Bible translations into Persian

From Textus Receptus

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Parts of the Gospels were first translated into Persian in the Persian Diatessaron in the 13th century. Then more sections of the Gospels by the 16th Century Muslim scholar of, and critic of, Christianity Khatun Abadi.^[]

Persian (Persian of Iran)

Henry Thomas Colebrooke's Four Gospels appeared in Calcutta in 1804. A major figure in this work was Henry Martyn, a contemporary of William Carey, who translated the New Testament. In 1811 he journeyed into Persia (now Iran). There he sent a copy of his translation of the New Testament to the Shah.^[] It was published in 1815. The complete Bible translation was completed in 1838.^[] A revision was published in 1896. A new version, Common Language Translation, first published in 1976. The New Testament is largely based on Henry Martyn's work.

Farsi (Persian) Contemporary Translation was published by the International Bible Society in 1995.

Today's Persian Version (TPV) was published in 2007.

Dari (Afghan Persian)

Dari (دری Darī, pronounced dæˈɾi) refers to the version of Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and hence known as Afghan Persian in some western sources.^[]^[] As defined in the Constitution of Afghanistan, Dari is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan. Spoken by almost half of the population as first language,^[] it also serves as the lingua franca in Afghanistan.^[] The Iranian and Afghan dialects of Persian are highly mutually intelligible. Differences are found primarily in the vocabulary and phonology.

Dari, spoken in Afghanistan, should not be confused with Dari or Gabri of Iran, a language of the Central Iranian sub-group, spoken in some Zoroastrian communities.^[]^[]

Scripture portions were published in Dari for the first time in 1974.^[] In 1982 the complete New Testament was published for the first time by the Pakistan Bible Society in Lahore.^[] This translation had been translated by an Afghan convert to Christianity, Zia Nodrat^[] using Iranian Persian, English and German versions. Its third edition was published by the Cambridge University Press in England in 1989.^[] Zia Nodrat was working on a Dari translation of the Old Testament, when he disappeared under mysterious circumstances.^[]

Tajiki (Persian of Tajikistan)

Versions in the Tajik language have appeared since the break up of the Soviet Union into the independent republics of Central Asia.

Comparisons table

Translation	John 3:16
Persian Diatessaron 13th Century	« همچنین خدا خلق را دوست داشت که پسر یگانه خود جهت خلق فدی کرد بهر آنک هرک بدو ایمان بیاورد هلاک مشود بلی زندگانی جاوید پذیرد
Tarjumeh-ye Khatun Abadi 16th century	« و خدا دوست داشته عالم را به حدی که بخشیده پسر یگانه خود را تا هلاک نشود کسی که ایمان آورد به او، بلکه بوده باشد او را حیات ابدی.
Tarjumeh-ye Henry Martyn 1876	« زیرا که خدا آن قدر جهان را دوست داشت که فرزند یگانه خود را ارزانی فرمود که تا هر کس که بر او ایمان آورد هلاک نشود بلکه زندگانی جاوید یابند.
Tarjumeh-ye Ghadeem 1896	زیرا خدا جهان را اینقدر محبت نمود که پسر یگانه خود را داد تا هر‌که بر او ایمان آورد هلاک نگردد بلکه حیات جاودانی یابد.
Today's Persian Version	زیرا خدا جهانیان را آن‌قدر محبّت نمود كه پسر یگانهٔ خود را داد تا هرکه به او ایمان بیاورد هلاک نگردد، بلكه صاحب حیات جاودان شود.
Tarjumeh-ye Hezare Noh	«زیرا خدا جهان را آنقدر محبت کرد که پسر یگانة خود را داد تا هر که به او ایمان آوَرَد هلاک نگردد، بلکه حیات جاویدان یابد.
Tarjumeh-ye Tafsiri	« زیرا خدا بقدری مردم جهان را دوست دارد که یگانه فرزند خود را فرستاده است، تا هر که به او ایمان آورد، هلاک نشود بلکه زندگی جاوید بیابد.
Tarjumeh-ye Pirouz Sayar	« چه خدا چندان جهان را دوست داشته است که پسر خویش، آن پسر یگانه، را بداده تا ان کس که بر او ایمان آوَرد هلاک نگردد. بلکه حیات جاودان یابد.
Dari (Afghan dialect)	زیرا خدا به دنیا آنقدر محبت داشت که پسر یگانۀ خود را داد تا هر که به او ایمان بیاورد هلاک نگردد، بلکه صاحب زندگی ابدی شود.
Institute for Bible Translation, 1997 (Tajiki)	«Зеро Худо ҷаҳонро чунон дӯст дошт, ки Писари ягонаи Худро дод, то ҳар кӣ ба Ӯ имон оварад, талаф нашавад, балки ҳаёти ҷовидонӣ ёбад.
Institute for Bible Translation, 2010 (Tajiki)	«Зеро Худо ҷаҳонро чунон дӯст дошт, ки Писари ягонаи Худро дод, то ҳар кӣ ба Ӯ имон оварад, намирад, балки ҳаёти абадӣ дошта бошад.

References

1. Ometto, Franco, «Khatun Abadi, the Ayatollah who Translated the Gospels», Islamochristiana, 28 (2002), págs
2. Henry Martyn, the Bible, and the Christianity in Asia
3. The Bible in Persian
4. CIA - The World Factbook, "Afghanistan", Updated on 8 July 2010
5. Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: prs
6. Dari, UCLA Language Materials Project
7. "Parsi-Dari" Ethnologue
8. "Dari, Zoroastrian" Ethnologue
9. http://www.worldscriptures.org/pages/dari.html retrieved 26 Sept. 2010
10. http://www.answering-islam.org/Testimonies/zia.html retrieved 16 Sept 2010
11. http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue2566.html retrieved 26 Sept 2010

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