German prints teach the resurrection of Jesus on a Sabbath day! As has already been shown, the German handwritings (manuscripts) proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ "on a Saturday" or "on a Sabbath". Nothing has changed in the printed Bibles. The eternal historical fact is that the first printed Bibles in the world, written in a national language, proclaim from the beginning the resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday" morning.

Letterpress with movable letters was invented in Germany. This made it possible to produce the Bible more quickly and cheaply. Germany developed into the "land of books" and the world's most important country for spreading the Gospel in various languages. From here, technical production equipment (printing presses) was exported to the whole of Europe. The first printed book in the world was the Gutenberg Bible of 1452 with the text of the Latin Vulgate. But the thirst for an understanding of the Word of God became ever greater. This resulted in numerous translations into the German language, which at that time consisted of many dialects. At first the Vulgate served as a basis, since the Greek basic text was not yet or only incompletely available. Like the manuscripts, the printed Bibles also announce the resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday" or "on a Sabbath". You don't believe it? Then check it yourself, here's the evidence:

There were already 18 Catholic Bible translations printed before Martin Luther, which were later classified as so-called "pre-Lutheran Bibles" (or pre-Reformation Bibles; German: Vorlutherische Bibeln). They were published between 1466 and 1522. Of these, 14 were High German and 4 Low German editions. So the Germans were the first to print Bibles to spread the Gospel, because the Latin Gutenberg Bible (printed in Mainz) and the first printed Bibles in a national language all came from Germany. And from the beginning the resurrection of Jesus was proclaimed "on a Saturday" morning. Mentelin correctly named the preperation day as Preparation (Bereitung). In other translations (e.g. Zainer 1477) the preparation day in Mt 27:62 and Joh 19:14,31,42 is called Good Friday (carfreitag) according to the church doctrine, because the Christians did not know what a High Sabbath is (feast Sabbath) and that there are 3 Sabbaths within one Passover week every year. It is nevertheless highly astonishing that these 18 Bibles written by Catholic (!) men all unanimously report the resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday" (an einem Samstag) or "on a Sabbath" (an einem Sabbat), although according to the understanding problem mentioned in in the chapter on causes, there is sometimes general talk of "on a day of the week". There are several explanations for this. The translators could differentiate in Latin exactly between una (one; eine) and prima (first, erste) and did not write: "on the first day of the week", although they could have done it as Mk 16:9 proves, where the talk is of the "first Sabbath", namely the first of the seven Sabbaths until Pentecost. Since they only knew the Latin Vulgate as the text basis, they had no opportunity to check the correctness of their translation with the Greek original. Consequently, they had to take over the inaccuracies of Hieronymus and the copyists after him. The printers also had economic interests, they sometimes copied from each other for reasons of time and did not necessarily pay attention to every word, so that some inaccuracies crept in.

Since at that time there was no binding spelling and many old German dialects, the different spellings for one and the same word e.g. Saturday (samstag, samsstag, sampstag, sambstag, sambsstag) or Sabbath (Sabat, sabat, sabbat, sabbath...) can be explained even in the same Bible. But one thing must be emphasized again, namely that all 18 pre-Lutheran Catholic Bibles never (!) mentioned the phrases "on the first day of the week", "on the day after the Sabbath", "on Lord's Day" and never "on a Sunday". Instead, in the resurrection chapter they always spoke only of an event that took place "on a Saturday" or "on a Sabbath". The Latin idiom "una sabbati" (Greek μια των σαββατων) means "on a Saturday" to all pre-Lutheran translators unanimously. That is what the New Testament really says! The resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday morning". 

The world's first printed Bible in a national language (info and facsimiles) shows the resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday" morning. Yes, "on a Saturday", not "on a Sunday" morning. The text is based on the Codex Teplensis of 1390 (see Link). It is significant that according to Mentelin, in all Bible passages the resurrection and the gathering of the Christians did not take place "on the day AFTER Saturday", nor "on the first day of the week" and certainly not "on a Sunday" morning, but always only "on a Saturday" or "on the first Saturday". So this edition does not differ in content from the German manuscripts of past centuries that have already been mentioned. It is not known that the Bishop of Strasbourg (then Germany, now France) ever had a problem with this Bible. Quite the contrary, because after his death in 1480, Mentelin's body was ceremonially transferred to the Strasbourg cathedral. Strasbourg was an important and rich German city, whose cathedral tower was the highest building in all Christendom from 1647 to 1874. The city was also the centre of book production. Mentelin's Bible is extremely valuable because it shows how the Catholic Christians of his time thought, namely that Jesus rose from the dead "on a Saturday" in the Bible and that the church met "on a Saturday" (Acts 20:7; 1Cor 16:2), although oral Catholic teaching propagated Sunday. It is amazing how exactly Mentelin worked. This becomes clear in Mk 16:1-2, for he certainly did not understand how it is possible that the women went shopping "when the Saturday had passed" (16:1; that is to say, after the Sabbath/Saturday) and then came to the tomb again "on a Saturday" (16:2), yet he translated correctly:

