Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor "tree of life" (Genesis ii. 9) as "tree of healing", explaining that the fruit of the tree possessed the virtue of healing the sick, without, however, bestowing eternal life. In regard to the transformation of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt (Gen. xix. 26) he explains that, disbelieving in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, she lingered on the road, and was overtaken by the rain of brimstone and fire, which are usually mixed with salt. Well acquainted with the Vulgate and Christian Biblical exegesis, Joseph, in commenting on Psalm ii., cites Jerome, whose explanation of the word he
Bible translations into Icelandic Bible translations into Icelandic The New Testament was the first book printed in Icelandic. It was translated by Oddur Gottskálksson (whose father was Norwegian) and published in 1540 (text here). Forty-four years later the whole Bible was printed in Icelandic thanks to Guðbrandur Þorláksson, a Protestant bishop at Hólar. Afterwards, a number of other translations followed, such the "Waysenhússbiblía", a reworking of a 1644 Bible from Hólar and printed by G. F. Risel in Copenhagen. In 1813, in the same city, the British Bible Society published the "Grútarbiblía" (or "Hendersonsbiblía"), just two years before the founding of the Icelandic Bible