Smith-Van Dyck (Arabic)

The Smith-Van Dyck (الكتاب المقدس فان دايك), published in 1865, is the most influential Protestant translation of the Scriptures into the Arabic language. The project was begun by American missionary Eli Smith in Beirut during the 1840s and completed by Cornelius Van Dyck after Smith's death in 1857. The work involved native Arab scholars and relied on specialized typographers to create Arabic fonts suitable for printing the sacred text.

The translation philosophy combined textual rigor with literary sensitivity. Van Dyck and his collaborators, including Butrus al-Bustani and Nasif al-Yaziji, worked directly from the Masoretic Hebrew and the Greek Textus Receptus, aiming for an elevated classical Arabic faithful to the literary tradition of the language yet intelligible to the educated reader. The result was a text widely regarded as a model of cultivated Arabic prose, frequently cited for its stylistic quality independently of its religious value.

For more than a century and a half, the Smith-Van Dyck has been the standard Bible among Arab Protestants in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, and the diaspora. Its influence extends beyond confessional boundaries: many Arab Orthodox and Catholic Christians also use it. It was instrumental in the Christian literacy of the modern Arab world and shaped the theological vocabulary in Arabic still used today in hymns, sermons, and devotional literature.

The translation is in the public domain worldwide due to its age. It remains widely printed by Bible societies and available digitally without any usage restrictions, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, and adapted.