"And when Saturday had passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary Jacobi and Salome, who bought ointments, came to anoint Jesus. 2 And on one of the Saturday very early, they came to the grave: the sun was now risen."

[German original: "Und als der Samstag war vergangen Maria Magdalena und Maria Jacobi und Salome die kauften Salben: sie kamen das sie Jesus salben. 2 Und an einem der Samstag gar frühe, kamen sie zu dem Grabe: der Sonne war jetzt aufgegangen"].

William Kurrelmeyer (originally Wilhelm Kurrelmeyer; b. 1874; †1957, more info) published the Mentelin Bible in a monumental 10-volume edition from 1904 to 1915 (Facsimiles). Here, even those who cannot read the old German letters can understand the text. The first printed Bible in the world proclaims the coming of the women to the tomb on a Saturday morning, the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was "early on the first Saturday" (Mk 16:9) of the 7 Saturdays until Pentecost.

The following overview shows the literal English translation. It should be noted that the old German language did not have a uniform spelling. Therefore different words were used for Saturday (samstag, samsstag, sambsstag, sambstag). And "an eim der samsstag" can mean "on a Saturday" as well as "on one of the Saturdays". The modern German language is more exact and it is much easier to translate from Greek or Latin, because the German language also knows the genitive form, which is not present in English:

However, the Bible does not speak of Saturday, but of the Sabbath. The women prepared the ointments after the High Sabbath (15th Nisan) and came to the tomb on a weekly Sabbath (17th Nisan; on a Saturday):

As Mentelin's example shows, all Christians can see that the Greek original text and the Vulgate say the same. Theological dogmas and interpretations have no place in the Bible. Once again: The first Bible printed worldwide in a popular language at all, a Catholic Bible (!), reports only about the resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday", this is a fact and not a guess or speculation. Worldwide book production in a national language began with the gospel of the resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday morning". The week was only mentioned in Lk 18:12, and that is helpful, because it clearly shows that precisely this word was not meant in all the other verses.

The second printed official Catholic Bible (info and facsimiles) confirms the correctness and validity of Saturday as the biblical resurrection day of Jesus. The Strasbourg printer Heinrich Eggestein (*1415/20, †1488) published around 1470 a Bible which was very close to the text of the Mentelin Bible. Also here the resurrection of Jesus and the church meeting took place "on a Saturday" and not "on a Sunday". Again, this very good Catholic (!) Bible also teaches the resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday" morning. Or can someone discover Sunday in this official Bible?:

The following diagram shows the literal English translation. Yes, this Bible speaks of the women coming to the tomb "on a Saturday" morning, "on that first Sabbath", and that Jesus appeared to the disciples "late on one of the Saturday/s":

The Pflanzmann Bible 1475 knows only the Resurrection Saturday (info and facsimiles): The Catholic lawyer Jodocus Pflanzmann (*1430, †1498?) printed another German Bible in Augsburg, in which resurrection also took place "on a Saturday" (sambstag, samstag). An alleged Sunday resurrection of Jesus is also completely unknown in this Catholic Bible, because it speaks of the coming of women to the tomb "on a Saturday" morning and "on the first Saturday" of the 7 Saturdays counted each year until Pentecost:

