The original Reina Valera Spanish Bible was translated by Casiodoro de Reina (B-1520/D-1594).

 

He was a Catholic from birth and became a monk at a young age serving at the Hieronymite Monastery outside Sevilla. By 1557 at the age of 37 he was no longer a Catholic and joined the Protestant reformation. It is reported that in 1557 he began translating the Bible from existing Latin and Spanish versions. It is more reasonable to believe he started this work as a monk. To complete a version between 1557 and 1567, ten years, would be an impossible task considering the verse by verse translation and comparison with other translations. He traveled to Geneva after his exodus from Catholicism and departed in 1558 unhappy with Calvinistic totalitarianism. In 1559 he was in London serving as a Pastor. From there he fled to Antwerp in 1563. At last in 1564 he fled to Frankfurt. He was hunted by the Catholic inquisition in Spain. How he completed the translation running for his life we do not know. We know certainly he had no revision committee on the run with him. His work had to be complete by 1567 because in that year he wrote a letter to Beza that he could not find a printer to publish it. He died in Frankfurt in 1594 at the age of 74.

 

Who appointed Reina to translate the Bible? No one!

 

We may ask who authorized King James to authorize the King James Version?

 

Who authorized Reina to translate the Bible alone? No one!

 

We ask who authorized monk Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus to translate the Latin Vulgate alone? Where was his revision or translation committee?

 

We may ask in the case of the King James, if only a political ruler can do it? Can only a political ruler, a king, or a pope, or council of monks, or a for-profit Bible printing company authorize "who" will translate the Bible?  Can only a Catholic monk, Protestant reformer, or a government approved committee translate the Bible?

 

By what authority did Reina translate the Bible?

 

If he was Holy Spirit led, had imperfect versions before him that begged for correction, had an inspiration out of love for better accuracy and Truth, this is all that matters. Let his finished work justify or condemn him.

 

Does this mean the Reina version would be perfect and error free? No!

 

There is nothing within the Hebrew Scriptures that claims they are perfectly worded. Inerrancy is a false Jewish claim transferred to Christianity but we now know the Jewish Scriptures have errors throughout them.

 

The claim that Reina is the work of a heretic is a Catholic accusation because he no longer subscribed to the doctrines and teachings of Rome. Anyone outside the papacy who translates a Bible is considered a heretic, even the King James translators. Anyone who dares to go public with a translation immediately becomes the target of Catholics and Protestant self-appointed hate judges condemning those who are correcting errors in their Bibles. Most of their arguments are either insane or juvenile. They do not apply their rants and rancor to prior translators, versions, or translations.

 

We may ask why the personal lives of other translators are not dragged out for a dirty laundry inspection as we find concerning Reina and subsequent Spanish translators?

 

A study of some of the King James translators reveals more than unsaved hands, there is all manner of evil in some of their lives. We cast not away the King James but consider the scholarship and accuracy of the translation. This license must be given to those trying to produce the best possible Spanish Bible.

 

Why was Reina the only one to decide the wording that would be in the Spanish Bible and how the original words would be translated or paraphrased?

 

We can ask the same of Desiderius Erasmus: by what and whose authority did he choose the wording of the Textus Receptus?  Who was his team of experts? Who authorized him? By what authority did he collect scraps of manuscripts and create a New Testament in Greek?

 

Reina was no doubt used by the Holy Spirit because his version and subsequent versions have been the cause of millions of Spanish people finding Christ and converted from heathenism.  Where is the critic that can trot out a single soul and prove they went to hell by following or using the Reina version of Scriptures?

 

Faultfinders can complain that the King James is the only God ordained Bible in the world but only the foolish will accept this.  What of the millions of souls before there was a King James version? Could they not be saved using the Latin version or some other Greek, Syriac, or Coptic version? 

 

Reina desired the Spanish people to receive a translation that was not Catholic oriented and controlled. His version was based upon his love for the Spanish people to have a better translation of the Bible. He knew his limited ability and desired others to perfect his work. Cipriano de Valera came forth in 1602 to perfect the foundation of the Reina version eight years after his death. The Reina Valera Spanish Bible has had additional corrections and revisions.  However, some of the revisions such as the 1960 edition did not follow the love of Reina or Valera for a more perfect Bible. It is neededful for another version because the language in many text is vague and does not transfer the original intent of the Holy Spirit. In this version we have tried to stick to original intent even when we did not do a word for word rendering.  In fact, no previous version is a word for word translation so we did not feel wrong in a better rendering.  We followed the desire of Renia to give the Spanish people a better Bible they can understand. 

