Statenvertaling

The Synod of Dort deemed it necessary to translate the Bible into Dutch as the existing Dutch Bibles were merely translations of other translations. The new translation, the Statenbijbel, was to be based on the original languages in imitation of the King James Bible from 1611. The States-General of the Netherlands commissioned it on the request of the Synod. Johannes Bogerman, Willem Baudartius and Gerson Bucerus were to be the translators for the Old Testament while Jakobus Rolandus, Herman Faukelius, and Petrus Cornelisz would translate the New Testament and apocrypha. Both Herman Faukelius and Petrus Cornelisz died before the translation had started and thus were replaced by Festus Hommius and Antonius Walaeus. The Statenbijbel was completed in 1635 and authorized by the States-General in 1637. Half-a-million copies were printed between 1637 and 1657. The Statenbijbel acted as a cultural unification of the Netherlands and the language, choice of words, and expressions used in the Bible formed the basis of the accepted form of standardized Dutch.