Historians point out that Zainer and his translator apparently used a poor Latin translation as a basis, a problem that other experts also had, all of whom could not approach the original Greek texts. The Zainer Bible (info and facsimiles) was no longer as accurate as the previously printed ones. Zainer speaks of "on a day of the week" (an einem tag der wochen) in some places, but without specifying what day he means, because the Sabbath is also a day. The word "wochen" originally means the plural "weeks", but in Old German it was also seen in the singular, as also Luke 18:12 proves. This is reminiscent of ancient Greek grammar, for the plural "sabbaton" (Sabbaths) was often seen in the singular sense (Sabbath) as well. However, in Mk 16:2 Zainer clearly mentions that it was the "first Sabbath". This is also confirmed in Mt 28:1b. The church met "on a Sabbath" (Acts 20:7) an "on a Saturday" (1Cor 16:2). Thus it was clear that "on one day of the week" could only mean the Sabbath, because in Acts 20:7 the Greek text contains 100% exactly the same phrase (mia ton sabbaton; μια των σαββατων) as in Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1 and Jn 20:1. Likewise, the Latin equivalent of the Vulgate is similar. Anyone who claims that the expression "on a day of the week" automatically means "on the first day of the week" is mistaken, because otherwise no one could say "on a day of the week" in Old German, because then it would always have to mean "on a Sunday" and that is illogical. Nevertheless, the mention of the word "week" is unfortunate, for the Greek basic text and its Latin translation (Vulgate) are always concerned only with the "Sabbath" as the translations of Mt 28:1; Mk 16:9; Acts 20:7 and 1Cor 16:2 clearly prove:

Johann Sensenschmidt, the book printer from Eger (Bohemia), published the 5th German Bible (info and facsimiles) between 1476 and 1478 in Nuremberg, which reminds of the edition of Zainer. Unfortunately the mistakes of Zainer ("on a day of the week") were copied, so that also the printers were influenced by it afterwards, since they had no possibility to compare their text with the Greek basic text. Sensenschmidt collaborated with Andreas Frisner, the Catholic professor of theology at the University of Leipzig. However, the women came to the tomb "on the first Sabbath" (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:9) and not "on the first Sunday". Especially Mk 16:9 has been translated very correctly, because it was indeed the first of the 7 Sabbaths until Pentecost. The church meeting was also "on a Saturday/Sabbath" and not "on a Sunday". Every German child understands that:

Anton Sorg printed in Augsburg 1477 the 7th and 1480 the 8th German Bible (info and facsimiles), which he particularly liked because of the improved way of expression. There is still nothing known in this Catholic Bible about a resurrection of Jesus "on a Sunday" or "a Sunday" assembly. Jesus rose from the dead on the "first Sabbath" (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:9) and the church meeting was "on a Sabbath" (Acts 20:7) and "on a Saturday" (1Cor 16:2).

Worth mentioning is his two-volume Bible in German (info and facsimiles), printed in Nuremberg and beautifully decorated. It was the 9th German Bible and all Catholic readers could see in it that Jesus rose "on one [certain] day of the week", namely "on the first Sabbath" of the seven Sabbaths until Pentecost (Mk 16:9; Mt 28:1b). Of this Bible, 1,500 copies were produced, of which about 150 have survived to this day. After his death, Koberger was honored by the Catholic Church and buried in a Dominican monastery, although in his Bible print he reported nothing of an alleged Sunday resurrection of Jesus, even though he adopted the inaccuracies of the Zainer Bible. The women came to the tomb "on the first Sabbath" (Mk 16:9) and the Christians met "on a Sabbath" (Acts 20:7; 1Cor 16:2). It should be noted that just in Acts 20:7 the basic Greek text contains exactly the same words as in Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1 and Jn 20:1 (the Vulgate says the same). This proves that these passages, too, should have been translated correctly if it had been desired. It means "on a Sabbath/Saturday" or "on one of the Sabbaths/Saturdays":

Johann Grüninger (*1455, †1533) printed over 300 important works in Strasbourg (Germany at that time, today the city belongs to France), with which he attained world fame. Although he distanced himself from the Reformation, he printed writings both for and against Luther. Of importance was the 10th German Bible (info and facsimiles), which he published for the first time in an inexpensive, handy format and was thus also suitable for personal reading. It was the world's first real house Bible and also in this Catholic scripture there was the Sabbath resurrection of Jesus, namely on the first of the seven Sabbaths until Pentecost (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:9): 

In the text in the resurrection chapters of the New Testament, Johann Schönsperger does not orientate himself to the Vulgate, nor to the first three pre-Lutheran Bibles, but to the Zainer Bible (info and facsimiles). Nevertheless, there is no mention of Sunday, but of the "first Sabbath" (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2) and the meeting of the church "on a Sabbath". Schönsperger printed an Evangelistar in Augsburg in 1481, in which he did not mention the "week" anywhere, but only referred to "a Saturday" as the holy day (see below):

While the first 12 printed Bibles were published at almost the same time, it took 17 years until 1507 when the 13th German Bible was printed in Augsburg by Hans Johann Otmar (info and facsimiles). The illustrations were taken from Schönsperger's first print. Silvan Otmar (Sylvan Ottmar; †1540), made a reprint of his father's Bible in Augsburg in 1518 in two volumes. It was the 14th and thus the last of the High German pre-Lutheran bibles. The title is "Bibel teutsch, der ander tail" (= Bible German, part 2). The University of Jena publishes an online copy, which also speaks of the resurrection of Jesus on the first of the seven Sabbaths until Pentecost (Mt 28:1, Mk 16:9) and of the church meeting "on a Sabbath" (Acts 20:7; 1Cor 16:2). Who does not understand these clear words? 

