Historic 1588 Welsh Bible on display for the first time

The original Welsh translation of the Bible is now on public display in Wales for the first time.

In 1588, Bishop William Morgan completed a ten-year project of creating a standardised Welsh edition from the Hebrew and Greek texts. Nearly one thousand Bibles were published for churches, but one of these was gifted to Westminster Abbey.

That copy, which has been used only once for a church service in London, is currently available to see at St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, until 9 July.

‘A Bible for every church’

Dr Tony Trowles, Head of the Abbey’s Collection and Librarian, said the Bible is in “remarkably good condition”.

“The plan was to print 900 copies, with the idea for every chapel and church in Wales to have a copy of the Welsh Bible. Because they were used weekly or even daily, the ones that survive in Wales are not in such good condition.”

Bishop Morgan’s translation was revised in 1620, which was the version in general usage until the end of the 1900s.

‘The First Hymn’

Earlier this year, an ancient Trinitarian worship song from around 200AD was arranged as a modern hymn.

‘The First Hymn’ is based on a fragment of papyrus found 100 years ago in ancient Egyptian ruins and kept in a climate-controlled vault at Oxford University. On examining the piece, John Dickson, Professor of Biblical Studies and Public Christianity, decided: “We need to give this back to the Church”.

Dickson brought in Christian songwriters Chris Tomlin and Ben Fielding to bring the song “back to life” in a way that it could be used and sung in churches today.