The third edition of the Bible in Maltese, published by the Malta Bible Society, was launched yesterday by Archbishop Joseph Mercieca.
Mgr Mercieca said that in this edition the order of the biblical books had been changed and it is available in normal and compact sizes.
In the first edition, printed in 1984, the books were placed in chronological order; in the second edition, printed in 1996, they were placed in the canonical order and in this edition, the order followed by inter-confessional bibles was being adhered to. Inter-confessional bibles were bibles translated by several Christian Churches.
Mgr Mercieca said the translators of this Bible were all Catholic.
Grace Cilia, general secretary of the society, said that in the new edition the biblical text was separated from the notes for easier identification. The notes were to help readers understand what they were reading.
Mgr Mercieca said that in 2002 the Permanent Bible Commission was set up within the Maltese Biblical Society. This commission was made up of Donat Spiteri OFM Cap, Pietru Pawl Zerafa OP, Egidju Mizzi OFM Conv, Joe Agius OP, Alexander Vella OC, Marcello Ghirlando OFM, Martin Micallef OFM Cap, Anthony Frendo, Pawl Sciberras and Anton Abela.
The commission members taught or used to teach at the Holy Scripture Department of the Faculty of Theology at the university. Two of them taught for many years at the Pontificia Universitá di San Tommaso d'Aquino in Rome. Prof. Frendo taught at the Department of Archaeology within the Faculty of Arts.
The commission's work was to keep the text up-to-date according to the latest studies for as long as a new translation was not required due to changes in the language.
Mgr Mercieca said members of the commission were preparing an edition of the Bible with many notes and long introductions for study purposes. This was expected to be published shortly.
He said that the number of families who owned a copy of the Bible was growing. People, however, had to take the Bible off the shelf and read it.
Ms Cilia said the Gospels in Braille in Maltese were to be issued shortly. An audio version of the Gospels was also being worked on.