Case 18
- Bibles in Asian Languages
[New Testament in Japanese]. New Testament. Fifth edition. Kobe, Japan: British & Foreign Bible Society and National Bible Society of Scotland, 1908.
Following
more than two centuries of official suppression of Christianity and the Bible
in Japan, a team of Protestant missionaries and Japanese translators led by the
American Presbyterian James Curtis Hepburn (1815-1911) produced the “Standard
Version” of the Japanese Bible at Yokohama in 1887. The exhibited Japanese New Testament
contains the text of that version.
[New Testament in Japanese]. New Testament. Fifth edition. Kobe, Japan: British & Foreign Bible Society and National Bible Society of Scotland, 1908.
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[New Testament in Cantonese]. The New Testament: Cantonese and English. Shanghai: British & Foreign Bible Society, 1921.
Translations
of Scriptures into Chinese languages were first made by Jesuit missionaries
during the sixteenth century and circulated in manuscript form. However, no
considerable portion of the Bible seems to have been printed in Chinese
languages before the early nineteenth century. The earliest book of the Bible
printed in Chinese by Protestant missionaries was a Gospel of St Matthew
written in the classical literary dialect of High Wenli and printed at
Serampore in 1810.
The
Bible on display is a diglot version in Cantonese and English containing the
text of a nineteenth century translation by the British & Foreign Bible
Society.
[New Testament in Cantonese]. The New Testament: Cantonese and English. Shanghai: British & Foreign Bible Society, 1921.
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[Old Testament in Santali]. Mare Niam: dhorom sostorko: ibri ar arami Parsi khon hqr Parsite Torjomaakat'. Calcutta: British and Foreign Bible Society (Calcutta Auxiliary), 1914.
Santali
is an indigenous language spoken in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. In the
1860s, Church Mission Society members converted the language to a written form
and printed the first Scriptures in Santali. Most were printed in Roman
character, but occasionally a Bengali script was utilised.
In the
late nineteenth century, L.O. Skrefsrud (1840-1910) and P.O. Bodding
(1865-1938) of the Danish Mission prepared a Santali translation of the
complete Old Testament which was printed in instalments between 1904 and 1910.
The 1914 edition displayed is the first edition of the Old Testament in Santali
to be printed in a single volume.
[Old Testament in Santali]. Mare Niam: dhorom sostorko: ibri ar arami Parsi khon hqr Parsite Torjomaakat'. Calcutta: British and Foreign Bible Society (Calcutta Auxiliary), 1914.
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[Genesis and New Testament in Moronene]. Boku Haratiano apu alla: kadadia ronga Pedandi'a Tonia hai gau nto Moronene. Jakarta [Indonesia]: Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia, 2013.
The
history of the translation of Holy Scriptures into Malay and Indonesian
languages is closely tied to the evangelising efforts of Dutch missionaries.
The first Scriptures in Malay languages were printed as early as the
seventeenth century. From the early nineteenth century, Netherlands Bible
Society missionaries were prominent in translating the Bible into numerous
Indonesian languages, including Javanese, Sundanese, and Bugis.
Moronene
is a minority language spoken by 37,000 people in Southeast Sulawesi,
Indonesia. On display is a Moronene translation of Genesis and the New
Testament with hymns, the work of translators from Wycliffe Australia and local
people.
[Genesis and New Testament in Moronene]. Boku Haratiano apu alla: kadadia ronga Pedandi'a Tonia hai gau nto Moronene. Jakarta [Indonesia]: Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia, 2013.
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