DELITZSCH, FRANZ JULIUS. - Lutheran exegete and Hebraist, b. at Leipzig on 23 Feb. 1813, d. there on 4 March 1890. Despite his poverty, he was able to study theology and Oriental languages, later becoming professor of these subjects at Rostock, Erlangen, and, from 1867, Leipzig.
His commentaries on the protocanonical books of the Old Testament and on certain books of the New were very numerous and highly esteemed for their depth of thought and rabbinic linguistic knowledge. In his last studies (Neuer Commentar über die Genesis, 1887; Messianische Weissagungen in geschichtlicher Folge, 1890), abandoning the conservative tone of his earlier works, he made notable concessions to rationalist criticism. For approximately fifty years he worked on the retroversion of the New Testament into Hebrew, which was first printed in
1877 and reached its 12th edition in 1901 (Die Bücher des Neuen Bundes aus dem Griechischen in's Hebräische übersetzt). He also published the Hebrew text of several biblical books (Genesis, 1869; Isoia, 1872; Minor Prophets, 1878; Psalms, 1880; Proverbs, 1880; Ezekiel, 1884; Chronicles, 1888, Jeremiah, 1890), in collaboration with S. Baer. His studies also led him to take an interest in the Jews, whose conversion he zealously promoted, founding a special institute, the Institutum Iudaicum « Delitschianum » of Leipzig, and a specialized journal, the Sant auf Hoffnung.