The 14 German pre-Lutheran Bibles mentioned so far were printed in Upper German. The 4 Low German translations were added, which were produced in Cologne (2 Bibles, 1478/79), Lübeck (1494) and Halberstadt (1522) (facsimiles). One Cologne Bible was written in Lower Rhine dialect and all others in Lower Saxon ("Sassisch"). In the Middle Ages the different variants of Lower German had been known under the then general name "Sassisch" (=Saxon, Sassesch, Sessian, lingua Saxonica). The Low German Bibles are based on the Zainer Bible in their text and not on the first three much more precise pre-Lutheran Bibles, nor on the Vulgate. For this reason they have adopted the misleading expression "on one day of the week" from Zainer. However, since they have all correctly translated Acts 20:7, where in the basic Greek text (μια των σαββατων) and in the Vulgate (una sabbati) 100% of the words are the same as in Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1 and Jn 20:1; it is clear that all Bible verses would have had to be translated as in Acts 20:7 if church dogmas had been dispensed with. Nevertheless, there is always talk of the Sabbath, never of Sunday:

Heinrich Quentell's Cologne Bible had to cover two language regions with different dialects. Therefore, there was first a Lower Saxon and then a Lower Rhine dialect edition. The simplest feature to distinguish these two versions is the binding word "and", which was written in the first "unde" and in the second version "ende" (pronounced like the English "and"). According to Mt 28:1, Mk 16:9 and Jn 20:19, the women came to the tomb "on a Sabbath day" and on the "first Sabbath" of the 7 Sabbaths until Pentecost. Therefore it is clear that the incorrect translation "on a day of the week" taken from the Zainer Bible 1475/77 can only mean the Sabbath [modern German and English literal translation in brackets]:

The printer Steffen Arndes (*1450, †1519) produced the 3rd Lower German Bible (facsimiles), which was printed in the dialect of Lower Saxony. The author also used the Vulgate as a textual basis, but in contrast to all other previous pre-Lutheran Bibles, he translated freely and very arbitrarily in many places. This explains why in Mk 16:2 he speaks for the first time of the "first day of the week", while in the other passages he reports on the Sabbath resurrection of Jesus.

The Bible "Biblia dudesch" (facsimiles) printed in 1522 in Halberstadt by Lorenz Stuchs was the 4th Low German Bible and thus the last Catholic (pre-Lutheran) Bible before the Reformation, since Luther had already worked on the NT in 1521. It is partly an independent translation, partly copied from the Lübeck Bible (see above). The Halberstadt Bible was confusing for the readers, because in one passage (Mk 16:2) it speaks of the "first day of the week", twice generally of "a day of the week" and in all other passages of "a Sabbath" or "a Sabbath day". Concretely: "on the first Sabbath" (Mk 16:), "on the first day of the Sabbath" (Mt 28:1b) and "on a Sabbath" (Acts 20:7). However, unlike the other pre-Lutheran Bibles before it, the fasting day of the Pharisee was correctly named "on the Sabbath" in Lk 18:12.

Even before Martin Luther published his first New Testament 1522, there were numerous printed gospels and evangeliares who reported on the resurrection of Jesus "on a Sabbath" and "on a Saturday" morning. Here are a few examples:

This Catholic work (Facsimiles) was printed by Johann Schönsperger and Thomas Rüger in Augsburg. Title (tranlated): "The Holy German Gospels and Epistles with the Four Passions" (Library of Congress, Rosenwald 81). As can be clearly seen, the resurrection was "on a holy day" (Mk 16:2). And what was the holy day, was it Sunday? No, it was the "first Sabbath" (Mt 28:1). And the women came "on a Saturday" (literally "in the time of a Saturday"; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1) or "on the first Saturday" (Mk 16:9), i.e. on the first of the 7 Saturdays until Pentecost, which are counted every year until today. Schönsperger had here still omitted the word "week" in all passages that he had included in his Bible prints of 1487 and 1490 (see above), because he was orienting himself to the text of the Bibles printed shortly before. So he knew all the same that the Vulgate speaks only of "a Saturday" and never of "a Sunday". Once again, this Catholic Gospel teaches all Christians that Jesus rose from the dead "on a Saturday" morning. This is the eternal biblical truth:

