Novum Instrumentum omne

The novelty Instrumentum omne is the first publication of the New Testament in Greek from the year 1516. It was developed by Desiderius Erasmus ( 1469-1536 ), prepared and printed by Johann Froben ( 1460-1527 ) from Basel. The first printed edition of the Greek New Testament was included in the Complutensischen Polyglot ( 1514), so the novelty Instrumentum is omne the second, which was published ( 1522). The output of Erasmus was the basis for the majority of modern translations of the New Testament in the 16th to 19th centuries.

First Edition

In 1512 Erasmus negotiated with Badius Ascensius of Paris on the publication of the Vulgate of Jerome, and a new edition of Adagia. However, this did not materialize and Erasmus ended the contact with Badius. At this time, thought Erasmus not after on the Greek New Testament. It is not sure when he decided to publish his edition of the Greek New Testament, but on a visit to Basel in August 1514 he contacted Johan Froben. Many scholars are of the opinion that had experienced Froben of an upcoming Spanish Polyglot and tried to take over the project of Alcala (eg SP Tregelles ). Some researchers, however, Froben doubt this motivation (for example, Bruce Metzger ), since there is no evidence for its support. He was probably referring to the Greek text with in order to prove the superiority of his Latin version.

The next meeting was held at the University of Cambridge in April 1515. As a result, Erasmus came to Basel in July 1515 and began his work. He took no Greek manuscripts with him, but was hoping to find them in Basel. He borrowed some Greek manuscripts of the Dominican library at Basle. He spent seven manuscripts that were later identified:

The manuscripts 1eap and 1RK had borrowed from Erasmus Johannes Reuchlin. The remaining manuscripts he borrowed from the Dominican Order. It is noteworthy that he did not use the Codex Basilensis, but this was at the University of Basel and it was accessible. Erasmus had three manuscripts of the Gospels and Acts available and four manuscripts of Paul's letters, but only one manuscript of Revelation. In each book of the New Testament, he compared three manuscripts, with the exception of the last book - the Revelation. Unfortunately, this manuscript was not complete, he lacked the last sheet. In this were the last six verses of the book. Instead of the publication delay, to search for another manuscript, he chose instead to translate the missing verses from the Latin Vulgate into Greek.

Even in other places in Revelation and other books of the New Testament sometimes added Erasmus 's Greek words because of text material from the Vulgate an. FHA Scrivener noted that he has created a new Greek word in Rev 17.4: ακαθαρτητος (instead of τα ακαθαρτα ). A word like ακαθαρτητος does not exist in the Greek language. He used in Rev 17,8 καιπερ εστιν ( and still is ) instead of και παρεσται ( and to come ). In Acts 9.6 is the question that Paul during his conversation on the road to Damascus is, Τρέμων τε καὶ θαμβὣν εἲπεν κύριε τί μέ θέλεις ποιῆσαι ( " And trembling and astonished, he said, Lord, what do you want me to do? been " ), also inserted from the Vulgate.

The pressure began on October 2, 1515 and was completed after a very short time (1 March 1516). It was carried out in great haste with a number of typographical errors and had an unusual title:

" Novum Instrumentum omne, diligenter from Erasmo red recognitum et Emendatum, non solum ad verum etiam ad Graecam veritatem multorum utiusq; linguae codicum eorumq; veterum simul et emendatorum fidem, post remo ad probatissimorum autorum citationem, emendationem et interpretationem, praecipue, Origenis, Chrysostomi, Cyrilli, Vulgarij, Hieronymi, Cypriani, Ambrosij, hilaryj, Augustini, una cum annotatines, quae lectorem doceant quid qua ratione mutatum sit. "

In this title, the words mean Novum Instrumentum ... recognitum et Emendatum translated New Testament ... revised and improved. This must refer to the Latin text of the Vulgate, not the Greek text, since at that time was still no printed edition of the Greek Testament ninth in circulation. In his dedication to Pope Leo X. Erasmus says:

"I have noticed that the doctrine which serves for our salvation, is to be found in a much purer and more vivid form, when taken from the well - head or the actual source rather than from ponds and rivers. And so I have the entire New Testament ( as they call it ) against the standard of the Greek original reworked ... I have contributed a few comments themselves, to show primarily to give the reader the changes made by me and why I made ​​them, and secondly to unravel things and explain that might be a bit complicated, unclear or opaque. "

It is a bilingual edition. In the left column is the Greek text, while we find the Latin text in the right column. It is clear that the Greek text was not the primary goal of this issue, but the Latin text of the Vulgate.

Second Edition

The response to the first issue were mixed, but within 3 years a second edition has been created. The second edition uses the more familiar term Testamentum instead of Instrumentum. In this issue ( 1519) related Erasmus also minuscule 3 ( NT complete without revelation; dating from the 12th century). The text has been changed in over 400 locations. In most cases typographical errors have been corrected, but not all. Some erroneous readings have been added to the text.

This second edition was the basis for Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible, the King James Version.

Catholic Church

At the Council of Trent Erasmus writings were put on the Index, including this edition of the Bible.

" Nouum Testamentum cum duplici interpretatione D. [ esiderius ] Erasmi & Veteris interpretis. Harmonia item Euang. & Indice & c. "

The use of this book, and thus leaving the declared authentic Vulgate could be reason enough to condemn translations.