Greek, Hungarian, Italian, and Portuguese translations
Greek versions
A 13th-century manuscript of Jonah by a Jew is the earliest known post-Hellenistic Greek biblical work. A rendering of Psalms was published by a Cretan monk Agapiou in 1563. A version in Hebrew characters (a large part of the Old Testament) appeared in the Constantinople Polyglot Pentateuch in 1547.
The first New Testament was done by Maximus of Gallipoli in 1638 (at Geneva?). The British and Foreign Bible Society published the Old Testament in 1840 (London) and the New Testament in 1848 (Athens). Between 1900 and 1924, however, the use of a modern Greek version was prohibited. The theological faculty of the University of Athens is now preparing a fresh translation.
Hungarian versions
The spread of Lutheranism in the Reformation period gave rise to several vernacular versions. János Sylvester (Erdősi) produced the first New Testament made from the Greek (Sárvár, 1541). The Turkish occupation of much of Hungary and the measures of the Counter-Reformation arrested further printing of the vernacular Bible, except in the semi-independent principality of Transylvania. The first complete Hungarian Bible, issued at Vizsoly in 1590, became the Protestant Church Bible.
In the 20th century, a new standard edition for Protestants was published, the New Testament appearing in 1956 and the Old Testament (Genesis to Job) in 1951 and following. A new modernized Catholic edition of the New Testament from the Greek appeared in Rome in 1957.
Italian versions
The vernacular Scriptures made a relatively late appearance in Italy. Existing manuscripts of individual books derive from the 13th century and mainly consist of the Gospels and the Psalms.
These medieval versions were never made from the original languages. They were influenced by French and Provençal renderings as well as by the form of the Latin Vulgate current in the 12th and 13th centuries in southern France. There is evidence for a Jewish translation made directly from the Hebrew as early as the 13th century.
The first printed Italian Bible appeared in Venice in 1471, translated from the Latin Vulgate by Niccolò Malermi. In 1559 Paul IV proscribed all printing and reading of the vernacular Scriptures except by permission of the church. This move, reaffirmed by Pius IV in 1564, effectively stopped further Catholic translation work for the next 200 years.
The first Protestant Bible (Geneva, 1607, revised 1641) was the work of Giovanni Diodati, a Hebrew and Greek scholar. Frequently reprinted, it became the standard Protestant version until the 20th century. Catholic activity was renewed after a modification of the ban by Pope Benedict XIV in 1757. A complete Bible in translation made directly from the Hebrew and Greek has been in progress under the sponsorship of the Pontifical Biblical Institute since the 1920s.
Portuguese versions
The first Portuguese New Testament (Amsterdam), the work of João Ferreira d’Almeida, did not appear until 1681. The first complete Bible (2 vol., 1748–53) was printed in Batavia (in Holland). Not until late in the 18th century did the first locally published vernacular Scriptures appear in Portugal. A revision of d’Almeida was issued in Rio de Janeiro (in Brazil), the New Testament in 1910 and the complete Bible in 1914 and 1926; an authorized edition in modernized orthography was published by the Bible Society of Brazil (New Testament, 1951; Old Testament, 1958). A new translation of the New Testament from Greek by José Falcão came out in Lisbon (1956–65).