This is followed by the English translation of the Catholic and officially recognised gospel book, which reports that the women came to the tomb "on a Saturday" morning, "early on the first Saturday" and that Jesus appeared to the disciples on the evening of the same Saturday. No one can find the "first day of the week" or "on a Sunday" here, because the Bible speaks of a Saturday/Sabbath in the Greek, Latin and German texts:

Wilhelm Schaffner published a Gospel book (Evangelistar) which also takes the resurrection of Jesus "on a Sabbath" for granted (Source: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, shelfmark: 4" Dy 9090, VD16 E 4447, Facsimiles). It is to be noted that often the Latin text is as heading above the German text: Thus, it is clear without doubt what is meant and what is not. No one can say that the Vulgate speaks of a resurrection of Jesus "on a Sunday", because it always only mentions the day before, the Sabbath, the day of Jesus Christ. The text below does not show our German translation of the Latin text, but the bilingual original from 1506. So it becomes clear that for the catholic experts living in the Middle Ages the Latin text always spoke only of the "Sabbath" (or "Saturday") and never of the "week" or "Sunday". So if theologians (who first had to learn Latin at university) today claim that the Latin text supposedly means "Sunday", then they must first explain why throughout all the centuries the many experts who grew up with the Latin language from childhood on taught something completely different? You can't make jokes with the Word of God, either someone translates correctly or wrongly. The old translators spoke of women coming to the tomb "in the time of a Sabbath" and not "in the time of a Sunday". They taught something else orally, but for many centuries there has always been truth in writing, i.e. in the Bible and in the catholic Gospel books:

The literal English translation of the old German text makes it clear that Jesus rose from the dead "on a Sabbath", more precisely "early on the first Sabbath" (Mark 16:9) of the seven Sabbaths between Passover (15th Nisan) and Pentecost (the 50th day of the counting of Omer):

This work (Facsimiles) is astonishing because it proves that people understood even before Luther that the resurrection of Jesus took place "on a Sabbath". It also proves that there is no contradiction between the Latin and the German content and that the Christians knew that both languages actually meant the Resurrection Sabbath and not Sunday. First it is reported in chapter 24 that Jesus was buried on the evening of the preparation day (tag der vorbereytunng) "that is before the Sabbath" and that the women prepared the ointments "when the Sabbath had passed" (da der sabath vergangen was). And then in the 25th chapter there is talk of the resurrection "on Easter day" (am Ostertag) with two very amazing sentences on the Sabbath. So the "Easter day" was the Sabbath and not the Sunday! Although many Christians did not know the calendar of God, it is worth noting that they did not falsify the Word of God according to the teachings of the church. When did the women come to the grave? It is not the day "after the Sabbath", but "on a Sabbath" (an einem sabath) in the singular. So anyone who claims that the text of the Latin Vulgate speaks of a Sunday or the first day of the week does not speak the truth. At that time the Latin language was the main church language and the Latin Bible was the main Bible for everyone. Many translators from educated families knew the Latin language from an early age, they were all language experts. Thus the Latin and German translations by Johannes Geiler make it clear that the Greek basic text also spoke only of a Sabbath resurrection of Jesus. Geiler's short catholic summary cannot be rated high enough. For comparison, the original text of the Latin edition is mentioned first. Then follows the original German text and the literal English translation of today:

Numerous Bibles in many languages teach the resurrection of Jesus on a Sabbath morning:

7.  Many old Bibles proclaim the resurrection of Jesus on a Sabbath or Saturday morning 

7.1  Greek Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.2  Latin Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.3  Gothic Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.4.1  German Bible manuscripts show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.4.2  German Bible prints 1 (before Luther) show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.4.3  German Bible prints 2 (since Luther) show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.4.4  German Bible prints 3 (since 1600 to 1899) show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.4.5  German Bible prints 4 (since 1900) show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.5.1  English Bible manuscripts show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.5.2  English Bible prints 1 (from 1526 to 1799) show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.5.3  English Bible prints 2 (from 1800 to 1945) show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.5.4  English Bible prints 3 (from 1946 to 2002) show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.5.5  English Bible prints 4 (from 2003) show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.6   Spanish Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.7   French Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.8   Swedish Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.9   Czech Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.10 Italian Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.11 Dutch Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

7.12 Slovenian Bibles show the Sabbath resurrection 

 "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil"

(1Thess 5:21-22)

"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them"

(Epheser 5:11)