There are remarkably few Bible translations into Swedish that have been made before the last two centuries. The Latin common Bible is known to have been used by the Catholic Church during the Christian part of the middle ages, but at least paraphrases in Swedish of some parts of the Bible were made at the time. However, no complete translation has been preserved, and the earliest, certainly known, complete Bible was not made until the Reformation, on commission by Gustav Vasa.

Translations before the Reformation

Despite there are archeological evidence of Christian cult in Varnhem, Västergötland, from the 9th century, and that at least parts of Sweden became organized by the Catholic Church in the early 11th century, there are no sources supporting written translations of any parts of the Bible until the 14th century.

Magnus Eriksson's and Saint Birgitta's Bibles

The earliest mentions of a Swedish Bible is note in an inventory list for Magnus IV of Sweden, where a "big volume Bible in Swedish" is listed. A similar note is made for Bridget of Sweden.

The Pentateuch Paraphrase

Pentateuchparafrasen, the Pentateuch Paraphrase, is a famous manuscript from the 1330s. It is a paraphrase on the five books of Moses, and also contains a slightly shortened variant of Acts of the Apostles. It exists today in one complete copy, Codex Holmiensis A 1 (MBIB) from 1526, stored in National Library of Sweden, and one almost complete copy, Codex Thott 4 (MBIA) from 1400–1450, stored in Copenhagen. It is possible that both the Bibles of Magnus IV and Bridget of Sweden were either the original Pentateuch Paraphrase, or copies of it. According to the sources, it is possible that Bridget had a translation made, that became a paraphrase, and that she later gave it to the king, or the queen.

Translations in the late middle ages

A few other translations are known from the 15th century:

Translations used by the Church of Sweden

Other Swedish translations

Comparison