July 14, 2026

Summary: #

Where did the Spanish Bible come from? Was the Reina-Valera 1960 the first Spanish Bible? Who were Casiodoro de Reina and Cipriano de Valera, and why are their names still associated with the Spanish Bible today?

In this episode, we trace the history of the Spanish Bible from the original 1569 Reina Bible through the 1602 Valera revision, and then follow the major revisions of 1865, 1909, 1960, 1977, and later editions. We also explain the important difference between a translation and a revision, a distinction that is often misunderstood in discussions about the Spanish Bible.

Learn how these early translators risked their lives to place God’s Word into the common language of the Spanish people, and why the history of these revisions continues to be important today.

Whether you are a missionary, pastor, Bible student, or simply interested in the history of Bible translation, this episode provides a concise overview of the development of the Spanish Bible.

If you enjoy this series, be sure to subscribe and share this episode with others interested in Bible history and Spanish Bible research.

Full Transcript Below #

Well, welcome back to the second episode, and I’m glad that you came back and decided to at least tune in, and maybe out of curiosity, but I’m glad you’re here. Today we’re going to discuss the history of the Spanish Bible, and because a lot of people are going to say, well, doesn’t the Spanish Bible have a, don’t they have a good Bible? I mean, they should after years, but the reality is, I’m going to lay all of that out for you so that it’s crystal clear, and I brought a couple things. I actually really enjoy the history of the Spanish Bible, and I got some notes I got to pull up here, but the history of the Spanish Bible is intriguing. Maybe you’re here, and you say, well, I don’t know anything about it. Well, let me, I’m going to make it simple. I’m not going to go into a super in-depth lesson or anything. I’m not going to go into that nature, but I do love it because it was actually translated before the King James Bible. Isn’t that interesting? 1611, everyone knows King James Bible in English, and so it actually predates that, and it starts with a man named Casiodoro de Reina right there. I have a copy of his Bible, 1569. He was actually in a Catholic convent. I love this part. This is my favorite part of the story. Somebody smuggled Christian literature into that convent. That man read it, got saved, and said, I got to get out of this. I got to get the Spanish Bible. I got to get the Bible into the common language, which was Spanish for him and for the average man, and so he took upon himself while running from the Catholic Church, mind you, because it was illegal to translate the Bible into Spanish, and he came out with his first, his revision in 1560. 1569, and I have a copy. It’s not a valuable copy per se. It’s a facsimile, and usually I keep it right on the shelf back there, but it’s a great, I love it. I’ve compared it a lot. He knew when he was doing that work that it was imperfect because he was running from the Catholic Church for his life. They were trying to kill him. He did not have all the manuscripts at hand. He just used what he had. He did the best that he did, and he did a great work. I will say that. Not a perfect work, but a very good work, a very respectable translation that he did, and then this is where it gets almost ironic because Cipriano de Valera also was in a Catholic convent, the same one. Somebody smuggled Christian literature into that Catholic convent. He got saved, and he said, I need to get the Spanish. I need to get the Bible into the Spanish language, common language for today, so Cipriano de Valera came along in 1602. You can see that there, and he predates, again, the King James Bible. He also was running for his life. The Catholic Church did not want him alive, tried to kill him, matter of fact, and he was running for his life using the tools. He had a copy of the 1569 that Cipriano de Valera, or excuse me, Casiodoro. Put together, and he was trying to revise it, and he came out with his edition in 1602. Again, before the King James Bible, running for his life, trying to get the Bible into the common language for the day in Spanish, and he did not have all the manuscripts at hand. He did not have protection from a king. He was, again, running for his life. He did a phenomenal job. He really did, albeit I would not argue perfect. He would not say it was perfect either. He did a great job translating and revising, really, the 1569 of the Spanish Bible, and I have those as resources. I love to look back through them, and they are written in the old English, or excuse me, old Spanish, the old font, where S’s are used for F’s, and F’s are used for S’s, and several letter of things. If you’ve ever looked at an old King James 1611, you’ll find the same type of font and scripting things. But nonetheless, that is kind of the history. That’s where it started, and you’ll notice Casiodoro de Reina, first guy, 1569, Cipriano de Valera, so you have Reina and Valera. That’s why that is the name that’s held. So, along in 1865, there was… There was another revision, and they did a lot of good changes, and there was a lot of things that they had done, and so that was the next revision. Mind you, from 1602 to 1865, over 200 years, the Word of God stood in Spanish, and they used it, and 1865 came along, and they did a good, a decent revision with that one there. And then in 1909, they… They decided, the Trinitarian Bible Society, if I’m not mistaken, decided, hey, let’s do another revision. I want to distinguish right here between revision and translation. A translation, you are taking the Greek and Hebrew texts, and you are translating them from the Greek and from the Hebrew into the Spanish language, which is what we’re discussing. What Casiodoro de… Or, excuse me, Cipriano de Valera. Cipriano de Valera did, was a translation slash revision. He took Casiodoro de Reina’s work, and he revised it. And so, he also had some manuscripts. There are some differences. I could tell… I could point them out to you, and if you’re really interested, you can contact me, and I’ll be happy to tell you, share with you some information about it, because it’s fascinating to me. But nonetheless, he revised. 1865. Is a revision. They take an existing work. They do not retranslate it. They don’t go back to the Greek and Hebrew and say, let’s translate every word of this. They take what exists, and they revise it, and they compare it to what they have available. And so, that’s a revision and a translation. Big difference there. And that comes… That’s very important to understand. 1909 came along, and they did another revision. So, 1865. 1865 up to 1909, we’re talking less than 100 years, and they revised that Bible. And you’re going to see, this is going to get really close timeline. So then, the next revision, and I have a copy of the 1909. It’s fairly available, at least online. And then, the 1960 was the next revision. It was done by the American Bible Society. Put together a group of… A team of people, and started revising the scriptures. And again, not a translation, but a revision. That’s important to understand. It didn’t stop there. A lot of people say, well, you know, they recognize the 1960. Well, that’s the Spanish Bible that I use, or that’s the Spanish Bible that everyone uses. That’s the most popular one. And it is, among the independent Baptists, it is the most popular Bible. There’s no doubt about that. That’s part… That’s part of my concern. That’s part of my heart for all of this, because there’s things that we’ll see with that. But it went on 1960. So, we have 1569, 1602, 1865, 1909, 1960. Less than 50 years later, another revision was done. It didn’t stop there. It continued. So, in 1977, they did another revision. And then, in 19… I believe it’s 89. I don’t… I don’t have it here. There was, I believe, another revision. I don’t see it on my list. But I believe it was 1989, then 1995. My point of all this is, the 1960 is just one stop amongst many revisions that took place in the 1900s. It was not the only revision that took place in the 1900s. And I would argue that many of those revisions, the majority… All of those revisions, as a matter of fact, started pulling stuff from a critical… From a critical text perspective. And so, that’s where error was introduced in the Spanish Bible. And so, there’s problems with that. And there’s issues with that. And so, that’s what we’re actually going to look at in this podcast. As we’ll discuss those more down the road. So, thank you for joining us. And I hope and pray that this has been a help to you. And a blessing as we just look and consider the Spanish Bible. And what is going on… With the Spanish Bible.