Irish Gaelic Bedell Bible

This 1817 edition of ‘_An Biobla Naomhta_’, printed in London in Roman typeface, was the first publication of the Bedell Old Testament and the O’Donnell New Testament by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The New Testament was first published in 1602 and the Old Testament in 1685, both in Irish typeface. They were first printed together in 1690 in Roman typeface. While the New Testament was translated from the Greek, the Old Testament was primarily a translation of the subsequent publication, the King James Bible, with comparison to the Hebrew. Based on the slightly revised 1690 publication of both Old and New Testaments, the 1817 edition was revised further, bringing it nearer to the King James Version. In keeping with developments in the Irish language, the vocabulary and grammar of the 1690 edition were also updated. Both Old and New Testaments were translated within the Church of Ireland. The 1602 New Testament was initially translated by John Kearney, Nicolas Walsh (Bishop of Ossory), Maoilín Óg Mac Bruaideadha, and Nehemiah Donnellan (who became archbishop of Tuam). It was completed by, and named after, William O’Donnell (who succeeded Donnellan as archbishop of Tuam) who was assisted by Murtagh King and Domhnal Óg Ó huiginn. O’Donnell had John Fracton print the New Testament. The Old Testament translation was completed around 1638 by William Bedell (initially Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and in later years bishop of Kilmore), with the help of Murtagh King and Séamus Neangail. Robert Boyle first published the Old Testament later in 1685, with assistance from Narcissus Marsh and fresh translation in places by Andrew Sall, with others. It was printed in London. Conversion to digital text was completed by a team led by Craig Ledbetter (New Testament books), and Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh (Psalms) and MissionAssist. The Irish which appears in this publication was the scholarly and older standard literary form of classical modern Irish. It differed significantly from the vernacular of the time, but even more so from today’s modern Irish. With its many archaisms, reading the Bedell Bible today is therefore somewhat difficult for the modern reader, akin to reading Shakespeare in English.