Septuagint and Vulgate Based Bible Study

In the KJV:   “...Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The  Lord  gave, and the  Lord  hath taken away; blessed be the name of the  Lord .”   In Irish (Gaelic) it conforms to the common English translation: “Tarrnocht a tháinig mé as broinn mo mháthar, Agus tarrnocht a fhillfidh mé inti arís. An Tiarna a bhronn orm, agus an Tiarna a rug uaim.  Moladh le hainm an Tiarna.” These conform to the Vulgate (although there is a footnote for a version which conforms to the Septuagint): ...nudus egressus sum de utero matris meae et nudus revertar illuc.  Dominus dedit Dominus abstulit; sit nomen Domini benedictum. An English speaker can read most of that Latin without knowing any Latin! The Septuagint has another sentence in the middle (as it seemed good to the Lord, so it came to pass). ... Αὐτὸς γυμνὸς ἐξῆλθον ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου· γυμνὸς καὶ ἀπελεύσομαι ἐκεῖ. ὁ κύριος ἔδωκεν, ὁ κύριος ἀφείλατο· ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ ἔδοξεν, οὕτως ἐγένετο· εἴη τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου εὐλογημέ

 Lent started this week and on Ash Wednesday we paraphrase part of Ecclesiastes 3:20:  τὰ πάντα πορεύεται εἰς τόπον ἕνα τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο ἀπὸ τοῦ χοός καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐπιστρέφει εἰς τὸν χοῦν All go to the same place. All came from the dust ( earth-heap)  and all return to the dust  ( earth-heap) . et omnia pergunt ad unum locum. De terra (earth) facta sunt, et in terram pariter revertuntur. I made sure to use the accented Greek - they matter (sometimes).  (Easy word:  panta = all) εἰς = to, but   ἕνα   comes from   εἷς , which is 'one'. εις (Adjective)   Masculine   Feminine   Neuter   Sing. Plur.   Sing. Plur.   Sing. Plur. Nom. εις     μια     μια μια Acc. ενα     μιαν μια   ενα μια Dat. ενι     μια     ενι   Gen. ενος     μιας     ενος Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes starts with the very famous " There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven--"... which I may return to in another post.  I want really to go back to the start of t

Probably the most popular of all the psalms.  It was #22 in both the Vulgate and the Septuagint, but is known now as psalm 23.  The most famous line of all the psalms is the first verse:  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (KJV). But guess what?  Neither the Latin (translated from the Hebrew) nor the Greek (which is what Jesus and the disciples knew and what is quoted in the New Testament, also from the Hebrew) say "the Lord is my shepherd!"  They actually say, the Lord shepherds (rules) me.   ποιμαινει is from  this verb  - it is not a noun.  Jerome transalted this as Dominus regit me - the Lord rules (regulates) me.  God rules/guides me, and (therefore) nothing will be lacking for me....et nihil mihi deerit / και ουδεν με υστερησει. Some almost familiar vocabulary from verse 2:  τοπον / loco = a place (topographic...location...).  ὕδωρ (υδατος ) = aquam = water (hydro comes from the Greek).  (English y comes from the Greek upsilon (u), the capital of which is Y.)

Luke 2:14, the words of the angels announcing Christ's birth, is where this comes from.  And it predates the Vulgate , which does not use the word excelsis, but rather altissimis! Linus recites the King James version in A Charlie Brown Christmas.  This is not a good translation of this verse.  Douay-Rheims has it right:  Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will. Greek NT:  δοξα εν υψιστοις θεω και επι γης ειρηνη εν ανθρωποις ευδοκια δοξα -->doxology ειρηνη -->Irene  (peace) ανθρωποις-->anthropology.  ανθρωποις ευδοκια - men of good will (good intentions). Vulgate:  Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonæ voluntatis. This word ευδοκια is used in Psalm 50(Vulgate)/51(Septuagint):  Different Bibles mess up the verse numbers, too.  Let's use 19-20: 50:19   θυσια τω θεω πνευμα συντετριμμενον καρδιαν συντετριμμενην και τεταπεινωμενην ο θεος ουκ εξουθενωσει 50:20   αγαθυνον κυριε εν τη ευδοκια σου την σιων και οικοδομηθητω τα τειχ

Pink candle Sunday in Advent is also called Gaudete Sunday. This is the (plural) command to rejoice in Latin. This was one of the readings this past week. It's a tough one when things are as crazy as they are. Semper (like in Semper Fidelis) means always (Fidelis is faithful, also in this passage). As in, always! Not so easy sometimes, but it's important to try. There are many reasons to rejoice, but the coming of Jesus (and Christmas) is the best one!  There are lots of words in the Latin here which are recognizable to English speakers.  Intermissione - a break, respite.  omnibus -  everything (like an omnibus bill).  Gratias - giving thanks.  Voluntas - will, as in when you volunteer to do something of your own will.  Spiritum (spiritus) - the Spirit.  Prophetias - prophetic.  Abstinete (plural command - this passage is full of them) as in abstinence.  Specie - type, kind, as in species.  Pacis - peace.  Santificet - sanctify.  Omnia - entirely.  Anima et corpus - soul

  English: New American Standard Bible                          Greek OT: LXX Isaiah 7 14.  "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. δια τουτο δωσει κυριος αυτος υμιν σημειον ιδου η παρθενος εν γαστρι εξει και τεξεται υιον και καλεσεις το ονομα αυτου εμμανουηλ Ever hear of the Parthenon? It was a temple to Athena, the Virgin (parthenos) - hence the name (appartments of the virgin/unmarried woman)! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon#Etymology Some Jews (and others) dispute that the Hebrew word here was virgin, rather than young girl. But clearly the 70 elders who translated the Septuagint agreed that it was virgin. And although the Hebrew came first, we really have no older versions of the Hebrew than the Greek (except for the Dead Sea Scrolls - and this passage is the same there ). The Septuagint is the Bible quot