William Morgan's Welsh Bible appeared in 1588, after years of translation work drawing on Greek and Hebrew sources. It was the first complete Bible in Welsh and the first in any modern Celtic language, giving Welsh readers a stable printed text in their own language. The translation arrived during a period of religious upheaval and helped make Welsh a serious literary and devotional language. Its publication also strengthened the status of Welsh at a time when many minority languages were being pushed aside by larger imperial cultures.

The Welsh Bible became one of the most important foundations of modern Welsh prose and religious writing. It standardized spelling and vocabulary, influenced later Welsh poetry, and helped preserve a literary tradition that remained robust well into the modern period. For poets and hymn writers, it gave Welsh a dignified scriptural register that shaped idiom, rhythm, and imagery for centuries.