The Royal Bible​—A Milestone in Scholarship

THE ship left Spain en route to the Italian peninsula in the early 16th century. Stored in its hold was a cargo of immense value​—the bulk of the total production of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible printed between 1514 and 1517. Suddenly, a violent storm came up. The crew fought to save the ship, but their efforts proved futile. The ship sank with its priceless cargo.

That disaster led to the demand for a new edition of the Polyglot Bible. Finally, the master printer Christophe Plantin accepted the challenge. He needed a rich sponsor to finance this monumental work, so he asked Philip II, king of Spain, to be the official patron. Before making his decision, the king consulted various Spanish scholars, among others the renowned Bible scholar Benito Arias Montano. He told King Philip: “Apart from rendering a service to God and benefiting the universal church, it will also bring great glory to the royal name of Your Majesty and esteem to your personal reputation.”

A revised edition of the Complutensian Polyglot would be a notable cultural achievement, so Philip  decided to give his wholehearted support to Plantin’s project. He charged Arias Montano with the huge task of editing what came to be called the Royal Bible, or the Antwerp Polyglot. *

Philip was so interested in the progress of this Polyglot Bible that he asked to be sent a proof of each sheet. Naturally, Plantin was reluctant to wait until the sheet had gone from Antwerp to Spain, had been read and corrected by the monarch, and then returned. In the end, Philip got only the first sheet off the press and possibly some of the early pages. Meanwhile, Montano progressed on the real proofreading with the valuable aid of three professors of Louvain and the printer’s teenage daughter.

A Lover of God’s Word

Arias Montano made himself at home among Antwerp’s scholars. His broad-minded approach endeared him to Plantin, and their friendship and cooperation were to last for the rest of their life. Montano stood out not only for his scholarship but also for his great love for God’s Word. * As a young man, he had been anxious to complete his academic studies in order to devote himself exclusively to the study of the Scriptures.

Arias Montano believed that a translation of the Bible should be as literal as possible. He sought to translate exactly what was  written in the original text, thus allowing the reader access to the true Word of God. Montano followed the motto of Erasmus, who urged scholars “to preach about Christ from the original.” The sense of the original languages of the Scriptures had been hidden from the people for centuries because of the difficulty of understanding the Latin translations.

Composition of the Work

All the manuscripts that Alfonso de Zamora had prepared and revised for printing the Complutensian Polyglot came into the hands of Arias Montano, who used them for the Royal Bible. *

The Royal Bible was at first conceived as a second edition of the Complutensian Polyglot, but it became much more than a simple revision. The Hebrew text and the Greek text of the Septuagint were taken from the Complutensian Bible; then new texts were added along with an extensive appendix. The new Polyglot finally had eight volumes. The printing took five years, from 1568 until 1572​—a very short time in view of the complex nature of the work. Finally, 1,213 copies were printed.

Whereas the Complutensian Polyglot of 1517 proved to be a “monument to typographical art,” the new Antwerp Polyglot surpassed its predecessor in technical merit and in content. It was another milestone in the history of printing and, more important, in the preparation of refined master texts of the Bible.

Attacks From Enemies of God’s Word

Not surprisingly, enemies of faithful Bible translation soon appeared on the scene. Although the Antwerp Polyglot had papal approval and Arias Montano had a well-deserved reputation as an honorable  scholar, he was denounced to the Inquisition. Opposers said that his work portrayed the new revised Latin text of Santes Pagninus as a more accurate translation of the Hebrew and Greek originals than the Vulgate, translated centuries earlier. They also accused Montano of consulting the original languages in his desire to produce an accurate translation of the Bible​—a procedure they viewed as heretical.

The Inquisition even asserted that “the King had not gained much honor by having put his royal name to the work.” They expressed regret that Montano had not given  sufficient authority to the official Vulgate. Despite these accusations, they could not find sufficient proof to condemn either Montano or his Polyglot Bible. In the end, the Royal Bible was well received, and it became a standard work in various universities.

