New Swedish New Testament unveiled
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

New Swedish New Testament unveiled at Gothenburg Book Fair

The new translation of the New Testament was unveiled at the Gothenburg Book Fair. The Church of Sweden is handing out 200,000 copies of the new Bible to churchgoers on the first Sunday of Advent.

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The new translation comes 500 years after the first translation into Swedish in 1526, which is found in Gustav Vasa's Bible - when Swedish was given the place in the church that Latin had previously had.

The Swedish Bible Society is behind the work on NT 2026.

The translators have gone back to the oldest manuscripts available, writes Dagens Nyheter.

They have also translated the Greek words that occur in the same way.

This has meant, among other things, that Judas no longer “betrays” Jesus. In the new translation, Judas - just like Pontius Pilate - is instead allowed to “deliver” Jesus. In the old scriptures, the same Greek verb is used for Judas and Pilate, and now it is also translated the same way.

The last translation came in 1981.

Corrected: In a previous version, the background to the new translation was described in a misleading way.

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AuthorTT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers
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