page_title: Walter Henry Medhurst
section_title: Delegates Version of the Bible
hierarchical_section_title: Walter Henry Medhurst / Delegates Version of the Bible
caption_attribution_description: From Medhurst, William; China: Its State and Prospects; John Snow; London 1838
context_page_description: Walter Henry Medhurst, was an English Congregationalist missionary to China, born in London and educated at St Paul's School. He was one of the early translators of the Bible into Chinese language editions.
context_section_description: Medhurst's principal labour for several years, was in leading the committee of delegates, which created the Delegates Version of the Bible. In the 1840s, a group of four people (Walter Henry Medhurst, John Stronach, Elijah Coleman Bridgman, and William Charles Milne) cooperated to translate the Bible into Chinese.
  The translation of the Hebrew language part was done mostly by Gutzlaff from the Netherlands Missionary Society, with the exception of the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua, which were done by the group collectively. The initial Gutzlaff translation, completed in 1847 is well known due to its adoption by the revolutionary peasant leader Hong Xiuquan of the Taiping Rebellion as some of the reputed early doctrines of the organization.
  The translation of the New Testament was finished in 1850 and of the Old Testament in 1853, written in a version of Classical Chinese. With John Stronach, and the assistance of Wang Tao, Medhurst later translated the New Testament into the Mandarin dialect of Nanking.
caption: Medhurst's book on China inspired many to become missionaries including Hudson Taylor.
exif: {}