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Early Scripture Translations

by Todd Elder

Early Translations

Greek Septuagint

The Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Old Testament made about 250 BC during the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt. He hired large group of Jews fluent in both Hebrew and Koine Greek to produce the translation. Different sources suggest between 15 and 72 translaters, but the name septuagint itself suggests 70. This is the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into another language. This became a wide spread version that would be used by Greek speaking Jews and Early Christians. It was the basis for the Old Latin translations. It is still used by the Eastern Orthodox. The oldest known copies come from the fourth century AD and are the oldest surviving, nearly complete manuscripts. Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls tend to agree with the Septuagint text rather than the Masoretic Text.

Various Languages

The Christian church spread through the world, even into place where Greek was not spoken. Because of this, translations were made into Latin, Syriac, Egyptian, and many other languages. In fact, by the end of the fifth century AD, the Scriptures were translated into over 500 languages.

Latin Vulgate

Latin Vulgate

Jerome started translating from earlier latin versions of the Scriptures, however he finally went bak to the Greek in the New Testament and Hebrew text preferred to Septuagint in the Old testament when he could. Jerome translated the new testament from Greek into Latin around 382 Ad. The Council of Trent made the Latin Vulgate (vulgate means vulgar or common) the official Roman Catholic Bible. In 405 AD the Apocryphal (ecclesiastical) books were distinguished from the canonical books. By 600 AD, the only church was the Roman Catholic Church and the Scriptures were restricted to one language, the Latin Vulgate, under the threat of execution. At this time only the priests were allowed to understand Latin which gave the church ultimate power.

Masoretic Text

Hebrew Masoretic Text

The Masorites existed from about 600 - 950 AD. They standardized the Hebrew text and added accents and vowel points. The surviving copies are from the ninth century texts. The Masoretic Text is approved for use in Judaism and is also commonly used in Protestant Bibles. It is similar to the second century text but has differences when compared to versions of the Septuagint.

CSE Citation Elder T W. Exploring Creation [Internet]. Livingston (TX): Exploring

Creation; 2011 Apr. 6. [cited your access date]. Available from:

http://www.exploringcreation.info/scripture/translations.htm

MLA Citation Elder, Todd W. Exploring Creation. Ed. Todd Elder. 6 Apr 2011.

Exploring Creation. your access date

http://www.exploringcreation.info/scripture/translations.htm