Selections from the Table Talk of Martin LutherLuther, Martin
ReligionChristian
Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther
Luther, Martin
Table-talk
That the Bible is the Word of God, said Luther, the same I prove as
followeth. All things that have been and now are in the world, also how
it now goeth and standeth in the world, the same was written altogether
particularly at the beginning, in the First Book of Moses concerning the
Creation. And even as God made and created it, even so it was, even so
it is, and even so doth it stand to this present day. And although King
Alexander the Great, the kingdom of Egypt, the empire of Babel, the
Persian, Grecian, and Roman Monarchs, the Emperors Julius and Augustus,
most fiercely did rage and swell against this Book, utterly to suppress
and destroy the same, yet notwithstanding, they could prevail nothing;
they are all gone and vanished; but this Book, from time to time, hath
remained, and will remain unremoved, in full and ample manner, as it was
written at the first. But who kept and preserved it from such great and
raging power; or, Who defendeth it still? Truly, said Luther, no human
creature, but only and alone God himself, who is the right Master
thereof; and it is a great wonder that it hath been so long kept and
preserved, for the devil and the world are great enemies unto it. The
devil doubtless hath destroyed many good books in the Church, as he hath
rooted out and slain many saints, concerning whom we have now no
knowledge. But, no thanks unto him, the Bible he was fain to leave
unmeddled with. In like manner Baptism, the Sacrament, and the Office of
Preaching have remained among us against the power of many tyrants and
heretics that have opposed the same. These our Lord God hath kept and
maintained by his special strength. Homer, Virgil, and suchlike are
profitable and ancient books; but, in comparison of the Bible, they are
nothing to be regarded.
_By whom and at what Times the Bible was translated_.
Two hundred and forty-one years before the humanity of Christ, the Five
Books of Moses, and the Prophets, were translated out of the Hebrew into
the Greek tongue by the Septuagint Interpreters, the seventy doctors or
learned men then at Jerusalem, in the time of Eleazar the High-priest, at
the request of Ptolemeus Philadelphus, King of Egypt, which King allowed
great charges and expenses for the translating of the same.
Then, one hundred and twenty-four years after the birth of Christ, his
death and passion, the Old Testament was translated out of Hebrew into
Greek by a Jew, named Aquila (being converted to the Christian faith), in
the time of Hadrian the Emperor.
Fifty and three years after this Aquila, the Bible was also translated by
Theodosius.
In the three-and-thirtieth year after Theodosius, it was translated by
Symmachus, under the Emperor Severus.
Eight years after Symmachus, the Bible was also translated by one whose
name is unknown, and the same is called the Fifth Translation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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