3. In 1528 two Danish versions of the Psalter appeared. The one, based on the Hebrew, in which the Latin and German were also used, was the work of Wormord, a Dutchman, and was published at Rostock, but had no great success. The other was the work of C. Pedersen (1480-1554), aman ‘who had the same importance for Danish literature that Luther had for German.’ This version was based on the Hebrew text and Jerome, and was printed at Antwerp, and afterwards re- printed at Copenhagen. In 1529 he published an edition of the NT which he based on Michaelis’ translation, but used also ‘the help of the best available theologians,’ ¢.¢. Luther and Erasmus. Two years later another edition appeared at Ant- werp, and also a version of the Psalter. In 1535 Tausen published at Magdeburg a translation of the Pentateuch, in which Luther’s version, the Hebrew, and Vulgate were used. In 1539 a trans- lation of the Book of Judges by Tidemann, based on the Vulgate and Luther, appeared at Copen- hagen, and two years later the same translator issued a version of Wisdom and Sirach.
4, The year 1550 marks an epoch as the date of the appearance of the first complete Bible. This was the work of the Theological Faculty at Copen- hagen, and among the collaborators Pedersen took a prominent place. The work was done by com- mand of Christian Ill., who ordered Luther’s ver- sion to be followed as closely as the Danish would allow. An edition of 3000 copies was published, and in 1589 a second edition followed, in which the archaisms of the first were removed.
5. The first translation based on the original lan- guages was the work of Resen, bishop of Zealand, who, not finding the editions of 1550 and 1589 literal enough, undertook a revision, which was completed in 1607, the NT appearing two years earlier. This work of Resen was not very success- ful owing to its indifference to Danish idiom, and another edition of the older version appeared at Copenhagen in 1633, with slight changes. This is known as the Bible of Christian Ivy.
6. Resen’s translation was revised by Swaning, bishop of Zealand, and others in 1647, and of this revision very many copies were circulated by the College of Missions, founded in 1714. Later it was adopted by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and with only slight changes it is the version which circulates generally at the present day. During last century revised editions of the NT (1819) and OT (1824) were published under the superintend- ence of Bishop Munter. Another revision of the whole Bible appeared in 1872, under the superin- tendence of Bishops Martensen and Hermansen.
7. The Bible used in Denmark was current also in Norway till the separation of the two countries in 1814. An important revision of the 1647 Bible was begun in 1842, and the work was carried on over many years. The translation of the OT as finally approved did not appear till 1890. Of the NT a new translation was made by Bishop Bugge, and revised by other scholars.
LitERATURE.—Bruun, Biblioteca Danica ; le Long, Bibliotheca Sacra; Herzog, RH iii. 146 ff.
viii. SWEDISH VERSIONS.—1. The earliest refer- ence to the Bible in Sweden is connected with the name of St. Bridget at the beginning of the 14th cen- tury. She is said to have had a translation of the Bible made for her, About the same time a great Bible in Swedish is mentioned in the will of king Magnus Smek, which may have been the same as that mentioned as made for St. Bridget, and prob- ably was not a complete Bible, but an exposition of the Pentateuch made by Bridget’s confessor Matthias, which was no doubt to have been con- tinued in the other books. Towards the end of the next century the Books of Joshua and Judges were translated by Nils Ragnvaldson, and a little later Budde translated Judith, Esther, Ruth, and the Books of Maccabees. A version of the Apocalypse of about the same date also survives. o other parts of the Bible are known to have been trans- lated. All those which have been mentioned are based on the Vulgate.
2. In 1523 Sweden separated from Denmark, and, in order to secure linguistic as well as political independence, Gustav Vasa commanded a trans- lation to be undertaken. Two translations were ordered—one in the interests of the Church of Rome, for which Vasa had recourse to the arch- bishop of Upsala; the other, based on Luther’s version, which was the work of Laurence Andreas, afterwards chancellor. Of the first, no part was ever printed. Of the second, the NT was published at Stockholm in 1526, and many times reprinted since. A few years later (in 1536) the Psalter and Sapiential books were translated, and in 1541 the first Swedish version of the whole Bible appeared at Upsala, the OT being translated from Luther’s Bible of 1534 by Laurence Petri and others, and the NT being the translation of Andreas already mentioned. This is substantially the Bible in use at the present day. At the beginning of the 17th cent. a committee was appointed to collate various editions of Luther with the object of producing an improved Swedish version. The results were known as the Observationes Strengnenses—so called from Petri, bishop of Strengniis ; but the edition for which the notes were made did not appear till 1617, when it was printed at Stockholm. It was prac- tically a reprint of the 1541 Bible with certain additions, and corrections of typographical errors. Several subsequent editions were issued, some of them with deviations from the text of the original. At the beginning of the 18th century a revision was ordered by Charles x., and entrusted to Benzel, bishop of Strengniis. Very few altera- tions from the 1617 text were admitted, and the work was published at Stockholm in 1703. During the 18th century many editions appeared ; but, owing to their cost, the circulation was not large till the Swedish and British and Foreign Bible Societies took up the work. They worked together for some time, but the connexion be- tween them was severed by a difference of opinion as to the inclusion or exclusion of the Apocrypha. The current translation of the NT appeared in 1882, and was slightly revised next year, and approved.