Icelandic Bible versions

The Icelandic Bible Society is the oldest active society in the country and celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2015.
The beginning of the society can be traced back to Ebenezer Henderson, a Scottish missionary, meeting Grímur Thorkelín, the State Archives Keeper in Copenhagen. With the help of Henderson and his partner, Jon Patterson, Grímur wrote a letter in English with an account of Iceland and Icelanders which was published in the annual of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BEBF). It was subsequently agreed that the society should contribute to a new edition of the New Testament in Icelandic. Grímur Thorkelín was entrusted with supervising the printing and it was completed in 1807. Henderson volunteered to go to Iceland to see to the sale and distribution of the Bible. He had at that time, among other things, studied Icelandic. Henderson went to Iceland on July 5, 1814 and stayed here for a year and a half. On Sunday, July 10, 1815, a clergy meeting was held with a service in the Cathedral in Reykjavík. Bishop Geir Vídalín was absent due to illness, but the Reverend Árni Helgason, the cathedral priest, preached and made the establishment of Bible societies and their usefulness a topic of discussion. Henderson was invited to attend a meeting of the clergy conference in the afternoon, and it was unanimously agreed to establish an Icelandic Bible Society, and a provisional board was therefore elected. A year later, the first general meeting of the society was held and the following were elected to the board: Bishop Geir Vídalín, president, Reverend Árni Helgason, secretary, Chief Justice Ísleifur Einarsson, vice president, and bailiff Sigurður Thorgrímsen, treasurer. BEBF contributed money to an endowment fund and the king promised an annual grant. The role of the society was from the beginning to work on the translation, publication, distribution and use of the Bible. At first, the society was intended only for priests, but in 1945 it was agreed that lay people would be given the opportunity to join the society. Later, the board of directors of the association was to consist of four theologians and four laymen, with the bishop of Iceland as president. It is also worth noting that the association is interdenominational, meaning that members of all Christian denominations can become members.

An exhibition of Icelandic Bible editions from the archives of the Icelandic Bible Society was opened at the National Library on Saturday, September 26, 2015. The exhibition is a collaborative project between the National Library of Iceland-University Library and the Icelandic Bible Society, which on this occasion donated Bibles and meeting minutes for preservation in the museum.

The exhibition runs until May 1st.