Prologues to the books of the Old Testament

“Prologues to the books of the Old Testament” (16 chapters) are short texts that the bl. Jerome of Stridon accompanied his translations of Old Testament books from Hebrew into Latin. Some prologues are prefaces to a particular translation, and some are messages to the customer of the translation. Blzh. Jerome provides information, first of all, about the composition of the Biblical canon and the correct translation of book titles into Latin. For example, in the prologue to the Books of Kings (chapter 3), he lists and gives a brief description of the books of the Old Testament, and also discusses the Hebrew alphabet and the peculiarities of writing some letters, finding a “mystical” connection between the number of letters of this alphabet and the number of Old Testament books. In the prologue to the Book of Daniel (chapter 15), the author discusses the differences between the Hebrew and Greek versions of this work. Here the theological dispute of that time was reflected about how exactly the Apostle Paul was “caught up” - together with his body or not. In the prologue to the Book of Job (chapter 9) Blzh. Jerome argues that some Hebrew Old Testament books have a rhythmic structure and suggests comparing them with the works of Greek and Roman poets. Prologues are also a source of biographical information. From them you can learn about the education of the blizh. Jerome, about the difficulties in his life. For example, in the preface to the Books of Solomon (chapter 11), he mentions his illness. Contents 1. To the Pentateuch of Moses 2. To Joshua 3. To the Books of Kings 4. To the Book of Chronicles 5. To the Book of Ezra 6. To the Book of Tobit 7. To the Book of Judith 8. To the Book of Esther 9. To the Book of Job 10. To the Book of Psalms Other preface 11. To To the Books of Solomon 12. To the Book of Isaiah 13. To the Book of Jeremiah 14. To the Book of Ezekiel 15. To the Book of Daniel 16. To the Books of the Minor Prophets From the preface to the 1st edition of the Stuttgart Vulgate (1969) I received the desired letters from my Desiderius 1, who, by some future provision, received the same name as Daniel, and who begs me to translate the Pentateuch from Hebrew into Latin, which is native to our ears. This matter is very dangerous because of obvious ill-wishers, noisily accusing me of the fact that, in reproach to the Seventy Interpreters, I am trying to eclipse the ancient with the new, treating the creations of the mind as if they were wine, although I have repeatedly assured that by my masculine strength I bring to the tabernacle of God what I can, and do not associate the work of some with the poverty of others. But even if I dared to do this, my example would be the scientist Origen, who added a translation of Theodotion to the ancient edition, using the signs asterisk and obel, i.e. an asterisk and a stroke, everywhere where he either marked what was previously more succinct, or destroyed and squeezed out something superfluous; especially the authority of the Evangelists and Apostles, from whom we read many things from the Old Testament that are not in our books, such as: “Out of Egypt I called my Son,” and: “For he will be called a Nazarene,” and “They will look on Him whom they have pierced,” and: “Rivers of living water will flow from his belly,” and: “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has the heart of man it arose that God had prepared for those who love Him” and much that is not in the suntagma proper 2. Therefore, let us ask them where it is written, and when they cannot answer, we will open the Jewish books. The first testimony is in Hosea, the second in Isaiah, the third in Zechariah, the fourth in Proverbs, the fifth also in Isaiah; Without knowing this, many follow the nonsense of the apocrypha and prefer Iberian nonsense to genuine books. It is not my place to explain the reasons for the error. They say that the wise Jews decided not to give Ptolemy, who worshiped one God, any reason to suspect the Jews of bitheism, especially because in his eyes they were inclined towards Plato’s teaching. Therefore, everything that the Holy Scripture says in testimony about the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit they either interpreted differently or kept silent altogether, so as to please the king and not reveal the secret of faith. And I do not know who was the first author of the lie about the seventy cells in which they worked in Alexandria, while Aristaeus, ὑπερασπίζω 4 of Ptolemy himself, and, much later, Josephus do not report anything of the kind; but they write that they were gathered into one basilica, where they did not prophesy. And another is a prophet, another is a translator; there the spirit predicts the future, here erudition and an abundant vocabulary translate what has been learned, unless you think that Tullius 5 of Xenophon’s “Economy” and Plato’s “Protagoras” and Demosthenos’ “On Ctesiphon” translated by inspiration of the spirit; or else through the Seventy Interpreters, another through the Apostles was given by the Holy Spirit, so that the latter, therefore, lied, as if something was written about which the first kept silent. So what? Shall we condemn the old? No way; but after the first, let us labor with all possible zeal in the house of the Lord. Those interpreters were there before the coming of Christ and what they did not know was expressed in dubious terms; after His Passion and Resurrection, we write not so much prophecies as history; and what is heard is presented differently, and what is seen is presented differently; and what we understand better, we explain better. Therefore, listen, secret ill-wisher: I do not condemn, I do not reject the Seventy Interpreters, but I sincerely prefer the Apostles to them all. Through their lips Christ speaks to me, and from them I read that prophets have a spiritual gift, and they place translators in last place. Why are you tormented by envy? Why are