Scholarly Bible Editions

The German Bible Society is renowned worldwide as the publisher of the critical editions of the Hebrew Old Testament (BHS & BHQ), the Greek-language New Testament editions Nestle-Aland and Greek New Testament, and the Septuagint and Vulgate. Publications from the German Bible Society are used throughout the world in exegetical training and theological practice. At the same time, it has also acquired renown as a publishing house for scholarly resources for biblical study in printed and electronic form.

Old Testament

The »Biblia Hebraica« has been published as a scholarly edition of the Old Testament since the 1920s. Since 1977, the »Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia« (BHS) has been complete and the global standard in text-critical research of the original Hebrew text. The »Biblia Hebraica Quinta« (BHQ) builds on this tradition in the 21st century.

Since its publication in 1935, Alfred Rahlfs' Septuagint edition has been an important basis for worldwide Septuagint research. At the beginning of 2009 the German Bible Society published the first complete translation of the Septuagint in German under the title Septuaginta Deutsch.

The Biblia Sacra Vulgata is a scholarly review based on the manuscripts with the help of the large critical editions; for the Old Testament the edition of the Benedictines by S. Girolamo in Rome. The first edition of the Biblia Sacra Vulgata was published in 1969 by the Württemberg Bible Institute.

Hebrew Old Testament

Hebrew Bible

It's one of the main targets of the German Bible Society to publish reliable and carefully edited Bible versions in the original languages. For many decades, the following editions with text critical apparatus have been used and respected worldwide:

Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ)

The Biblia Hebraica Quinta is a manual edition (editio minor), in the Biblia Hebraica tradition, produced for serious students of the Hebrew Bible. It aims to provide them with a clear presentation of the surviving evidence of the text’s transmission that is relevant for translation and exegesis.

Greek Old Testament

Septuagint (LXX)

The Septuagint edition by Alfred Rahlfs has been an important basis of worldwide Septuagint research ever since it was first published in 1935. This edition was revised by the internationally renowned Septuagint researcher Robert Hanhart in 2006; in the course of this work, the text and apparatus were corrected and extended in well over a thousand instances.

Latin Old Testament

Vulgate

Today’s definitive scholarly text of the Vulgate is the “Biblia Sacra Vulgata. Editio quinta.” edited by Robert Weber and Roger Gryson. This edition comprises the elaborately reconstructed Latin text of the Bible, with an extensive apparatus of variants. It thus not only provides a reliable textual basis for study of the Bible in Latin, but also permits insights into the history of the transmission of the Vulgate.

New Testament

In 1898 the "Novum Testamentum Graece" by Eberhard Nestle was published in Stuttgart. In the meantime, the “Nestle-Aland” has become the standard edition for scholarly research on the original text of the New Testament.

"Nestle-Aland" is published by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Münster, as are the other two most important editions of the Greek New Testament: the UBS Greek New Testament and the "Editio Critica Maior" (ECM).

The Biblia Sacra Vulgata is a scholarly review based on the manuscripts with the help of the large critical editions; for the New Testament, the Oxford edition by J. Wordsworth and H. J. White. The first edition of the Biblia Sacra Vulgata was published in 1969 by the Württemberg Bible Institute.

Greek New Testament

Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle-Aland)

The 28th Edition of the Nestle-Aland with its unreached critical apparatus marks the standard and globally preeminent reference among Greek New Testament editions.

Greek New Testament (GNT)

The Greek New Testament is the basis for the worldwide translation work of the New Testament. The critical apparatus is especially designed to serve the translators' needs.

Comparison NA28 - UBS5

The most widely distributed scholarly Greek-language editions of the New Testament are the Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle-Aland) and the Greek New Testament. In these editions, the version deemed original appears in the main body of text. The most significant variants from the existing manuscripts are given in an extensive list of notes at the bottom of the respective pages (the critical apparatus). Today, some 5,700 manuscripts are extant that contain the text of the New Testament or part thereof. For the two above-mentioned editions, these are evaluated at the Institute for New Testament Textual Research (INTF) in Münster, Westphalia.

Editio Critica Maior (ECM)

Together with the Greek New Testament, the Novum Testamentum Graece has attained an undisputed position of preeminence among New Testament scholars over the past few decades. With the exception of some details, the principal text of these editions has no longer been modified for around thirty years. However, this does not mean that New Testament textual research has reached its conclusion or could do so in future. Quite the opposite is the case.

Latin New Testament

Vulgate

Scholarly Bible Editions

Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ)

Editio Critica Maior (ECM)

Greek New Testament (GNT)

Hebrew Bible

Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle-Aland)

Septuagint (LXX)

Vulgate