A Useful Tool for Bible Translation

Though the Antwerp Polyglot was not a work conceived for the public at large, it soon became a useful tool for Bible translators. Like its predecessor, the Complutensian Polyglot, it contributed to the refining of the texts that were available of the Scriptures. It also helped translators to improve their understanding of the original languages. Translations of the Bible into several major European languages benefited from this work. For example, The Cambridge History of the Bible reports that translators of the famous King James Version, or Authorized Version, of 1611 used the Antwerp Polyglot as a valuable aid for translating the ancient languages. The Royal Bible also exercised a considerable influence on two important Polyglot Bibles published in the 17th century.​—See the box “The Polyglot Bibles.”

One of the many merits of the Antwerp Polyglot was the fact that it made available to European scholars the Syriac version of the Greek Scriptures for the first time. That Syriac text was set alongside a literal Latin translation. This was a very useful addition, since the Syriac was one of the oldest translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Dating from the fifth century C.E., the Syriac version was based on manuscripts dating back to the second century C.E. According to The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “the value of the [Syriac] Peshitta for textual criticism is generally acknowledged. It is one of the oldest and most important witnesses to the ancient traditions.”

Neither the raging sea nor the attacks of the Spanish Inquisition prevented an improved and amplified version of the Complutensian Polyglot from resurfacing in 1572 in the form of the Royal Bible. The history of the Polyglot Bible of Antwerp is another example of the efforts sincere men have made to defend the Word of God.

Whether they knew it or not, by their selfless labor, these dedicated men reflected the truth of the prophetic words of Isaiah. Almost three thousand years ago, he wrote: “The green grass has dried up, the blossom has withered; but as for the word of our God, it will last to time indefinite.”​—Isaiah 40:8.

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“As for the word of our God, it will last to time indefinite”

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THE POLYGLOT BIBLES

“A Polyglot Bible is one that contains the text in various languages,” explains Spanish scholar Federico Pérez Castro. “Traditionally, however, the term refers to Bibles that have the Scriptural text in the original languages. In this restricted sense of the term, the number of polyglot Bibles is very small.”

1. The Complutensian Polyglot (1514-17), sponsored by Cardinal Cisneros, was printed in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Its six volumes contained the Bible text in four languages: Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin. It provided 16th-century translators with a master text of the Hebrew-Aramaic Scriptures.

2. The Antwerp Polyglot (1568-72), edited by Benito Arias Montano, added to the Complutensian text the Syriac Peshitta version of the Christian Greek Scriptures and the Aramaic Targum of Jonathan. The Hebrew text, which contained vowel points and accent marks, was revised according to the received Hebrew text of Jacob ben Hayyim. It thus became a standard text of the Hebrew Scriptures for Bible translators.

3. The Paris Polyglot (1629-45) was sponsored by French lawyer Guy Michel le Jay. It was inspired by the Antwerp Polyglot, although it also contained some Samaritan and Arabic texts.

4. The London Polyglot (1655-57), edited by Brian Walton, was also based on the Antwerp Polyglot. This Polyglot included ancient translations of the Bible into Ethiopian and Persian, although these versions did not significantly add clarity to the Bible text.

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Banner and Antwerp Polyglots (two underneath): Biblioteca Histórica. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Antwerp Polyglot (on top): By courtesy of Museum Plantin-Moretus/Stedelijk Prentenkabinet Antwerpen; London Polyglot: From the book The Walton Polyglot Bible, Vol. III, 1655-1657

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Philip II, king of Spain

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Philip II: Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid

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Arias Montano

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Montano: Biblioteca Histórica. Universidad Complutense de Madrid

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Original printing presses in Antwerp, Belgium

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Press: By courtesy of Museum Plantin-Moretus/Stedelijk Prentenkabinet Antwerpen

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Left: Christophe Plantin and the title page of the Antwerp Polyglot

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Title page and Plantin: By courtesy of Museum Plantin-Moretus/Stedelijk Prentenkabinet Antwerpen

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Above: Exodus chapter 15 in four columns of text

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Title page and Plantin: By courtesy of Museum Plantin-Moretus/Stedelijk Prentenkabinet Antwerpen

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Biblioteca Histórica. Universidad Complutense de Madrid