ANSWERS: 5
  • There are several Old Latin versions. These probably appeared from the latter part of the second century C.E. onward. The whole Bible in Latin seems to have been used in Carthage, North Africa, at least by 250 C.E. The Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Old Latin from the Greek Septuagint (not yet revised by Origen), but the Christian Scriptures were rendered, not from a translation, but from the Greek. Various translations may have been made, or at least a number of translators worked on the Old Latin version. Scholars usually refer to two basic types of Old Latin text: the African and the European. No complete manuscripts are extant; only about 30 fragments. The most well known may be the scholar/translator known as Jerome. Jerome’s Latin name was Eusebius Hieronymus. He was born about 346 C.E. in Stridon, in the Roman province of Dalmatia, near the present-day border between Italy and Slovenia Jerome received Pope Damasus’ full support. The pope had good reason to encourage Jerome to continue his Bible research. At the time, there were numerous Latin versions of the Bible in use. Many of these were carelessly translated, containing glaring errors. Another concern of Damasus was that language was dividing the Eastern and Western realms of the church. Few in the East knew Latin; fewer in the West knew Greek. Pope Damasus was therefore anxious for a revised Latin translation of the Gospels. Damasus wanted a translation that would accurately reflect the original Greek, yet be eloquent and clear in its Latin. Jerome was one of the few scholars who could provide such a translation. Being fluent in Greek, Latin, and Syriac and having some working knowledge of Hebrew, he was well qualified for the job. So with Damasus’ commission, Jerome began a project that would consume more than the next 20 years of his life. In 386 C.E., Jerome settled in Bethlehem, where he was to remain for the rest of his life. He was accompanied by a small band of loyal followers, including Paula, a wealthy woman of nobility from Rome. Paula had adopted the ascetic way of life as a result of Jerome’s preaching. With her financial backing, a monastery was established under Jerome’s direction. There he pursued his scholarly work and completed the greatest labor of his life. Living in Palestine afforded Jerome the opportunity to improve his understanding of Hebrew. He paid several Jewish tutors to help him understand some of the more difficult aspects of the language. For the Hebrew Scriptures, Jerome intended to base his work on the Septuagint. This Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures, originally translated in the third century B.C.E., was viewed by many as directly inspired by God. Thus, the Septuagint enjoyed wide circulation among Greek-speaking Christians of that time. As Jerome progressed with his work, however, he found inconsistencies between the Greek manuscripts, similar to those he had encountered in the Latin. Jerome’s frustration grew. Finally, he came to the conclusion that to produce a reliable translation, he would have to bypass the Greek manuscripts, including the much revered Septuagint, and go directly to the original Hebrew text. He caught a lot of criticism for this. How did Jerome react to all these naysayers? True to his character, Jerome ignored his critics. He continued to work directly from the Hebrew, and by the year 405 C.E., he had completed his Latin Bible. Years later his translation was dubbed Vulgate, which refers to a commonly received version (the Latin vulgatus meaning “common, that which is popular”). Source: Insight on the Scriptures, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
  • [Comment] Good question. To get the best answers I think you should post this as two separate questions. :)
  • I know they spoke arameic back then. A language half hebrew ,half latin
  • Jerome, Saint born c. 347, Stridon, Dalmatia died 419/420, Bethlehem, Palestine Born into a wealthy Christian family in Dalmatia, he was educated there and in Rome. Baptized c. 366, he spent most of the next 20 years in travel. He lived two years as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis. From 377 to 379 Jerome was in Antioch, where he studied biblical texts and translated the works of Origen and Eusebius. He lived in Rome (382–85), but theological controversy and opposition to his ascetic views led him to depart for the Holy Land, and he settled in Bethlehem, where he lived until his death. Traditionally regarded as the most learned of the Latin Fathers, he wrote numerous biblical commentaries and theological tracts on Pelagianism and other heresies. In 406 he completed his translation of the Bible into Latin, including his own translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew; Jerome's Latin Bible is known as the Vulgate. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, with scattered passages of Aramaic. It was first translated in its entirety into Aramaic and then, in the 3rd century AD, into Greek (the Septuagint). Hebrew scholars created the authoritative Masoretic text (6th–10th century) from Aramaic Targums, the original Hebrew scrolls having been lost. The New Testament was originally in Greek or Aramaic. Christians translated both Testaments into Coptic, Ethiopian, Gothic, and Latin. St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405) was the standard Christian translation for 1,000 years. New learning in the 15th–16th century generated new translations. Martin Luther translated the entire Bible into German (1522–34). The first complete English translation, credited to John Wycliffe, appeared in 1382, but it was the King James version (1611) that became the standard for more than three centuries. By the late 20th century the entire Bible had been translated into 250 languages and portions of it into more than 1,300.
  • I think that was Jerome.

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