you stirring up the souls of the ignorant against me? If it seems to you that I am mistaken, ask the Jews, contact teachers in various cities: what they have about Christ is not in your lists. It will be another matter if they prove that the testimony of the Apostles against them is not authentic and that the Latin lists are better than the Greek ones, and the Greek ones are better than the Hebrew ones. This is against envious people. Now I ask you, beloved Desiderius, having forced me to undergo such great labor and begin the Book of Genesis, help me with your prayers, so that I can expound these books in Latin by the same Spirit by whom they were written. End. Having finished the Pentateuch of Moses, as if freed from a heavy burden, we put our hand to Joshua, whom the Jews call Joshua Ben-Nun, that is, the son of Nun, and to the book of Judges, which they call Softim, and to Ruth and Esther, with whose names the books are titled. We remind the reader that the forest of Hebrew names and differences in special departments is carefully preserved in Scripture, so that neither our work nor our zeal is lost; and firstly, let the reader know that I, as I have repeatedly testified, do not seek to scold the old, as my friends accuse me of doing, but I courageously bring from my lips to people who value our work, so that instead of the Greek Ἑξαπλᾶ 6 , which require a lot of money and labor, they would have our publication, so that if they doubt, reading the old lists, they would resort to ours in search answer, especially since the Latins now have as many editions as lists, and everyone adds or subtracts as and where he pleases, and what disagrees with each other cannot be true. Therefore, let the scorpion cease to wriggle, intending to wound us, and the poisonous tongue to blaspheme the holy cause, accepting when it pleases, and rejecting if it does not like, remembering the verse of Scripture: “Your lips abound in deceit, and your tongue has given birth to deceit; sitting against your brother you spoke, and against your mother's son you set offense; this you have done, and I was silent; you thought it wicked that I should be like you; I will reprove you and set you against your face. “What good is it for me to work, sweat, listen to others revile me, while the Jews grieve that they have no reason to slander Christians and make fun of them, and people belonging to the Church despise this and even revile what makes their opponents so tormented? For if they like the old translation, which I do not criticize, and they believe that nothing more should be accepted, why do they read and not read at the same time what I mark with an asterisk and obel as added and subtracted? Why did the Theodotion Church accept the translation of Daniel? Why do they admire Origen and Eusebius Pamphilus, distributing all publications at once? Or, what kind of stupidity is it, having said the true, to repeat the false again? How can they confirm New Testament evidence that is not in the old copies? We say this so as not to appear silent in response to slanderers. In addition, after the dormition of Saint Paula, whose life is an example of virtue, and those books of the Prophets, which I could not refuse to Christ’s virgin Eustochia, we decided, “while the Spirit rules this art,” to begin to explain and return the long-delayed work, as it were, to the house, especially since the wonderful and holy man Pammachius achieves the same in his letters, and we, hurrying home, must sail without listening to the deadly singing sirens End. The Jews have twenty-two letters, which is confirmed by the languages ​​of the Syrians and Chaldeans, which are very close to Hebrew; for they also contain twenty-two elementary signs with the same sound, but with a different outline. The Samaritans write the Pentateuch of Moses with the same letters, adding figures and dashes to distinguish them. It is known that the scribe and teacher of the law Ezra, after the captivity of Jerusalem and the restoration of the church under Zerubbabel, invented other letters that are still used today; and until that time, the Samaritans and Jews had the same letters. And we still find the four-letter name of God, written in ancient script, in some Greek lists. But Psalms 36, and 110, and 111, and 118, and 144, although written in different sizes, the number of verses coincides with the number of letters in this alphabet. And Jeremiah's lament, and his prayer, and the words of Solomon in his Proverbs from the place where it says: “Whoever finds a strong wife:” at the beginning of each verse follow the same alphabetical order. In addition, some of their letters are double: haf, mem, nun, fe, tsade; they are written differently at the beginning or in the middle of a word, and differently at the end. Therefore, five books are usually considered double: Samuel, Malachim, Dabreyamin, Ezra, Jeremiah and Kinoth, i.e. Lamentations (of Jeremiah). Consequently, just as we write down with twenty-two letters everything that we say in Hebrew, and every human saying is encompassed by these principles, so there are twenty-two volumes, as if of certain letters and principles, with which the still tender age, in need of milk, of a husband is instructed and nourished in the doctrine of God. Their first book is called Bresit, we call it Genesis; the second Hellesmot, called Exodus; the third is Vayekra, aka Levite; the fourth Vayedabber, which we call Number; fifth Ardabarim, inscribed Deuteronomy. These are the five books of Moses, properly called Thorat, that is, the Law. Then follows the order of the Prophets, and it begins with Joshua, who they call Joshua Ben-Nun. Then comes the Softim, i.e., the Book of Judges, and Ruth is included in it, for it tells the story that happened in the days of the Judges. The third is the Book of Samuel, which we call the 1st and 2nd Books of Samuel. The fourth Malachim, i.e. Kings, containing the 3rd and 4th books of Kings. Malachim, i.e. Kings, is much better