Body: | The Vulgate
Old Testament and Gospels completed in 384 AD
Jerome's Latin Translation of the Hebrew Masoretic Text
Introduction:
1. About the Vulgate:
a. "VULGATE The Latin translation of the Bible that Jerome
produced in AD 383-405 or that was at least initiated by him, with the
Old Testament and Gospels certainly being translated by him." (LBD,
Vulgate)
b. "Vulgate. The Latin version of the Bible (editio vulgata)
most widely used in the W. It was for the most part the work of St *Jerome,
and its original purpose was to end the great differences of text in the
*Old Latin MSS circulating in the latter part of the 4th cent. Jerome began
his work, at the request of Pope Damasus in 382, with a revision of the
Gospels which was completed in 384. Here he seems to have used as the basis
of his revision a Greek MS closely akin to the *Codex Sinaiticus. That he
revised the remaining books of the NT is unlikely." (The Oxford
Dictionary of the Christian Church, Vulgate, 2005 AD)
2. The Need of a Latin Bible: The Latin of the western church at
Rome:
a. "The rise of Latin: The sense that Greek was the language
of the apostolic books and of the Jewish Scriptures-Christians read and
defended the LXX translation as sacred text, not the Hebrew-meant that
Latin versions were simply that, versions, and therefore without the same
weight as the originals. Nevertheless, as the Latin church grew, so did the
demand for Latin translations. By the 4th cent., literally hundreds of
copies were circulating, probably in a number of different versions. The
North African martyr Felix, a victim of the Great Persecution (d. 303),
reportedly refused to hand over the numerous books of the Carthaginian
church, despite an imperial decree demanding that he do so, and was
therefore beheaded (Acts of Saint Felix). The church of Cirta was less
successful, losing most of its library when, in May of 303, thirty-four
biblical manuscripts of varying sizes were seized by the proconsul,
including one very large manuscript, five large, two small, twenty-five of
unspecified size, and one of unbound quinions (McGurk). These early Latin
translations, known to Tertullian and Cyprian, possessed by the churches of
Carthage and Cirta and employed by the Roman authors such as Victor and
Novatian, were informal, however precious they may have been to the
churches that held them. As Augustine famously put it, anyone who obtained
a Greek manuscript and thought that he had some ability in Greek and Latin
went ahead and translated it (Doctr. chr. 2.11.16), a neat explanation for
the diversity of the versions known to him at the turn of the 4th cent.
Latin-speaking Christians were defining and delimiting their sacred books,
and their relationships to them, at the very same time that they were
translating them, locally, anonymously, and without a discernible scheme.
During the 4th cent., Latin became a focus not only of the Roman imperial
administration but of Latin-speaking Christians as well. The emperor
Diocletian (r. 284-305) promulgated imperial law solely in Latin, though
his capital was in Greek-speaking Asia Minor. Constantine continued this
practice, writing speeches in Latin and leaving it to others to translate
(Eusebius, Vit. Const. 3.13.1; 4.8). A bilingual law school was founded in
Berytus, Syria (modern Beirut), Latin appears with increasing frequency in
surviving papyri from Roman Egypt, and significant pagan authors living in
Antioch and Alexandria adopted Latin as their literary language of choice
(Lafferty). Christians followed suit: Latin was adopted as the principal
liturgical language in Rome and Milan, revisions of existing Latin
translations were undertaken in earnest, and there was a proliferation of
theological writings in Latin by such authors as Hilary of Poitiers (d. ca.
367) and Ambrose of Milan (ca. 339-97). The writings of Origen (ca.
185-254) and other Greek Christian authors began to be carefully
translated into Latin by scholars such as Rufinus (ca. 345-411) and
Jerome (ca. 345-420). It was in this context that Damasus, bishop of Rome
from 366 to 384, likely commissioned Jerome to compose a new translation of
the Gospels based on the best Greek manuscripts and yet mindful of ancient
Latin Christian traditions. This translation, completed in 383, was
designed to produce a version free of the errors of inaccurate translators
and copyists (Jerome, Letter to Damasus). Twenty years later, Augustine
complimented Jerome for the success of his version, thanking him for
producing such a careful translation; he was significantly less
enthusiastic about Jerome's approach to the LXX (see Jerome's Epist.
71). (The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, vol 5, p 765, 2006
AD)
I. Jerome translated the Hebrew MT text into Latin using the lower
Chronological numbers:
1. Jerome translated the Hebrew manuscript in 400 AD into Latin
and followed the lower Masoretic Genealogical numbers in Gen 5,11
a. The Vulgate, which Jerome translated from Hebrew into Latin,
supports the 430 year long sojourn.
b. We know that in 400 AD the corruption by the Jews in 160 AD of
the Genesis (chapters 5 and 11) chronologies in the Hebrew Masoretic text
for anti-Christian purposes was complete.
2. Jerome's translation of Isa 7:14:
a. There are Dead Sea scrolls that validate the modern
Masoretic text translation of Isa 7:14 so Jerome's translation, like the
original Septuagint in 282 BC chose to translate it VIRGIN. After all, if
the Jews in 282 BC translated it virgin, it could not be wrong for Jerome
to follow the 700 year old Jewish tradition in /
b. Jerome did translate Isa 7:14 as "virgin" in Latin:
"propter hoc dabit Dominus ipse vobis signum ecce virgo concipiet et
pariet filium et vocabitis nomen eius Emmanuhel" (Isa 7:14 Jerome, Latin
Vulgate, 382 AD) "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son and his name shall be called
Emmanuel." (Isa 7:14 Jerome, Latin Vulgate translated into English)
Conclusion:
1. The Latin Vulgate is an important manuscript because it
reflects the Hebrew Masoretic Text of the Old Testament (Tanakh) in 383 AD.
2. It is no surprise then, that the Vulgate faithfully translated
the shorter chronological numbers in the Hebrew text that had been
corrupted and changed in 160 AD at Zippori.
3. The Vulgate, however, does use the longer sojourn of 430 years
of Israel in Egypt.
The Septuagint LXX
"Scripture Cannot Be Broken"
Start Here: Master Introduction and Index
Six Bible Manuscripts
1446 BC
Sinai Text (ST)
1050 BC
Samuel's Text (SNT)
623 BC
Samaritan (SP)
458 BC
Ezra's Text (XIV)
282 BC
Septuagint (LXX)
160 AD
Masoretic (MT)
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Steve Rudd, November 2017 AD: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections
By Steve Rudd: November 2017: Contact the author for comments, input or
corrections.
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