New Testament

==Early versions==
The first translations (usually called "versions") of the New Testament were made beginning already at the end of 2nd century. The earliest versions of the New Testament are the translations into the [[Syriac language|Syriac]], [[Latin]], and [[Coptic language|Coptic]] languages.{{sfn|Võõbus|1954|pp=1–128, 211–240}} These three versions were made directly from the Greek, and are frequently cited in the apparatuses of modern critical editions.

===Syriac===
{{Main|Syriac versions of the Bible}}
[[File:RabulaGospelsFolio04vCanonTable.jpg|thumb|The [[Rabbula Gospels]], [[Eusebian Canons]].]]
Syriac is an [[Eastern Aramaic languages|Eastern Middle Aramaic]] spoken in [[Syria]] and [[Upper Mesopotamia]]. A cousin, the [[Western Aramaic languages|Western Middle Aramaic]] language known as [[Jewish Palestinian Aramaic]], was spoken in [[Syria Palaestina|Roman]] and [[Palaestina Secunda|Byzantine Palestine]]. Several Syriac translations were made and have come to us. Most of the Old Syriac and Philoxonian versions have been lost.

[[Tatian]] created the [[Diatessaron]], a [[gospel harmony]] written in Syriac around 170 and the earliest form of the Gospel not only in Syriac but probably also in [[Armenian language|Armenian]].

In the 19th century, manuscript evidence was discovered for an "Old Syriac" version of the four distinct (i.e., not harmonized) gospels. These "separated gospels" ({{lang-syc|ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ܕܲܡܦܲܪ̈ܫܸܐ|Ewangelion da-mp̄arrašē}}), though old, are later than the Diatessaron. The Old Syriac gospels are fragmentarily preserved in two manuscripts: the fifth-century [[Curetonian Gospels]] and the [[Syriac Sinaiticus]] from the fourth or fourth century.

No Old Syriac manuscripts of other portions of the New Testament survive, though Old Syriac readings, e.g. from the [[Pauline epistles]], can be discerned in citations made by Eastern fathers and in later Syriac versions. The Old Syriac version is a representative of the [[Western text-type]]. The [[Peshitta]] version was prepared in the beginning of the fifth century. It contains only 22 books; neither the [[Catholic epistles]] ([[Second Epistle of Peter]], the [[Second Epistle of John|Second]] and [[Third Epistle of John]], and the [[Epistle of Jude]]) nor the [[Book of Revelation]] were part of this translation).

The [[Philoxenian]] probably was produced in 508 for [[Philoxenus of Mabbug|Bishop Philoxenus of Mabbug]].{{sfn|Metzger|1977|pp=3–98}}

===Latin===
{{Main|Vetus Latina|Vulgate}}
The Gospels were likely translated into Latin as early as the last quarter of the 2nd century in North Africa (''Afra''). Not much later, there were also European Latin translations (''Itala''). There are about 80 Old Latin manuscripts. The [[Vetus Latina]] ("Old Latin") versions often contain readings with a Western type of text. (For the avoidance of confusion, these texts were written in [[Late Latin]], not the early version of the Latin language known as [[Old Latin]], pre 75 BC.)

The bewildering diversity of the Old Latin versions prompted [[Jerome]] to prepare another translation into Latin—the [[Vulgate]]. In many respects it was merely a revision of the Old Latin. There are currently around 8,000 manuscripts of the Vulgate.

===Coptic===
{{Main|Bible translations into Coptic}}
There are several dialects of the Coptic language: [[Bohairic]] (the [[Nile Delta]]), [[Fayyumic]] (in the [[Faiyum]] in [[Middle Egypt]]), [[Sahidic]] (in [[Upper Egypt]]), [[Akhmimic]] (what is now [[Sohag Governorate]] in Upper Egypt), and others. The first translation was made by at least the third century into the Sahidic dialect (cop<sup>sa</sup>). This translation represents a mixed text, mostly [[Alexandrian text-type|Alexandrian]], though also with [[Western text-type|Western]] readings.{{sfn|Võõbus|1954|pp=216–229}}

A Bohairic translation was made later, but existed already in the 4th century. Though the translation makes less use of Greek words than the Sahidic, it does employ some Greek grammar (e.g., in word-order and the use of particles such as the syntactic construction μεν—δε). For this reason, the Bohairic translation can be helpful in the reconstruction of the early Greek text of the New Testament.{{sfnm |Võõbus|1954|1pp=229–237 |Metzger|1977|2pp=99–152}}

===Other ancient translations===
{{Main|Early translations of the New Testament}}
[[File:Matthew's Gospel - British Library Add. MS 59874 Ethiopian Bible.jpg|thumb|BL Add. MS 59874 with [[Ethiopic]] [[Gospel of Matthew]].]]
The continued spread of Christianity, and the foundation of national churches, led to the translation of the Bible—often beginning with books from the New Testament—into a variety of other languages at a relatively early date: [[Bible translations into Armenian|Armenian]], [[Bible translations into Georgian|Georgian]], [[Ethiopic]], [[Bible translations into Persian|Persian]], [[Bible translations into Sogdian|Sogdian]], and eventually [[Gothic Bible|Gothic]], [[Bible translations into Church Slavonic|Old Church Slavonic]], [[Bible translations into Arabic|Arabic]], and [[Bible translations into Nubian|Nubian]].<ref>On the Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Gothic, see {{harvnb|Võõbus|1954|pp=133–210, 243–309}}</ref>