September 21, 1522

Luther Bible

Publication of Luther's September Testament

The title page named neither the translator, the printer, nor the year — useful anonymity when the author is under imperial ban.

Off the press at Wittenberg

Around 21 September 1522 printing was completed at Wittenberg on the first edition of Luther's German New Testament, conventionally called the September Testament. Melchior Lotter the Younger printed it for Christian Döring and Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Its title was Das Newe Testament Deutzsch. A scholarly study notes copies may have come off the press several days earlier; Princeton catalogues the edition as circa 21 September.

Erasmus's Greek, Cranach's woodcuts

Luther's chief textual source was Erasmus's edition of the Greek New Testament, and the printed book carried his own prefaces and marginal notes. Cranach's workshop supplied twenty-one full-page woodcuts illustrating Revelation — a book Luther's own preface treated with deep reservations.

The Wartburg first draft took about eleven weeks, but that was the draft only; revision, typesetting, illustration and printing ran on in Wittenberg from roughly May to September.

A second edition by December

An estimated first run of about 3,000 copies — modern discussions propose figures from roughly 2,000 to 5,000 — reportedly sold out within about three months.

A revised second Wittenberg edition, the December Testament, followed that same year. This was the New Testament only, and it was not the first German Bible; numerous German biblical editions predated Luther, and his complete German Bible appeared in 1534.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources 2 audit passes Traditional date

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Traditional date. This date is the conventional one, not one fixed by a contemporary record.

What the sources leave uncertain

21 September is the conventional publication or completion date. A scholarly study notes that copies may actually have come off the press several days earlier, while Princeton catalogs the edition as circa 21 September.
The first-run figure is an estimate. Modern discussions have proposed figures from roughly 2,000 to 5,000, although 3,000 is widely used.