Arabic Bible: Smith–Van Dyck (1865) SVD

Leer en español

Start reading Contents

At a glance

Language
Arabic
Tradition
Protestant — Made in Beirut by the American (Syrian) Mission of the ABCFM with Arab scholars; published with the American Bible Society.
Church approval
unknown — A Protestant mission translation, but widely accepted beyond Protestants: Grafton reports its use by Evangelical, Coptic Catholic and Coptic Orthodox churches (read at Pope Tawadros II's enthronement, 2012). Use by the Antiochian and Greek Orthodox is reported by one source only: SOURCE NOT VERIFIED.
Old Testament source
Masoretic Hebrew — Hebrew.
New Testament source
Textus Receptus — Greek: Smith had used critical editions, but the American Bible Society required the Textus Receptus and Van Dyck conformed the text (e.g. inserting 1 John 5:7).
Canon
Protestant (66 books)
Style
Formal (word for word)
Year
Begun 1847; New Testament 1860, whole Bible 1865 (dates as given by Ajaj; Wikipedia: 'published 1860 to 1865'). Digital text: eBible.org arb-vd (vowelled).
Translators
Eli Smith with Butrus al-Bustani and Nasif al-Yaziji (from 1847); after Smith's death (1857) Cornelius Van Alen Van Dyck with Yusuf al-Asir. Grafton's manuscript study finds that al-Bustani did most of the work, including the whole New Testament.
Reading level
Classical / Modern Standard Arabic, fully vowelled.
Verse numbering
English (KJV-style)
Licence
Public domain — Published 1865; Van Dyck died 1895. eBible: 'Public Domain', 'Translation by: Syrian Mission', 'Contributor: American Bible Society'. NOT used: CrossWire's AraSVD module, whose conf says 'Copyrighted; Permission granted to distribute non-commercially in SWORD format' for the vowelled file from arabicbible.com. Whether eBible's vowelled file derives from that file: SOURCE NOT VERIFIED (a faithful copy of a public-domain text is generally not protected in the US).
Text source
eBible.org (arb-vd)

Notes

About

The most widely read Arabic Bible, translated in Beirut by the American (Syrian) Mission — Eli Smith, Butrus al-Bustani, Nasif al-Yaziji, then Cornelius Van Dyck with Yusuf al-Asir — and published in 1865. It follows the Hebrew Old Testament and the Textus Receptus, without the deuterocanonical books. Though a Protestant mission work, it is also read by many Orthodox and Coptic Christians.

Strengths

Things to know

Not yet verified

Profile checked 2026-10-18.

Books in this edition (66 books)

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation

Not in this edition: Tobit, Judith, Esther (Greek), Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3 Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras (4 Ezra), Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, Odes, Daniel (Greek)

Letters show which canons include a book: O Orthodox, C Catholic, P Protestant (in brackets: printed as Apocrypha or in an appendix).

Publisher's statement

الكتاب المقدس باللغة العربية، فان دايك
Arabic Van Dyck translation of the Holy Bible
Public Domain
Language: العربية (Arabic)
Dialect: standard
Translation by: Syrian Mission
Contributor: American Bible Society
2020-08-03

Which Bible should I read? · Compare all translations

Sources