States Translation

The Statenvertaling, or "States Translation," is the major national Protestant Bible of the Dutch-speaking world, comparable in Dutch history to the King James Version in English. Comprising the complete Protestant Bible, it was rendered from the original languages — Hebrew and Greek — working from the Masoretic Hebrew text and the Greek New Testament, and follows a formal original-language approach. It was undertaken as a fresh translation rather than a revision of earlier Dutch work, and among its distinctive features is that it was produced after the Synod of Dort under state sponsorship, the assembly having judged an authoritative version drawn directly from the source texts to be necessary. Long read in churches and households of the Dutch Reformed tradition, it shaped religious language and devotional life for generations, and remains a reference point for later Dutch translations and revisions.