Description
From the Biblical texts, aligned as fully as possible to 1602 Reina-Valera with current grammar/spelling.
Spanish Bible in black Hardcover; suitable for evangelistic purposes.
Sewn Binding
Introduction
There are more than four hundred million people in more than twenty countries that speak Spanish, which places it as the fourth most spoken languages in the world, and second as the most used language for international communication. During the last half century, interest in the Bible has increased enormously in Latin America, an area in which for centuries only the clergy and an educated minority read the Word of God. As illiteracy is gradually eradicated throughout this vast region, both young and old read the Scriptures more and more. Therefore, the goal of the Society is, with the help of God, to make available to the Spanish-speaking world a translation that is both faithful to the original languages and understandable to the current reader in Spanish.
The History of the Spanish Bible
In 1569 Casiodora Reina finished the first translation of the Spanish Bible. This was then revised by Cipriano de Valera and published in 1602 (the Authorised (King James) Version was published in 1611). The Spanish therefore arguably had an excellent Bible translation before the English did. In the original preface to the Authorised Version (The Translators to the Reader) the English translators call attention to the fact that they made use of the Spanish Bible in their work, so it was obviously considered a faithful and accurate version of the Bible. In the ensuing four centuries there have been many revisions to the Spanish Bible, to the extent that many readings are not even close to what they were in the original 1602 Reina-Valera Bible.
Reina-Valera SBT
The Society is seeking to bring back a faithful, accurate revision of the Spanish Bible, ensuring that it truly conforms to the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek Textus Receptus New Testament. At the same time we are seeking to align and restore it, to the fullest extent possible, to the 1602 Reina-Valera Bible whilst respecting current rules of Spanish grammar and spelling. The Society has been working on the Spanish Bible revision project since 2006, and in 2016 the Spanish New Testament was published and reprinted in 2019 with Psalms and Proverbs. The Bible was finished and printed in 2023.
About the Reina-Valera SBT Spanish Bible:
The present edition of the complete Bible is a revision of the traditional Protestant Bible in Castilian, initially translated in 1569 by Casiodoro de Reina and later revised in 1602 by Cipriano de Valera—known respectively as the Bear Bible and the Jug Bible , due to the illustrations on their covers. In the 19th century, Valera's old version underwent several revisions, mainly in 1862 and 1865. In the 20th century, another revision of the Reina-Valera was published, later known as the Reina-Valera 1909.
One hundred years later, in 2023, the Trinitarian Bible Society is pleased to present to all Spanish-speaking countries this new revision of the Reina-Valera Bible, whose base text is directly from the 1909 version. This revision is the result of the work of an international team of reviewers, which began its revision in 2009. All revised books and chapters have also been considered by reading committees in various Spanish-speaking countries.
This revision of the Bible has been driven by the desire to be as faithful as possible to both the textual philosophy and the translation method of the Reina and Valera. This means, first and foremost, maintaining the same textual basis used by our first translators: the Hebrew Masoretic Text and the Greek Textus Receptus. Undoubtedly, they were aware of alternative readings of these texts, coming primarily from the Septuagint for the Old Testament and from other manuscripts for the New Testament; that is, they were aware of everything that now forms the basis of so-called contemporary textual criticism. However, their clear and consistent choice was to translate entirely from the original biblical texts, driven by the conviction that these have been specially preserved by God throughout history and that, consequently, the copies that have come down to them and to us are authentic (Mt 5:18;1 Peter 1:25).
Regarding the translation method, Reina-Valera provided one of the most literal Protestant translations of the Bible during the Reformation, especially of the Old Testament, where they reproduced intact a large number of Hebraisms from the original text. They also transliterated without translation the proper name of God in the Old Testament as "Jehovah," which translated means "the Eternal One," which was and is a unique feature of the Spanish Bible. This revision attempts to maintain, as far as possible, this literal translation of the Reina-Valera Bible, which is known today as formal equivalence, which is why it has been highly valued both during the Reformation and today. In those cases where we have not been able to give the literal meaning of a word, it has usually been provided in a footnote.
A notable feature of this revision of the Bible compared to other current versions is the preservation of the use of italics, a characteristic of all Reformation Bible translations. Unlike current usage, which uses it to emphasize certain words or the use of foreign words, this revision uses italics to indicate that certain Spanish words have been added to supplement or complete a meaning implicitly found in the original. The use of italics is one of the consequences of the formal equivalence method of translation, since, when translating literally from the original language, there are grammatical and syntactical constructions that require the addition of some words in order to be expressed in Spanish. In this way, the underlying original text is, so to speak, always visible to the reader. Italics was a resource used in various Bible translations from the Reformation era into different languages, as well as in the Reina-Valera Bible versions up to the RV1909, and the present revision has preserved it for extensive use, carefully attempting to apply strict criteria regarding its inclusion.
Furthermore, this revision has been scrupulously careful to maintain the high literary style and vocabulary of the Reina-Valera. We have tried to avoid including new words in addition to those used by the latter, so much of this revision work has consisted of updating and harmonizing the language and translation. The body responsible for this revision of the Reina-Valera version is the Trinitarian Bible Society, an organization founded in 1831 in London, Great Britain, to work for the publication and distribution of faithful and reliable versions of the Holy Scriptures, excluding the Apocrypha, in the various languages of the world. Its primary purpose is to promote the glory of God and the salvation of men, dependent upon divine blessing for this purpose. It confesses the Trinity and the inspiration and inerrancy of the sixty-six canonical books of Scripture, as well as their preservation by God in the Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Old Testament and in the Greek Textus Receptus of the New Testament.
With deep gratitude to the Lord, this revision of the Bible is published for the glory of God, the salvation of lost sinners, and the edification of the Church throughout the Hispanic world.
