Studium Biblicum Version

The Studium Biblicum Version (sīgāoběn 思高本) is the predominant Chinese language translation of the Bible used by Chinese Catholics. It is considered by many to be the Chinese Catholic Bible.

The Studium Biblicum Version was translated by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Hong Kong (a bible society not affiliated with the United Bible Societies), also known as the Studium Biblicum O.F.M. Translation originally started in 1935 as a personal effort by a Franciscan Friar, the Blessed Gabriele Allegra, but translation work was halted due to World War II, and part of the finished translations were lost due to the war. The bible society was formed in 1945 when more translators joined the translation work, and the whole bible was completed in 1968. The translation was mostly based on the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts, but occasionally on an unidentified existing translation for “difficult passages”. Postulations by modern scholars were deliberately avoided, but the Greek manuscript edited by the Protestant scholars Aland, Black, Metzger, and Allen Wikgren was used as a reference as an ecumenical gesture.

The Studium Biblicum Version is considered by many, including some Protestants, to be very faithful to the original manuscripts.

Like many Catholic bibles, this translation includes numerous footnotes. The bible also includes several appendices.

The language of the Studium Biblicum Version is standard modern written Chinese, though some of the wordings may appear unnatural in Mandarin but still used in Cantonese (and might be considered unnatural by some precisely because some people do not expect such forms to be written). Standard transliterations are mostly used where they exist; in other cases, a transliteration based on Mandarin is used.