Zürich Bible

The Zürich Bible (Zürcher Bibel, also Zwinglibibel) is a Bible translation historically based on the translation by Huldrych Zwingli. Recent editions have the stated aim of maximal philological exactitude.

It is thought to be the first bible to contain a map.

Zwingli's translation grew out of the Prophezey, an exegetical workshop taking place on every weekday, with the participation of all clerics of Zürich, working at a German rendition of Bible texts for the benefit of the congregation.

The translation of Martin Luther was used as far as it was already completed. This helped Zwingli to complete the entire translation five years before Luther. At the printing shop of Christoph Froschauer, the New Testament appeared from 1525 to 1529, and later parts of the Old Testament, with a complete translation in a single volume first printed in 1531, with an introduction by Zwingli and summaries of each chapter. This Froschauer Bible, containing more than 200 illustrations, became notable as a masterpiece of printing at the time. The translation is mainly due to Zwingli and his friend Leo Jud, pastor at the St. Peter parish.

The translation of the Old Testament was revised in 1540, that of the New Testament in 1574. Verse numbering was introduced in 1589.

In 1975, Amos Hoover of Dover, PA reprinted the 1536 edition and the 1531 edition appeared under the imprint of the Theologischer Verlag Zürich in 1983.

Up to 1665, the language of the translation was based on the written variant of High Alemannic (Swiss German) used for official documents. In 1665, this was abandoned for the emerging Standard German of the chancery of the prince-electorate Saxony-Wittenberg.

Fraumünster pastor Johann Caspar Ulrich (1705–1768) in the 1755/1756 revision added commentaries, interpretations and concordances. From this edition, the bible became known as the Zwinglibibel. From 1817, the edition was in the hands of the Zürich Bible and Missionary Society (Zürcher Bibel- und Missionsgesellschaft). Another revision dates to 1868, reprinted in 1892

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