The Lutheran Study Bible traces its origin back to a man in a remote castle in Thuringia, Germany, in 1521, translating the New Testament into German. National Geographic regularly posts photos from its archives, and this is one they dug up some time back. You can can go here to get various sizes for background images for your computer desktop. It is a shot of the Luther Bible resting a table in the room where Martin Luther stayed in protective custody after he had been condemned as a criminal at the Diet of Worms in 1521. During his stay at the Wartburg Castle, he produced his translation of the New Testament, which was printed in September 1522, hence its name, “The September Testament.” He and his colleagues in Wittenberg continued working on translating the rest of the Bible and they published the first edition of their translation in 1534. It was continually revised and improved, until right before Luther’s death in 1546, the last edition printed in Luther’s lifetime was produced in 1545.

Whoever believes and holds to Christ’s Word, heaven stands open to him, hell is shut, the devil is imprisoned, sins are forgiven, and he is a child of eternal life. That is what this book teaches you— the Holy Scripture—and no other book on earth.

—Martin Luther