Bible & Christianity › Reformation › Martin Luther
Luther's German Bible
New Testament Sept. 1522, from Erasmus's Greek text (1516); full Bible 1534· Council, creed or writing· Books & writings
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
Luther's translation of the Bible into everyday German: the New Testament in 1522, the complete Bible in 1534.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Hidden at Wartburg Castle after the Diet of Worms, Luther translated the New Testament from Erasmus's Greek New Testament (first published 1516) in about eleven weeks. Published in September 1522, the 'September Testament' quickly sold out its roughly 3,000 copies. With colleagues such as Philip Melanchthon he translated the Old Testament from Hebrew, issuing the full Bible in 1534. He said he listened to 'the mother in the home, the children in the street, the common man in the market'.
Why it matters
It helped standardize modern German and became the Bible of German Protestants; hundreds of thousands of copies were printed in his lifetime (estimates vary).
Sources and history
Original printings survive, including the September Testament with Lucas Cranach's woodcuts. Luther's 1530 'Open Letter on Translating' explains his choices.
Questions and debates
It was not the first German Bible: about 18 printed German Bibles came before it. How much its success owed to quality versus Luther's fame is debated.
Connections (3)
▸Deuterocanonical books (the Apocrypha) were set apart between the Testaments in Luther's German BibleHistorical record
The connection
Luther accepted only the books of the Hebrew Bible as Old Testament scripture. In his 1534 Bible he gathered Judith, Wisdom, Tobit, Sirach, Baruch, 1–2 Maccabees and others into a separate section, 'books not held equal to Holy Scripture, yet useful and good to read'. Later Protestant Bibles followed, and many eventually dropped them.
When and where
Wittenberg, 1534; the Council of Trent answered in April 1546 by affirming them as full scripture.
Historical evidence
The 1534 Bible's section heading and Luther's prefaces survive, and the arrangement is visible in surviving copies.
Questions and debates
Some early church fathers, including Jerome, also ranked these books below the Hebrew ones, so Catholics and Protestants can both cite precedent.
▸Martin Luther began, while hiding at the Wartburg, Luther's German BibleHistorical record
The connection
After the Diet of Worms in 1521, Elector Frederick the Wise had Luther 'kidnapped' for his safety and hidden at Wartburg Castle. Disguised as 'Junker Jörg' (Knight George), he translated the New Testament in about eleven weeks so ordinary Germans could read it. He kept revising his Bible until his death.
When and where
Wartburg Castle, Eisenach, December 1521 to February 1522; published at Wittenberg, September 1522; full Bible 1534; last revision 1545.
Historical evidence
Luther's letters from the Wartburg describe the work; manuscripts of his later Old Testament drafts and his team's revision notes survive.
Questions and debates
The story that he threw an inkpot at the devil there is a later legend; the ink stain once shown to visitors was repeatedly renewed.
▸Luther's German Bible was a model for William Tyndale's English New TestamentMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Tyndale modeled his 1526 New Testament on Luther's: he translated from Erasmus's Greek, borrowed and adapted Luther's prefaces and margin notes, and followed his ordering of books, with Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation placed last.
When and where
Probably Wittenberg in 1524, then Cologne 1525 and Worms 1526; his 1526 prologue to Romans largely translates Luther's.
How do we know?
Side-by-side comparison of Tyndale's prefaces and notes with Luther's shows heavy borrowing.
Questions and debates
Whether Tyndale studied at Wittenberg is uncertain; a 1524 register entry, 'Guillelmus Daltici ex Anglia', may be his name reversed and disguised.