Polish

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Polish (language code: pl; autonym: polski) is spoken by around 50 million people mainly in Poland. For details see Wikipedia:Polish language

Polish Bible translations

There are about 20 translations of the Bible in Polish, most of them done in the last 20 years and a few new are in the process of translating. They may come from different traditions (Protestant or Catholic, the latter have more books in the Old Testament), some are easier to find in the internet while some you can only find in bookstores. There are still two historic translations around: The Catholic Biblia Wujka and the Protestant Biblia Gdańska. Both are around 400 years old and use a language which is very hard to understand today (this is also true for the "new" version of the Gdansk Bible, the "Nowa Biblia Gdańska"). Besides that, all contemporary translations are good for reading, prayer and Bible study. See also Wikipedia: Bible translations into Polish.
The following three translations are especially well-known and recommendable:

Biblia Tysiąclecia (Millenium Version)

This is the most widespread translation of the Polish Bible. The title comes from the date of the print. Poland became a Christian country in 966, starting with the Baptism of Poland. To celebrate the 1,000-year anniversary, the Catholic Church of Poland decided to print a Bible that would be present in each home in the whole country. Probably the goal wasn't fully met, but this is the most distributed and popular Bible in Polish language with a few million copies. In 1966 the language was very contemporary and now the publisher makes every few years revisions to keep it easy to understand.

It is freely available in the following ways:

Słowo Życia (Word of Life)

This is a paraphrased translation of the New Testament only. It is not translated from Greek, but based on an English translation (the "Living New Testament" / "Living Bible"). It was prepared for people who start to read the Bible, to make it easier to understand. It was first printed in 1989 and was quite popular and a later reprint was also warmly received.

It is freely available in the following ways:

  • Reading online:
  • Smartphone apps and software:
    • YouVersion smartphone app: Text of the New Testament, no recordings. Can be downloaded and is then available for offline use. Select "polski" in the language selection and then select "PSZ (Słowo Życia)".

Biblia Brytyjska / Biblia Warszawska

This translation was made by a multidenominational group of translators, as the answer for the need of a contemporary translation in the beginning of the 20th century. At that time the Bible Societies started to grow with the aim of making the Bible known. This Bible society came from Britain (that's the reason for the name Brytyjska = British) and changed its name later to Warsaw Bible Society (hence the official name "Warszawska" of this translation). In paper version this is the most popular Protestant Bible with millions of copies, also thanks to the Gideons who decided to distribute this edition.

It is freely available in the following ways:

Jesus Film


Available training resources in Polish