I was looking for a faithful, good version of the Spanish Bible recently in order to subtitle the Revelation video I want to make. It was difficult searching it out, as there are several versions, each with their own supporters and detractors.
Short history of the Spanish Bible
This is by no means an exhaustive list of Spanish Bibles, but will give an idea of what is available. The Alfonso Bible (1240 OT only) was commissioned by a king, but was prohibited to be used, so was locked up and unavailable to most people. The Ferrara Bible (1553 OT only) was made by two Jews in exile. The Reina Bible (1569 first entire Bible in Spanish) was THE Protestant Bible in Spanish. The Valera Bible (1602) was a revision of the Reina Bible. This line became known as the Reina-Valera Bible, and is still seen by Protestants as the most faithful line of Bibles in Spanish today. 1865 Revision by American Bible Society which has itself been revised many times since, most notably in 1909 and 1960. The Gomez Reina-Valera Bible (2004/2010) is seen by many Protestants to be the best revision of the Reina-Valera line. The Valera 1602 Purified Bible (2007) has worked to be the most faithful to not only the Textus Receptus manuscripts, but also to the original, Castilian Spanish found in the original, 1569 Reina and 1602 Valera versions.
Example
In reading thru the various explanations, it is my belief that the Purified Bible is the best version of the Spanish Bible available today. One example will suffice: Many Spanish Bibles, including the Gomez version, have John 1:1 as “verbos” instead of “palabar”.
1960 Reina-Viera and Gomez: “En el principio era el Verbo, y el Verbo era con Dios, y el Verbo era Dios.”
Purified Bible: “EN el principio era la Palabra, y la Palabra era con Dios, y la Palabra era Dios.”
This makes it very clear that Jesus is not a “Verb” (yes, there are other meanings for this word, but “verb” is the most common one), but “Word”.
For more information on this subject, check out this website: http://www.rrb3.com/mypub/books/spn_bible_inception_men_translation.htm
To read the Valera 1602 Purified Bible online, go to this link: https://valera1602.org/
¡Que Dios bendiga a todos los lectores españoles de la Biblia!