The NEW New Testament

 (New 2026 Swedish translation of the New Testament)

I mentioned in my post about the autumn street market, that the only purchase I made that day was not from the market stalls, but in the book shop. 

New Testament 2026
(new Swedish translation)

 

What I popped in there to ask for was a brand new Swedish translation of the New Testament; officially released this past week in connection with the an annual big Book Fair in Göteborg (Gothenburg). 

The Gbg Book Fair as such started in 1985, and has kept growing to nowadays being a huge event with around 80.000 visitors (40% professionals, 60% public) over a week or so. 

I know I visited the book fair once in the early years, together with a friend living in Gbg back then.  Must have been in the late 1980s or early 1990s. It seemed "big enough" then, but has grown a lot since. 

Anyway, one major "event within the event" this year was the release of a new Swedish translation of the New Testament - also celebrating 500 years since the publication of our very first translation of the New Testament into the Swedish language in 1526 (followed by the whole bible in 1541). 

That first Bible goes under the name of "King Gustav Vasa's Bible". Besides the importance for the church, it had a major impact on our language (especially spelling and grammar) for centuries to come. In 1703 a revision was made, named after King Karl XII. That one in turn was not replaced until 1917, when there was a new translation made directly from the original Hebrew and Greek (while the previous ones had been translated from Latin). 

The 1917 Bible was the one still used in my childhood and youth, even though the grammar in it was by then old fashioned, and quite hard for many young people to grasp. During my first six school years, Christianity was still the foundation in our schools in Sweden. Every school day was started by singing a psalm (there was a pump organ in each classroom, and teachers were supposed to be able to play it); and prayers were said before we went to have lunch in the school canteen. And the school subject was called Christianity rather than Religion. This changed the same year that I started "junior high" (year seven) - in a larger school in town rather than in the village where I lived. Morning assemblies then also became less religious, and the school subject was renamed Religion, including a broader spectrum of beliefs.

But that same year, on Saturday mornings, I attended confirmation classes in the village where I lived, and also a number of Sunday church services. (Before that, I had rarely ever been to church, as my parents weren't church-attenders.) Most of my old classmates took the same classes. The Church of Sweden was still State Church (and remained so until 2000) - which meant (among other things) that most of us were born members of the church, because so were our parents (whether active or not). - In connection with the confirmation in our early teens we were also each given a copy of the Bible; which was then still the 1917 edition. (By my grandmother I was also given a more modern translation of the New Testament from 1965, though - which was my first encounter with alternative translations.)

I might add that personally I never had all that much problem with the 1917 Bible, as I was also used to reading other old books with "dated" grammar. 

From my mid teens on I also got involved (via friends) in "free" church contexts, and along the way I also attended an international and interdenominational summer camp held in English, which gave me even more insight into comparing translations - even before we got an official new Swedish translation of the New Testament in 1981, and finally also a revised Old Testament in 2000.

Back to 2026: Even if nowadays not "active" in church context, I still wanted to add this new edition of the New Testament to my collection. So when passing the bookshop in town yesterday, I popped in to ask if they had it. In spite of quite a lot of fuss being made of it this week in the media, here in our local book shop it was (rather surprisingly) not on display at the front - but they did have some on a bottom shelf in an obscure corner at the back... (And the shop assistant who helped me dig it out, and completed the affair, waved me good-bye with a somewhat ambiguous "remains to be seen if they 'got it right' this time!"...)

As with most books these days, the print is rather small for me to read; so I'll probably actually be reading more of it online, where I can adjust the size. I still like to also have a hardback copy, though. 

I'm looking forward to see if anything special "stands out" to me. (One thing I like already is that they've added a short introduction to each book, explaining a bit of the historical context.) - But I suspect that as for famous quotes etc, it will probably still be the 1917 versions that stick in my memory - whether I like it or not! ;)