Justus Jonas

Justus Jonas (1493–1555) was a German Lutheran reformer and theologian, best known as the German translator of Luther and Melanchthon. Born at Nordhausen, he studied law at Erfurt and Wittenberg and became rector of Erfurt University in 1519.

He followed Luther to the 1521 Diet of Worms and helped translate Luther's German Bible as a Wittenberg professor. In 1531 he translated the Apology of the Augsburg Confession into German, and as superintendent he led Halle's Reformation.

He was at Luther's Eisleben deathbed in 1546 and preached his funeral sermon. Soon exiled, he died at Eisfeld in 1555.