by 22 years, and the King James Version by 51 years. It was ...

of 1560. The text of the translation, which stresses contextual and phraseological, rather than word-for-word translating, is highly reliable in respect to the originals and represents some of the finest Polish usage of the period. Among the leading

theologians Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

involved with the team translation project were Grzegorz Orszak,

Pierre Statorius __NOTOC__ Pierre Statorius, (Tonneville, Seine-Maritime, 1530 – Pińczów, or Kraków 1591) was a French grammarian and theologian, who settled among the Polish Brethren, becoming rector of a Calvinist Academy in Pińczów at the invitation of ...

, Jean Thénaud of Bourges,

Jan Łaski Jan Łaski or Johannes à Lasco (1499 – 8 January 1560) was a Polish Calvinist reformer. Owing to his influential work in England (1548–1553) during the English Reformation, he is known to the English-speaking world by the Anglicised form ...

, Georg Schomann, Andrzej Trzecieski, Jakub Lubelczyk, Szymon Zacjusz, Marcin Krowicki,

Francesco Stancaro Francesco Stancaro (also Latin: Franciscus Stancarus) (1501 in Mantua – 1574 in Stopnica) was an Italian Catholic priest, theologian, Protestant convert, and Protestant reformer who became professor of Hebrew at the University of Königsberg. ...

of Mantua, and Grzegorz Paweł of Brzeziny. The translation work took six years to complete.''Biblia Brzeska, zwana również Radziwiłłowską lub Pińczowską'' (Brest Bible, known also as Radziwiłł or Pińczów Bible) from www.polska.pl web site Mikołaj Radziwiłł's son, Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł, converted to Catholicism and as a

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

zealot arranged for a public burning of all the specimens of the Bible of Brest that he could locate and buy (some have survivedBiblia święta...
, 1653 in PBI) at

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

' central market.

References

External links

"Biblia święta..."
– digitised version by Polska Biblioteka Internetowa (Old and New Testament),

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20180612143359/http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=2752&from=&dirids=1 "Biblia święta...", Old Testament– digitised by Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa.
"Biblia święta...", Old Testament
– pdf in the original and the recent fonts.
"Biblia święta...", Old Testament
– html in the original and the recent fonts. {{Authority control 1563 books 1560s in Poland 16th-century Christian texts History of Brest, Belarus Bible translations into Polish