Translation Landscape
Translation Landscape
History of Bible translation into Vietnamese
The first complete Vietnamese Bible, the Kinh Thánh Bản Truyền Thống (“Traditional Version,” also called the 1926 or “Old” Version), was translated by Grace Hazenberg Cadman and John Drange Olsen under the Bible Society in Vietnam, with the New Testament appearing in 1923, the Old Testament in 1926, and the full Bible completed by 1934. It became, and remains, the dominant translation among Vietnamese Protestant churches, and its vocabulary (Đức Chúa Trời, Đức Chúa Giê-xu, Đức Thánh Linh) is the settled Protestant standard this Language Package follows. Vietnamese Catholic tradition developed along a separate translation line, beginning with 20th-century individual priest-translators (Cố Chính Linh’s Latin-Vietnamese parallel edition, Gérard Gagnon, Trần Đức Huân, Nguyễn Thế Thuấn, and Cardinal Trịnh Văn Căn among others between 1916 and 1985) and consolidating into the Nhóm Phiên Dịch Các Giờ Kinh Phụng Vụ (Liturgy of the Hours Translating Team) edition, whose New Testament appeared in 1993 and full Bible in 1998; this remains the most used Catholic Bible in Vietnam today, using a related but distinct vocabulary (Thiên Chúa, Chúa Giê-su, Chúa Thánh Thần).
Bible translations available in Vietnamese
| Translation Full Name | Denomination / Publisher | Source Texts | Translation Style | YouVersion Available | Age / Revision | Key Risks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinh Thánh Bản Truyền Thống (“Old Version” / “Traditional Version,” VIE1925) | Bible Society in Vietnam (tr. Grace Hazenberg Cadman & John Drange Olsen) | Not independently verified this session; consistent with early-20th-century Protestant practice of translating from the Hebrew Masoretic Text and Greek Textus Receptus/Majority Text (inferred) | Formal/literal, characteristic of early-20th-century Bible translation practice (inferred) | Yes — bible.com/bible/193 | NT 1923, OT 1926, full Bible completed 1934 | Dated language by contemporary standards; remains the settled vocabulary standard, so still the safest default despite its age |
| Kinh Thánh Tiếng Việt Bản Hiệu Đính 2010 (Revised Vietnamese Version, RVV11/VIE2010) | United Bible Societies / Bible Society Vietnam | Revision of the 1925/1934 text; source texts not independently re-verified this session | Formal, revision of the Traditional Version’s style | Yes — bible.com/bible/151 | 2010, revision of the 1925/1934 text | Newer revision, less universally recognized than the original 1925 text among older readers |
| Kinh Thánh Bản Dịch Mới (New Vietnamese Bible, NVB) | Vietnamese Bible Society, committee of nine Vietnamese theologians | Committee translation from Hebrew/Greek; not independently re-verified this session | More contemporary register than the 1925 text (inferred) | Yes — bible.com/bible/449 | 2001 | Less universally recognized than the 1925 Traditional Version among established Protestant congregations |
| Kinh Thánh Hiện Đại (Vietnamese Contemporary Bible, KTHD) | Biblica, Inc., translated from the Living Bible | Paraphrase-of-a-paraphrase lineage (from the English Living Bible), not a direct translation from Hebrew/Greek | Dynamic/paraphrase | Yes — bible.com/bible/1638 | 1994 | Being a paraphrase of an English paraphrase rather than a direct translation, doctrinal precision on load-bearing terms should be checked against a more formal translation |
| Thánh Kinh: Bản Phổ Thông (Easy-to-Read Version, BPT) | Bible League International | Not independently verified this session | Easy-to-read, simplified vocabulary and sentence structure | Yes — bible.com/bible/205 | 2013 | Simplified vocabulary may under-specify doctrinally precise terms; useful for accessibility, not as the primary doctrinal reference |
| Kinh Thánh Tiếng Việt, Bản Dịch 2011 (BD2011) | Rev. Dr. Bau Dang / Bible Society Vietnam | Not independently verified this session | Not independently verified this session | Yes — bible.com/bible/19 | 2011 | Less widely used than the 1925/2010/NVB lines; limited independent verification of translation philosophy |
| KPA (Catholic liturgical translation) and its ongoing revision KPB | Nhóm Phiên Dịch Các Giờ Kinh Phụng Vụ (Liturgy of the Hours Translating Team) | Not independently verified this session | Liturgical, formal register suited to public reading | Not on YouVersion — print and Catholic Bible mobile apps only | NT 1993, full Bible 1998; the most used Catholic Bible in Vietnam today | Uses distinct Catholic vocabulary (Thiên Chúa, Chúa Giê-su) rather than the Protestant standard this Language Package follows; not interchangeable without a vocabulary bridge |
| Earlier complete Catholic Bibles (Cố Chính Linh, Gérard Gagnon, Trần Đức Huân, Nguyễn Thế Thuấn, Cardinal Trịnh Văn Căn) | Individual priest-translators / Paris Foreign Missions Society | Not independently verified this session | Not independently verified this session | Not on YouVersion — historical/print only | 1916-1985 | Largely superseded by the KPA/KPB edition; historical reference only |
| Kinh Thánh — Bản dịch Thế Giới Mới (New World Translation) | Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) | Watchtower’s own translation, not from original-language texts in the way mainstream societies work | Denies the Trinity; renders divine-name passages distinctively | Not on YouVersion — jw.org and JW Library app only | Christian Greek Scriptures 2011, full Bible 2017 | Doctrinally distinct translation; not a source for this Language Package’s vocabulary |
Where existing translations fall short for general Bible study use
The Bản Dịch Truyền Thống and its peers are translations of Scripture itself, optimized for devotional and liturgical reading, not for explicit doctrinal instruction; Bible study material needs to be considerably more explicit than a translation alone can be, for example explaining why sự cứu rỗi (salvation) is not sự giải thoát (Buddhist liberation) rather than simply using the correct term and trusting context. There is no widely used Vietnamese glossary built specifically for teaching doctrine, as distinct from translating narrative and poetic Scripture text, so this gap has to be filled directly by any study material produced in this language. Compound theological vocabulary common in doctrinal teaching but rare in devotional reading (for example “imputed righteousness,” rendered as something like sự công bình được kể cho, or “obedience of faith”) exists in specialist theological Vietnamese but is not in common use, and needs to be introduced and explained rather than assumed familiar.
Recommendation
Use VIE1925 (Kinh Thánh Bản Truyền Thống, YouVersion version ID 193) as the default reference version for Vietnamese-language Bible study material: it is the translation whose vocabulary is most widely recognized across Vietnamese Protestant churches, in Vietnam and across the diaspora alike, despite its age. Build verse links as https://www.bible.com/bible/193/{BOOK}.{chapter}.{verse}.VIE1925; for example, John 3:16 is https://www.bible.com/bible/193/JHN.3.16.VIE1925. Where a specific ministry partner works primarily with Catholic communities, the KPA/KPB tradition’s distinct vocabulary should be bridged explicitly rather than assumed interchangeable with the Protestant terms used here. Avoid the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation entirely as a reference text; it is doctrinally distinct on the Trinity and is not aligned with this Language Package’s vocabulary choices.