 

It is now claimed that Reina had help from several hands and he was only the final inspector of the translation. He never mentions this alleged team in all his letters. This is nothing but an attempt to claim all Bibles should be translated by a team of Catholic or Protestant experts appointed by a religious or political authority or some Bible publishing company. We know from the Zondervan New King James version that experts are not the qualifying authority for a revision or translation. As each book of the Bible was Holy Spirit directed by individual men and not by committees, even so, if there is a man who has Holy Spirit guidence he can and should make corrections in any version where there are errors.  After all, when a Minister preaches or teaches from the Scriptures he often resorts to the Greek and Hebrew and brings out meaning and interpretation not easily grasped from reading the raw text. There is no sin in transferring this original intent back into the versions of the Bible where they are lacking or not known.

 

Bible translations have for their primary purpose to transfer to other nations the Scriptures in such a way as to bring a knowledge of God and a history of his dealing with mankind.  Because this flowed through the Jewish people a history of Israel is central throughout the Old Testament. It is within first century Judaism that a correct interpretation of a text and words, doctrine and faith is found. These rules by the Scribes were used to either authenticate or reject Jesus as the Messieh of Israel. This war of words and fulfillment of prophecy continues between Jews and Christians. On the one side were the Babylonian influenced Pharisee Jews and their Kabbalistic interpretations and on the other side the Messianic believers of the prophecies and Jesus. Correct interpretation of these Scriptures was the focus of Jesus in several of his teachings. The Apostles in transferring the Gospel and doctrines of the New Testament Church laid great stress on perfection of the individual by adherence to the true interpretation of the Scriptures and not to follow the theories and traditions of Jewish detractors. At the root of this protectionism was to secure the true faith of Jesus from the work of deceivers who were using the Scriptures and interpreting them falsely to cause many to reject the Truth. It is because of this, the Apostles wrote the Gospels and the Epistles to give the Believers a more perfect interpretation of all things in the faith of Christ.  It is then the work of translators to seek transfer of these same beliefs and teachings or their work may be called into question as not have a pure motive and purpose. Simple errors can be corrected as critics make their complaints and their boasts. These are always welcome as steel is sharpened by resistance against the mill stone.  With great love many men will continue to perfect the wording of translations throughout the world until the most perfect understanding possible is achieved. 

 

Bible translations have their value only to those who seek a more perfect knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures. Selection of words, better translation of meaning, getting correct knowledge should be behind all translations and versions.  There is no translation that is perfect, not even the beloved King James, in spite of the claims of inerrancy.  There are human failures in all versions. What we are looking for is not a perfect Bible, since even the ancient Hebrew, Syriac, and Greek ones are imperfect; but we seek a Bible where the Truth of all doctrine, faith, practice, conduct, and order may be easily known.  In this regard, the Bible Student should consult as many versions as possible in the study of words and translations to see which one better conveys the "original" intent of the Holy Spirit.  Obviously some translations are biased and words are chosen and used to steer a person to believe a certain doctrine when the "original intent" of the Holy Spirit was not that alleged doctrine.  In this regard, many verses and words are translated to teach the trinity when most scholars will admit the original intent of the Holy Spirit was not for the purpose of teaching the trinity.

 

This version of the REINA VALERA 1909 Spanish translation seeks to restore the names of God as found in the Hebrew Scriptures and to correct other translation errors that have caused many Spanish people to accept and believe false teachings.

 

This version does not use Jehova or Yahweh or Yahveh.  The Jews do not accept these names as the correct spelling or pronunciation of the tetragrammaton YHVH or YHWH. The Spanish name does not have the second "H" which alone would make it a false name if YHVH is a correct representation of the name of God.

 

It has been claimed by many that the Jews call God Jehova and this is false.  The Jews refer to the sacred name as Ha-Shem and never spell or pronounce the tetragrammation because they believe it is impossible to know.

 

The name Jehova (Iehovah/Jehovah) was invented by Catholic monk Raymundus Martini around 1202AD; It is not found in any manuscripts of the Bible before this invention.  The Geneva Bible translated by William Tyndale in 1530 contained the invented Jehovah name. Several scholars objected to this interpolation because this guess name could not be verified or proven to be the correct pronunciation of the tetragrammaton. The 1602 Reina Valera translation adopted the guess name Jehova. The 1611 King James Version adopted the Jehovah name from the Geneva Bible and it is found seven times in this version. Subsequent versions of the Reina Valera version continued the Jehova interpolation.  The 2010 Reina Valera version will correct this and place back into the text the correct Hebrew names. This is no more wrong then transfer of other names in the Bible in Hebrew or Greek. To assist in this work we were guided by the use of Elohim and Adonai as found in the Complete Jewish Bible (David H. Stern, 1998). This 2010 Reina Valera version restores El-Shaddai (God Almighty) in those text where it is found in the King James Version.  This is important in defending the Deity of Jesus against those who deny he was God manifest in the flesh. The correct identity of Jesus as El-Shaddai in the book of Revelation gives the Bible Student the information just as Jesus himself made it known to the Apostle John.

