Folia Theologica 9. (1998)

György Benyik: Hungarian Bible Translation

HUNGARIAN BIBLE TRANSLATIONS

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ished in Altdorf. Szenczi called his verses „French Psalms” since he wrote them „following the guideline” of the German translation of Clément Marót and Theodore Beza’s work. He combined Hungarian verse with iambic rhythm and dedicated his work to Moritz, Prince of Hessen. This translation had more than 100 editions and became the official songbook of the Hungarian Calvinist Church, and is used in Protestant liturgy even now.59 The Prince financed his work for six years (1607-12). During this period he prepared his Cathecismus and his revision of the Károli Bible for printing (Hannau 1608). He also wrote Icon vere religionis and published his Latin-Greek-Hungarian Dictionary.

Having come to Hungary to preach he did not realise his expectations either in Ferenc Batthyány’s or in Gábor Bethlen’s service, and soon returned to Germany.

First he was a preacher at Amberg, then a cantor at Oppenheim. Later he moved to Heidelberg, but because of the 1618-48 war he had to leave the town together with his possessions. In 1622 he was in Hannau again, where he translated Calvin’s Institutio and wrote a book of prayers. After a visit to Amsterdam and a trip to England, Gábor Bethlen called him back to Hungary. Here he lived in Kassa, and than moved to Kolozsvár. After returning home he continued his wandering and finally died, poor and forgotten. However, with his versified psalm translations he had brought back an earlier tradition and made it popular.

The Psalm of King St. David by JÁNOS TORDAI (Kolozsvár 1627) can be regarded as an initiation of this kind, but the Psalm translation of the Sabbatarian SIMON PÉCHI (1575-1642) seems to be much more interesting. He came from a bourgeois family and had a great career. First he was secretary to István Bocskai, Prince of Transylvania, and later the Chancellor of the Transylvanian prince, Gábor Bethlen. He led several diplomatic missions to Costantinople and learnt Turkish, Arabic and Hebrew. He became acquainted with the Sabbatarian trend, founded by Ferenc Dávid. Because of the intrigues he lost almost all of his possessions. All his Sabbatarian literary work, including his Psalms, remained in

59 KERÉKGYÁRTÓ, Elemér. SZ. M. A. Zsoltárai magyar verstörténeti szempontból. Budapest, 1914.; Barankay, Lajos in Protestáns Szemle, 1943; GÁLDI, László. Sz. M. A. Zsoltárverse. Budapest, 1958.