Luther’s Translation

The work of the reformer Martin Luther was extremely influential in the development of Bible translations.

Before Luther, all translations had been based on the Latin translation by Jerome, the Vulgate. The Vulgate was “the” Bible of Christianity in the West. After Jerome, Luther was the first to make a translation from the Hebrew and Greek source texts.
1522 saw the publication of his translation of the New Testament into German. The book created a storm. The first edition of around 3 000 copies sold out in two months. After the New Testament Luther also translated the Old Testament, in collaboration with Philipp Melanchthon. From 1523 onwards it was published in sections, until it was completed in 1534.

Luther’s translation is famous for its use of language. He wanted to make the Bible accessible to ordinary people, and so he regularly opted to use “real German” instead of biblical language.
In a letter about his translation work, Luther gives the following example. Germans do not say, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” That would be a silly way of saying things. Germans would say, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Good News Translation). That is how Luke 6:45 should be translated, according to Luther.
Luther led the way with this sort of language. The English King James Version, which appeared nearly a century later, always tended to opt for a more “literal” rendering. This led all over again to biblical language and not to natural linguistic usage.