 

This 2010 Reina Valera version restores EHYEH asher EHYEH in Exodus 3:14.  In those places where the contraction YEH should have existed and was not it has been restored. This applies to "halleluya" and  corrected to hallelu-yeh. It is now known that "ya yah, iah and Jah, all refer to an ancient name for the moon god.  In Numbers 13:16 Moses added to the name of Oshea the three letters YEH taken from EHYEH at the burning bush and formed Jehoshua which is translated in the Reina Valera as Josué. Since the name of Jesús comes to us from this new name Moses created with the name of God "YEH/JEH, we must restore YEH and JEH in their correct places. EHYEH means God of salvation. Therefore Yehshua or Jehshua means Oshea's God is the God of salvation.  Jesús then means salvation as seen in his being the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.

 

No more will the Spanish world need to say hallelu to a "ya" whom they do not know. They can say it correctly as hallelu-yeh (yee) or hallelu-Jesús to a God they know as the God of Salvation.

 

God's names reveal something about himself. Can one name totally reveal everything God wants us to know about him? Obviously not. It is in the name of Jesús we find all the prior names and their meanings are contained. This 2010 Reina Valera version restores what God wanted us to know about himself through his correct names. God's names: Elohim (Creator); Adonai (Lord, omnipotent, none greater); El-Shaddai (God Almighty); Ehyeh (God or I AM is Salvation); Jesús (Salvation/Savior): are restored from the original in all places where they have been removed and or a false name or word has been used.

 

A major restoration is in those text where salvation is the correct word but the Reina Valera has health (see Acts 4:12).  The same for the text that should contain Lucifer but has Lucero (day star). Day star or lucero is used for Jesus in 2Pet 1:19.  This demanded correction.  In the Reina Valera, Lucifer is translated "Lucero" (see Isaiah 14:12). 

This version corrects the use of "woman" (mujeres) and restores "wife and wives" (esposa/esposas); see Ephesians 5:31. 

The false teaching of woman evangelist in Psalms 68:11 is corrected.  For some reason the Reina Valera has a problem with the word "hell" (infierno).  In Deut 32:22 it is translated "profundo" (deep or far); 2Sam 22:6 as "sepulcro" (tomb); in Prov 15:24 "sima" (empty place); in Hab 2:5 as "osario su alma" (cemetery or place of bones). This 2010 Reina Valera version will follow the King James Version and in all 54 uses of hell. 

Mercy Seat in the Reina-Valera is translated "cubierta" and means cover or lid. The correct or better translation of the Hebrew "capporeth" also means propitation because here is the place the blood of the sacrifice is offered and mercy is given.  We have restored "propiciatorio" 28 times in this version.

There are many other text of scripture we have tried to render with better wording.  We did not make a list of these verses but they were many.  Where the text seemed acceptable we made no changes.  So there are some chapters with partial changes and some with no changes at all.

 

At last, we have tackled the problem of the Reina Valera and the name Jesúcristo.  In Jesúcristo, Jesús and Christ are joined into one name.  The 2010 Reina Valera will restore this into the two distinct names as found in the ancient manuscripts and the King James Version. Throughout the New Testament Jesúcristo will be corrected to Jesús Cristo.

 

Corrections have been made to several other texts to bring them in line with either original intent or the King James Version. In some texts there is no Spanish word for a Greek or Hebrew word.  Reina, Valera and subsequent translators of other versions used the liberty to paraphrase to transfer original intent. In some cases this was very poorly done. The Reina Valera 2010 revision assistants have also utilized this liberty where it was believed necessary. The student always has available prior versions for comparison to judge the changes made. The attempt was a better version not a perfect one.

 

Footnotes have been placed at the end of some chapters where an explanation is provided on specific texts.

 

This 2010 Reina Valera version seeks to glorify Jesús Cristo, his name, and his salvation and truth.

 

This version was edited by students of the Apostolic Theological Bible College with advice from Spanish Ministers and members of Spanish Churches. It makes no boast of inerrancy or infallibility. It is for Pastors, Ministers, Teachers, and Students for use as they are led by the Holy Spirit.