Chronological Synthesis of the Various Revisions Made to the Reina-Valera Bible.

Furnished by Miss Margaret T. Hills,

Librarian of the American Bible Society, New York, September 23 of 1954.

 

1569 Translation of the Bible by Casiodoro de Reina based on the Hebrew (principally using Pagninus' Hebrew to Latin translation, although Casiodoro de Reina obviously knew some Hebrew), and the Ferrera Bible (published in 1553 for the use of the Jews that spoke Spanish, Judaic-Spanish or Ladino), and the Greek with relation to various versions including the Syriac.

1602 Revision of the Casiodoro de Reina's Bible by Cipriano de Valera. (The Historical Catalog does not have any data on texts that Valera used). The New Testament revised by Valera had been printed in 1596; it was reprinted in 1625.

1708 The New Testament.-Revision of the New Testament that was printed in 1596, by Sebastián de Enzina, Amsterdam.

1806 The British and Foreign Bible Society made the revision of the New Testament of 1708, commending the work to Uzielli, an interpreter and translator who resided in London. The British and Foreign Bible Society edited it many times during the following twenty years. There were orthographical changes made in 1813 and in 1817. "A new and corrected edition" of the book of 1813. (Everyone at that time published the version of Scío de San Miguel.)

1832 The New Testament.-Bible Society of Glasgow. It appears that this New Testament had been revised in 1831, but no one knows who did the revision and there has been no further investigation into the matter. This New Testament was reprinted en 1845 by the American Bible Society and in 1849 by the Bible Society of Glasgow.

1850 The Bible.-Corrected under the patronage of the American Bible Society, using as a basis the Scío, the Valera, the Hebrew and the Greek, the American Version, and the French version of Martin. This was the text used en the bilingual version of 1850 and since.

1858 New Testament.-Revision done under the patronage of the British and Foreign Bible Society. This revision was printed many times.

1861 The Bible.-Revision done under the patronage of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Reprinted many times.

1862 The Bible.-SPCK (Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge). With modernized orthography and diction by Dr. Lorenzo Lucena, who had prepared a New Testament for the SPCK en 1837 based on the Torres Amat version. Later on Lucena taught Spanish at the Institute of Oxford.

1865 The Bible and the New Testament.-American Bible Society. A new revision of Reina-Valera begun in 1861 by Angel H. Mora, Spaniard, and H. B. Pratt, American, Presbyterian missionary in Bogotá. The revision of a small portion of the New Testament and all of the Old (in the which little was done other then modernizing the orthography), was completed solely by him. (Historical Catalog).

1865 The New Testament.-Printed en Malaga under the patronage of the NBSS (National Bible Society of Scotland). It appears to be a reprint of the 1832 edition mentioned above.

1866 The Bible.-British and Foreign Bible Society. Using for the Old Testament the SPCK version of Lucena but with a New Testament that differs slightly. (Wiff., p.250, No. 388).

1869 The Bible.-British and Foreign Bible Society. Reprint of the SPCK revision of 1862 with a few variations. It was reprinted many times in Madrid as was done with this 1869 edition in the same city. In 1870, references were added by Jorge Alton, a weslyan missionary en Spain and was revised by E. B. Cowell, a sanscript professor in Cambridge, and completed by Lucena. (Wiff., p. 242, No. 335).

1874 The Bible.-Trinitarian Bible Society, printed in Barcelona. From the SPCK 1862 edition.

1877 The Bible.-British and Foreign Bible Society. The references were revised and enlarged. This work was done by Gladstone, of Madrid, and R. Corfield, Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society in the same city.

1883 The Bible.-Barcelona, Valera, etc. Edited by Jorge Lawrence, who had supervised the TBS editions (Trinitarian Bible Society) en Spain. The work was begun in 1876 with Genesis and Exodus and half of the New Testament, but Lawrence acquired the TBS and then proceeded on his own. This work uses the Psalms of Pratt's revision and Louis Usox and Rio's translation of Isaiah.

1886 The Gospel according to Luke.-British and Foreign Bible Society, Madrid. Valera, prepared by E. Reeves Palmer, Agent of before mentioned Bible Society in Spain, based on the TR (Textus Receptus) with reference to Tishendorf, Alford, the Greek text underlying the ERV (English Revised Version) and the Spanish versions available at the time. There was made a provisional New Testament and 1887 and of Genesis as well.

1890 The Bible.-British and Foreign Bible Society. The text was printed in paragraphs. There are no indications about the edition. Section headings.. The New Testament was separately edited en two sizes en 1891. A similar Bible, but smaller, in 1893.

1905 Old Testament, Madrid, revised by Juan B Cabrera and Cipriano Tornos. -The references were prepared by Segundo Sabio, then Presbyterian pastor in Zaragoza, and later Agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society in Madrid and then professor of French in Guadalajara, Spain.

1909 It was by 1909 that it is supposed that the British and Foreign Bible Society standardized their texts with the corrections made by Cabrara and Tornos; but there are still a few slight variations.