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Luther Bible

Martin Luther · 1534

Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible, which put Jesus's words into the vernacular and fueled the Reformation.

This translation made Jesus's recorded words accessible to German readers, reshaping how his teachings were understood and spread.

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An open, worn leather-bound book lying on a dark background. The right page shows a woodcut title page reading 'Biblia, das ist: die gantze Heilige Schrifft Deudsch, Mart. Luth. Wittemberg' with the date MDXXXIIII. The left page has a small woodcut and handwritten notes.
Martin Luther, Luther Bible, 1534.

About this source

What it is

The Luther Bible is Martin Luther's German translation of the Bible, with the New Testament first published in 1522 and the complete work, containing 75 books, printed in 1534. Luther worked with scholars including Philip Melanchthon and Matthäus Aurogallus, using Hebrew and Greek texts alongside the Latin Vulgate.

Why it matters

By translating the Bible into everyday German, Luther gave ordinary readers direct access to the words and story of Jesus without relying on priests or Latin. This helped drive the Protestant Reformation and, thanks to the printing press, shaped the development of the modern German language.

  • Why might putting the Bible into a common language have been seen as dangerous by some church authorities?
  • What does the title page's decoration tell you about how important this book was meant to seem?
  • How might reading scripture for yourself change a person's relationship with religious authority?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jesus Christ and Martin Luther on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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