Amharic New Testament (AMHUBS)

Overview

The New Testament in the Amharic language of Ethiopia, published in 1962 under the copyright of the United Bible Societies. This translation was commissioned by Emperor Haile Selassie I, who convened a Bible Committee on 6 March 1947 to revise the existing Amharic scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek texts. [1] The committee completed its work on 19 April 1952, and the revised text was published in 1962. [1]

The 1962 edition builds upon a long history of Amharic Bible translation. The first Amharic Bible was translated by Abu Rumi (c. 1750--1819), an Ethiopian monk working in Cairo between 1808 and 1818 with the French consul Asselin de Cherville. [1][2] Abu Rumi's manuscript of 9,539 pages was purchased by William Jowett and eventually published by the British and Foreign Bible Society, with the Gospels appearing in 1824, the full New Testament in 1829, and the complete Bible in 1840. [1][2] That translation, with amendments, remained the standard until Emperor Haile Selassie ordered a new revision. The Emperor had earlier sponsored a 1935 Amharic Bible, but the Italian invasion interrupted further revision efforts; work resumed after liberation and continued during his exile. [1]

Translation History

The 1962 Amharic New Testament is the product of a Bible Committee convened by Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1947 and completed in 1952. It was translated from the original Greek, consulting the established Ge'ez texts. The 1962 edition became the standard for the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and remains widely used among Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic Christians in Ethiopia. [1] A later revision in 1986 by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church incorporated minor corrections to the 1962 New Testament text. [1] The Bible Society of Ethiopia, a United Bible Societies member, subsequently published a fresh translation directly from Hebrew and Greek in 1987. [1]

Language and People

Amharic (ISO 639-3: amh) is spoken by approximately 21,900,000 people in Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia. [Glottolog: amha1245]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by United Bible Societies.

References