Zurich Bible

A major Swiss Reformation Bible, produced in Zürich in the circle of reformers gathered around that city's church, the Zürich Bible was one of the important continental aids used by Miles Coverdale in preparing his English Bible. In scope it is a complete Protestant Bible, translated from the Hebrew and Greek, working from the original-language texts with the help of contemporary aids. Its guiding philosophy is that of humanist vernacular translation, placing the scriptures in the language of ordinary readers, and it may be classed either as a fresh translation or as a collaborative revision. Its distinctive character lies in its origin as a collaborative Zürich project rather than the work of a single translator, a feature that set it apart from many sixteenth-century versions associated with individual names, and it takes its place among the German-language Bibles of the Reformation era.