A complete translation of the Bible into Irish was first published in the 17th century: the New Testament in 1602 and the Old Testament in 1680.
Contents
Walsh, Daniel and Bedel's version
After the Tudor reconquest of Ireland, the established Church of Ireland attempted to consolidate the Reformation in Ireland, with little success among the Gaelic Irish. The first translation of the The New Testament (Tiomna Nuadh) was begun by Nicholas Walsh, Bishop of Ossory, who worked on it until his untimely death in 1585. The work was continued by John Kearney (Treasurer of St Patrick's, Dublin), his assistant, and Dr. Nehemiah Donellan, Archbishop of Tuam, and it was finally completed by William O'Domhnuill (William Daniel, Archbishop of Tuam in succession to Donellan). Their work was printed in 1602.
The work of translating the Old Testament was undertaken by William Bedel (1571–1642), Bishop of Kilmore, who completed his translation within the reign of Charles the First. However, it was not published until 1685, in a revised version by Narcissus Marsh (1638–1713), Archbishop of Dublin.
Twentieth-century versions
In 1951, the Hibernian Bible Society published a translation of the New Testament into Irish made by Earnán De Siúnta (Ernest Edwin Joynt, "An Buachaillín Buidhe") a Methodist active in the Gaelic League, and based on the 1602 translation.
The Irish Roman Catholic bishops established a commission in 1945 to plan the publication of an Irish-language New Testament, and a steering committee in 1966 to publish a complete Bible. Books were published individually in various forms by An Sagart, a Catholic publisher established at Saint Patrick's College, Maynooth by Pádraig Ó Fiannachta, from the Gospel of Luke in 1964 until 1977. Ó Fiannachta and Coslett Ó Cuinn were among the translators. A complete version, revised from the originals and edited by Ó Fiannachta, was published as An Bíobla Naofa in 1981. This is now available online.