THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
IX. Hebrew Translations of the New Testament: The anciently attested Hebrew original of the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel according to the Hebrews are not to be included in this treatment (see Matthew, II; Apocrypha, B, I, 19). Of existing Hebrew versions of the New Testament, the more important are the following:
1. Versions by Jews: (1) The Evangelium Matthai in lingua Hebraica cum rcrsione Latina, by Sebastian Mi'mster, appeared at Basel, 1537 (2d ed., Paris, 1541; 3d ed., with Hebrews in Hebrew and Latin, Basel, 1557). (2) The Evangelium hebraice Matthcci recens c Judcsorum penetralibus erutum, with Latin translation, edited by Jean du Tillet and Jean Mercier (Paris, 1555) is part of a translation of the Gospels by Schemtob Schaprut (1385), which may be preserved in a Vatican manuscript. (3) A complete translation of the New Testament was made by Ezekiel Rachbi (d. 1772), and an assistant from Germany.
2. Versions by Christians: (1) Elias Hutter made a Hebrew translation of the complete New Testament for his polyglot editions (Nuremberg, 1599, 1602; see Bibles, Polyglot, V); a better edition of this version was issued by B. Robertson (London, 1661), and the first part of the same by R. Caddick (London, 1798). (2) Johannes Baptista Jona translated the four Gospels (Rome, 1668). (3) A translation of Matthew by Johannes Kemper (d. 1714), with Latin rendering by A. Borelius, is preserved in manuscript in the library of the University of Upsala. (4) The Epistle to the Hebrews, translated by F. A. Christiani, appeared in Leipsic, 1G76, and Luke i, 1-xxii, 14, by I. Fromman at Halle, 1735. (5) The translation of the whole New Testament prepared for the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews appeared in 1S21, and in revised form in 1840 and 1S66. (6) The edition of the British and Foreign Bible Society, begun in 1864, was made by Franz Delitzsch (Leipsic, 1877; stereotyped ed.. 1881; revised ed., 1885; again revised by Delitzsch and edited by G. Dalman, 1892). (7) The translation of the Trinitarian Bible Society, begun by Isaac Salkinson and completed by C. Ginsburg, was issued in London, 1SS5. (G. Dalman.)
Bibliography: On 1: A. Herbst, Die von Sebastian Miinster , t'bersetzungen des Evangeliums Matthai, Got-
tingen, 1879; F. Delitzsch, Brief an die Romer, pp. 22, 105, 103-109, Leipsic, 1870; S. Schechter, in JQR, vi, 144-145. On 2: F. Delitzsch, ut sup., pp. 21-38; Theologisches Literaturblatt, 1889-1890; G. Dalman, in Hebraica, ix, 226-231 and Theologisches Literaturblatt, 1891, pp. 289 sqq.; J. Dunlop, Memories of Gospel Triumphs, pp. 378-386, London, 1894.
X. Hungarian (Magyar) Versions: Janos Erdosi (or Sylvester; b. 1504; died c. 1560) made the first Hungarian translation of the New Testament. After studying in Cracow and Wittenberg (1526-29), he returned to
p^t9 his native land and worked at Sdrvar Versions. under the patronage of the magnate T. Nadasdi, who erected the first Hungarian printing-press in Uj-Sziget (Neanesis). There Erdosi's translation was printed in 1541. Erdosi was afterward professor of Hebrew in Vienna (15-12-52'; driven out by the Jesuits, he
went to Debreczin and, in 1557, to Locse (Leutschau) as teacher and preacher. A little later, G. Heltai, pastor at Kolosvar (Klausenburg), and his three colleagues translated the New Testament, with several books of the Old Testament (Kolosvar, 1552-61). Peter Juhasz (Melius), pastor and superintendent at Debreczin (1558-72), rendered into Hungarian the books of Job and Kings (Debreczin, 1565), and the New Testament (Szegedin, 1567); of the latter work no copy is known. T. Felegyhazi, professor and pastor at Debreczin, published a translation of the New Testament at Debreczin in 1586. Gaspar Karoli (d. 1591), a pupil of Melanchthon, pastor at Gone (not far from Kassa), translated the entire Bible with the Apocrypha and published it at Visoly, 1590. This is styled the Visoly Bible, and it has remained in use to the present. It has passed through many editions with some slight corrections.
During the religious wars (1604-45) against the Austrian monarchs the Hungarian nation heroically fought for political and religious liberty; to the great Protestant princes of Transylvania, Bocskai, Bethlen, and George (Gyorgy) Ra- 2. The koczi the Protestant Church is much Komaromi indebted, for without them it would Bible. have suffered the fate of the Bohemian Church. The victorious Rakoczi family caused 10,000 copies of the Bible to be published at Varad in 1657. The years 1660 to 1781 were a dark period for Hungarian Protestants, during which the Austrian government, under Jesuitical influences, took control of the entire kingdom, and the freedom gained in the Reformation was lost. The crisis came in 1671-81, the so-called " decade of mourning." This grievous situation explains the fact that Hungarian bibles had to be printed in foreign countries. The learned Reformed pastor of Debreczin, Gyorgy Csipkes Komaromi, an excellent Hebrew scholar, in order to meet the common wish and to make the Bible keep pace with the growth of the language, made a new translation which was approved by the synods in 1681. The city of Debreczin at enormous cost had an edition of 4,000 copies printed at Leyden in 1718. When the edition reached the frontier it was seized by the Jesuits (who had secured from the king an order to that effect) and carried to their house at Kassa. The agitated citizens and council of Debreczin used all means available to recover the books and at length secured a royal edict from King Charles III (June 29, 1723) granting them a free Bible (P. Bod, Historia Hungarorum ecclcsiastiea, iii, 89). So great was the power of the Jesuits, however, that they frustrated the royal edict, and the bishop of Eger, Count F. Barkoczy, carried the Komaromi bibles to his palace and threw them all into damp cellars, where they remained till 1754, when on Nov. 1 he burned them in the court of his palace before a large gathering (cf. The Bible Society Monthly Reporter, Mar., 1904, p. 69). A few copies retained in Varso, hidden in the Prussian ambassador's house, were brought to Debreczin in 1789.
The Roman Catholics, on their part, had the Bible translated by a Jesuit scholar Gyorgy Kaldi,