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History of Bible Translation 3 HISTORY OF BIBLE TRANSLATION Philip H. Towner Dean of the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship Philip A. Noss Series Editor 1. A History of Bible Translation, edited by Philip A. Noss. 2. Early Scriptures of the Gold Coast (Ghana): The Historical, Linguistic, and Theological Settings of the Gã, Twi, Mfantse, and Ewe Bibles, by John David Kwamena Ekem. 3 A Restless Search: A History of Persian Translations of the Bible, by Kenneth J. Thomas. 4. God Speaks Our Language: A History of Bible Translation in East Africa, 1844–Present, by Aloo Mojola. Also of interest A Dictionary of Bible Translation, edited by Philip A. Noss. NIDA INSTITUTE FOR BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY A RESTLESS SEARCH A History of Persian Translations of the Bible by KENNETH J. THOMAS with a contribution by ALI-ASGHAR AGHBAR First Edition 2015 © 2015 American Bible Society ISBN paperback: 978-1-94409-200-9 ISBN hardcover: 978-1-94409-202-3 Distributed by SBL Press, Atlanta, Georgia Online: http://www.sbl-site.org/ All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includ- ing photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, SBL Press, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA. All art in this volume is from the Collection of the American Bible Society unless noted otherwise. Used by permission. Then King Darius made a decree, and they searched the archives where the documents were stored in Babylon. Ezra 6:1 NRSV …if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding; if you seek [wisdom] like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures— then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:3–5 NRSV You search the Scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life. John 5:39 NRSV CONTENTS Abbreviations IX Figures and Plates XIII Foreword XV Preface xIX INTRODUCTION 1. From the Fifth Century to the Future: An Introduction 3 PART I 2. Along the Silk Road: The Parthian and Sassanian Eras (129 B.C.E.–651 C.E.) 13 3. Finds in Treasure Troves: The Early Islamic Era (651–1055) 43 Excursus 1. Pahlavi Persian Vocabulary 65 4. A First Flourishing of Translations: The Mongol Era (1256–1343) 67 Excursus 2. A Persian Translation Compared with the Syriac Peshitta 105 5. Kings and a Multifaith Cast of Translators: The Safavid Era (1501–1736) 109 6. Reluctant Translators: The Afshar Era (1736–1795) 145 7. The Company and the Bible Society: The Qajar Era (1796–1925) 167 Excursus 3: Distributing Bible Translations: The Role of the Bible Societes 232 VIII A RESTLESS SEARCH 8. New Approaches: The Pahlavi Era (1925–1979) 237 9. A Profusion of Translations: The Era of the Islamic Republic (1979–2010) 273 PART II 10. Translators, Sponsors, and Their Audiences 319 Excursus 4: Versification of Biblical Texts 349 11. Shifting Lexical Choices 353 12. Comparative Stylistic Analyses 371 13. Textual Choices and Their Theological Implications 409 14. Trends in Translation: From the Fifth Century to the Twenty-First 419 Appendix A: Chronology of Persian Translations of the Bible 435 Appendix B: History of Iran and World Events Timeline 449 Appendix C: Translations Timeline 451 Appendix D: Sample Persian Translations 453 Bibliography 457 Glossary 483 Credits 489 Index to Scripture References and Other Ancient Texts 491 Subject Index 497 ABBREVIATIONS BIBLES, VERSIONS, AND ANCIENT SOURCES ESV English Standard Version HT Hebrew text KJV King James Version JB Jerusalem Bible LXX Septuagint MT Masoretic Text NIV New International Version NJB New Jerusalem Bible NLT New Living Translation NM New Millennium Version NRSV New Revised Standard Version RSV Revised Standard Version TEV Today’s English Version (also GNB, GNT) Tg Targum TPV Today’s Persian Version (also Injil Sharif) TT Tafsiri Translation GENERAL ABCFM American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ABS American Bible Society ar. Arabic (MS) X A RESTLESS SEARCH ASL average sentence length b. born BA Bachelor of Arts degree B.C.E. Before the Common Era (=B.C.) Bd. Band, volume BFBS British and Foreign Bible Society bp. Bishop BSc Bachelor of Science degree BTh Bachelor of Theology degree c. century ca. circa CD compact disc cf. confer, compare C.E. Common Era (=A.D.) chap(s). chapter(s) CMS Church Missionary Society d. died diss. dissertation DMin Doctor of Ministry degree ECI Evangelical Church of Iran ed(s). editor(s), edition, edited by e.g. exempli gratia, for example et al. et alii, and others etc. et cetera, and the rest, and so forth f(f). and the following one(s) fem. feminine fn. footnote Fr. Father Ibid. ibidem, in the same place IBS International Bible Society i.e. id est, that is MA Master of Arts degree MS(S) manuscript(s) MTh Master of Theology degree n. note no. number NT New Testament N.Y. New York orig. publ. originally published OT Old Testament ABBREVIATIONS XI p(p). page(s) PhD Doctor of Philosophy degree pr. printing repr. reprint ret. retired Rev. Reverend rev. ed. revised edition S.J. Society of Jesus SOV subject, object, verb S.P.G. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts St(s). Saint(s) SVO subject, verb, object ThD Doctor of Theology degree TR Textus Receptus trans. translator, translated by UBS United Bible Societies UK United Kingdom viz. videlicet, namely vol(s). volume(s) vs. versus VSO verb, subject, object WBT Wycliffe Bible Translators FIGURES AND PLATES FIGURE 2.1 Timeline of the Parthian and Sassanian Eras 14 2.2 Bulayiq Pahlavi Psalm fragment 15 2.3 Map of Christian Centers in the Parthian Era 21 2.4 Map of Central Asia in the Sassanian Era 28 2.5 Map of Church of the East Metropolitan Cities 30 2.6 A modern translation from Mar Aba’s canons 36 3.1 Timeline of the Early Islamic Era 44 3.2 Cairo Geniza Judeo-Persian fragment 51 3.3 New Persian Psalm excerpt 61 4.1 Timeline of the Mongol Era 68 4.2 Map of Iran in the Time of the Mongols 69 4.3 Magic squares with name of translator 79 4.4 Colophon from 14th century Gospel of Matthew 85 5.1 Timeline of the Safavid Era 110 5.2 Map of Route of Carmelites to Iran 123 6.1 Timeline of the Afshar Era 146 7.1 Timeline of the Qajar Era 168 7.2 Letter by Shah in response to Henry Martyn translation 187 7.3 Map of Russia in the 19th Century 199 8.1 Timeline of the Pahlavi Era 238 9.1 Timeline of the Islamic Republic 274 10.1 Map of Centers for Persian Printing 326 10.2 Printing press of the Stanhope construction 328 11.1 Key terms and biblical references in the lexical choices survey 356 11.2 Translations included in the lexical choices survey 357 XIV A RESTLESS SEARCH The following plates appear together in a section immediately following page 000 PLATE 1 Four evangelists miniature from Persian Diatessaron (14th c.) 2 Oldest manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew in Persian (1312–13) 3 First printed Persian translation (1546) 4 First printed Persian Gospels translation (1657) 5 Interior of Armenian cathedral in New Julfa/Esfahan (17th c.) 6 First page of the French picture Bible given to Shah Abbas (13th c.) 7 Second page of the French picture Bible given to Shah Abbas (13th c.) 8 Mirza Mehdi Khan with Nader Shah (18th c.) 9 Page from Nader Shah Gospels and attached letter (1741) 10 Page from Baba ibn Nuriel Pentateuch translation (1741) 11 First Persian biblical translation printed outside Europe (1795) 12 First printed Persian New Testament (1815) 13 Henry Martyn and Robert Bruce (19th c.) 14 Benyamin Badal, colporteur (19th c.) 15 Three contemporary translation teams (20th c.) 16 Topographical map of Iran and photo of Iranian terrain FOREWORD In the classic sense of translation, that is, the expression of a “mes- sage” in a language other than the language of its first expression, the translation of the Bible is unsurpassed by any other translation tradition. As written text, the Holy Scriptures have been translated into more than two thousand five hundred languages representing all language families in all parts of the world during the past two and a half millennia. Throughout the past two centuries, the Bible Society movement has been actively engaged in this translation enterprise. Not only has it sup- ported the process of translation and distribution of the translated prod- uct, but it also has developed tools, including theoretical frameworks and practical methodologies, as well as the best critical source texts. The results of this Bible Society activity are a matter of statistical record, but the stories of those who have carried out this complex activity, described by one of the translators quoted in this volume as a task “that is not fun most of the time” (9.3.9a), have seldom been heard. Indeed, for a variety of reasons, many translators have remained anonymous. The Eugene A. Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship of the American Bible Society has therefore launched a project called The History of Bible Translation, which seeks to tell the story of Bible trans- lation. A first volume entitled A History of Bible Translation has been published (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2007), offering a pre- liminary overview of the history, theory, methods, and current state of Bible translation.
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