anyone know where i can find an etext of the Gaeilge bible online anywhere...i can find virtually every language but Irish...

I don't think it is online. You can get a CD-ROM from http://www.fiosfeasa.com though.

http://www.fiosfeasa.com/script/bearla/products/bible.asp

I've not been able to find An Bíobla online either, but for about 15 Euro you can get it on CD

As a curiosity, here are some books of the bible online in Manx and Scot's Gaelic

http://www.christianisrael.com/gaelic_manx/index.htm
http://www.christianisrael.com/gaelic_scots/index.htm

I'm glad this topic came up. I've been looking for an Irish Bible for a long time. I went to fiosfeasa.com and that cd rom looked great. But what can you do if you don't have Euros?

Do you have a credit card? Or do you mean you just don't have the money?

The bible available from Fios Feasa is really excellent, as are their other products. Definitely a place for learners! :-)

If you Google "Oideas Gael" in Gleann Cholmcille, Co Dun an nGall, they have a rather extensive inventory of books in their siopa. They also advertise that they will find what is not in stock for you. I have a copy of An Bíobla (An Sagart, Maigh Naud: 2000) which was brought back as a gift. I'm almost sure it was purchased at Oideas Gael. A note of caution: The edition I have has extremely small print ((looks like 5 or 6 pt) that makes it difficult to sort out the little differences in spelling and accents that are not readily obvious to the novice, especially the geezer novice such as himself whose eyes have begun to fail.

there is no such translation at ibo.org, currently.

i am so sorry for the wrong web address.
it is biblegateway.com, with lots of translations.
new testaments and old testaments, in different versions.

The contemporary printed edition of the Irish RC Bible is a scandal. A cheap badly bound paperback. A magnifying glass is required to read the miniscule print. I am surprised there wasn't an outcry from Irish speakers when it was published. Maybe the bishops still don't want us reading the Divine word. Is there a C of I Irish Bible in print?

if there is, it will be missing parts...

And what parts would those be, Antaine?

Searlas

Would a Bible produced by the Church of Ireland be missing Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Machabees 1&2 and sections of Esther and Daniel? Some protestant Bibles lump these into an appendix, and some omit them entirely...I'm not sure what would be the case with the C of I...

Well, since I've never heard of the books you mentioned other than Esther and Daniel, apparently they're missing in Protestant bibles. :-)

Actually Luther had reasons for omitting certain books from the Catholic bible when translating the bible into German, but that's neither here nor there.

Just remember that there are indeed people out there with mixed ancestries, like me, or others that might be interested in a Protestant version of the bible in Irish. And for us it wouldn't be missing a thing. :-)

Regards,

Searlas

A Chairde,

A Chait,

Most international online retailers are set up to convert dollars to euros when you provide them with your credit card number. I have made purchases from Dublin based booksellers with my American based VISA and the monthly statement showed the purchase price in the American equivalent of Irish Euros.

A h-Antóin,

I took your complaint to be about the quality of production of the RC Bible, not of it's content. I believe the edition I own is the one to which you are referring, and I agree with you. However, I assumed that it was just a case of "you get what you pay for," and that what I have (a gift horse whose teeth I shouldn't be examining) is simply a very inexpensive edition. They've managed to get all 73 of the books of the Catholic Bible plus extensive commentary into less that 1300 pages. I have an NIV English version with only 66 books that runs to almost 2000 pages.

I would heartily agree that my Irish RC version is inferior as to production. In that respect, Bibles are like automobiles. Depending on your resources, you may choose a Honda Civic or a Rolls.

However, differences of opinion as to content are what flame wars are made of.

Antaine,

Assuming the C of I Bible contains the same books as the King James Authorized English Version, I believe the CofI would be missing all you mentioned with the exception of Ecclesiastes. Also, I believe An Leabhar Shíorach is not found in the Protestant Bible.

(Message edited by pádraig on December 12, 2004)

There is a good quality, hard back version of an Bíobla Naofa which is the one I have.

But it is quite big - A4 pages.

And the differences as to which books make it into the "canon" go back to the Jews - a Palestinian Hebrew Canon existed which does not have the books which the Greek Alexandrine canon does. Luther and others who followed him chose the Palestinian Canon. And some theological differences arise from that (Purgatory and praying for the dead comes to mind - Machabees is one of the sources for that).

But I don't know if a protestant edition in Irish has been produced since Bedell's original translation in 16xx. I have a copy of the apocrypha (the "missing" books) which was printed in the 20th Century from it.

It looks like the hardback edition may be out of print now. The CDROM is probably best anyway, if you are not in Ireland.

It has the same text, plus some additional material, plus you can do a keyword search,...

I don't have one, but I have heard good reports.

Rereading this thread, and living atop the buckle on the Bible Belt in the Southeastern U.S., I am struck by what seems to be a paucity of Bible translations available in Ireland. Over here salespersons in Christian Book Stores are provided with charts that describe the numerous translations and editions and which detail their similarities and differences. I'm talking floor to ceiling, wall to wall shelves of Bibles for sale, and many of them at exhorbitant prices which people willingly and eagerly pay.

Antóin's reference to ecclesiastical authorities discouraging people from reading the Scripture has me wondering. Is there any truth in the observation? And if so, what a wonderful opportunity to revitalize the language is being overlooked. Imagine, in a nation so Christian as Ireland, liturgies and sermons in Irish only every Sunday, and an Irish Bible on every coffee table.

I'm reminded that I was good at Latin when I was required to study it in high school. The reason: I was an altar boy in the days before Vatican II, and we had to learn all the liturgical responses in Latin.

Thoughts?

Most Irish speaking Roman Catholic homes probably have the bible in Irish already. There just aren't that many of us. And, as I mentioned, there is a hard back edition. (Which I have).

There are liturgies and sermons in Irish every Sunday - in the Gaeltacht as a matter of course, outside it fairly frequently, especially in cities where a large enough catchment means a large enough congregation.

I think that historically, it was true that the Roman Catholic Church was suspicious of and discouraged translation - because translation is difficult, and "anybody's interpretation of scripture is valid" can lead to excesses. But I would rather not relive the wars which followed the reformation here, so....

By the way, The Cathechism of the Catholic Church is available in Irish, having been translated direct from the original French, and corrected according to the Editio Typica (Latin).