than Malachoth, i.e. Kingdoms, for the books do not describe deeds that took place in many kingdoms, but those that happened among the single Israeli people, consisting of twelve tribes. The fifth Isaiah, the sixth Jeremiah, the seventh Ezekiel, the eighth book of the twelve Prophets is called Tareasra. The third order is followed by agiograja, and the first begins with the book of Job, the second with David in five sections with one psalm, separately constituting the Book of Psalms. The third Solomon, who has three books: Proverbs, which they call Proverbs, i.e. Masalot, and Ecclesiastes, i.e. Akoelet, and the Song of Songs, which they inscribe in the title Sirassim. Sixth Daniel, Seventh Book - Dabreyamin, i.e., the Words of Days, which we can most accurately call the cronikon of all divine history, which book we inscribe as 1st and 2nd Chronicles; the eighth Esdras, which among the Greeks and Latins is divided into two books; ninth Esther. So the twenty-two books of the Old Law are equally distributed, that is, five Mosaic, eight Prophetic, nine hagiographers. Although others usually include Ruth and Kinhos among the hagiographers and believe that the number of books should be increased by two, for John in the Apocalypse shows the elders who worshiped the Lamb and took the crown, standing before the four living creatures having eyes in front and behind, that is, on the past and the future, and unceasingly exclaiming “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and will be,” among the twenty four. This prologue may be a kind of helmet-bearing beginning of all the books that we translate from Hebrew into Latin, so that we know that everything beyond this should be considered among the apocrypha. Therefore, the Wisdom, which is popularly attributed to Solomon, and the Book of Jesus son of Sirach, and Tobit, and the Shepherd of Hermas are not included in the canon. I found the first Book of Maccabees in Hebrew, the second is written in Greek, which can be proven from jrasin 7 itself. And since this is the case, I beg you, reader, do not consider my work as a condemnation of the ancients. Everyone brings to the tabernacle of God what he can: some bring gold and silver, others bring fine linen and purple, and scarlet, and yahonts; It will be good for us if we bring goat skins and skins. And yet the Apostle considers our despicable offering more necessary. Why is all the beauty of the various parts of the Church, present and future, covered with skins and hair shirts, that is, that which is of the least value covers it from the heat of the sun and harmful dampness. And when you understand something that you did not know before, consider me an interpreter, if you are grateful, or, if not, parajrasthn; although my consciousness firmly tells me that I have not diminished at all from the Jewish truth. Of course, if you don’t believe, then read the Greek and Latin lists and compare them with these little books, and where you see a disagreement, ask one of the Jews, one of those whom you trust most, and if he confirms that we are right, I think you will not consider him a fortuneteller who guessed the same as me. But I also ask you, servants of Christ, who anoint the head of the Lord who reclines with the most precious ointment of faith, who never seek the Savior in the tomb, for whom Christ has already ascended to the Father: put up a shield of your prayers from the barking dogs, who have fiercely opened their mouths against me, who go around the city, considering themselves the most learned in it, when they revile others. Knowing my smallness, I always remember His saying: “I will guard my ways, lest I fall by my tongue; I put a guard over my mouth when the sinner rose up against me; I became silent and humbled and kept silent from the blessings.” If the translation made by the Seventy Interpreters has been preserved in purity, it is unnecessary for you, my Chromatius, most holy and learned of bishops, to ask me to translate the Hebrew books into Latin. For what once filled the ears of men and strengthened the faith of the newborn Church, it would be fair to support with our silence. But now, when many variants wander through different areas, and that genuine translation is distorted and corrupted, you trust our judgment to either choose from the multitude what is true, or to carry out a new work to replace the old one and the mocking Jewish ravens, as they say, “gouge out your eyes” 8. Alexandria and Egypt praise Hesychius as the author of the lists of the Seventy, Constantinople and Antioch accept the lists of the martyr Lucian, and in the Palestinian provinces they read those lists revised by Origen that were distributed by Eusebius and Pamphylius; and so this threefold difference divides the whole world. And of course, Origen did not simply compare the four editions, commenting on each word in the margins, so that one disagreement is immediately exposed by the agreement of all the others; but daring to do more, he mixed in the edition of Theodotion with the edition of the Seventy, marking with asterisks what was missing, and with commas what seemed unnecessarily added. If others do not want to adhere to what was once accepted even after seventy cells, about which the mob chatters for no reason, and in churches they read what the Seventy Interpreters did not know, why do not my Latins accept me, when I have created anew an undamaged old edition, so that I can confirm my work with the testimony of the Jews and, moreover, the Apostles? I recently wrote a book about the best way to translate, pointing out these passages from the Gospel: “Out of Egypt I called My Son,” and “they will look on Him whom they have pierced”; and “for he will be called a Nazarene”; and the Apostle: “Eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him”; and other similar passages that are found in Jewish books. Of course, the Apostles and Evangelists knew the translation of the Seventy interpreters, why do they say what the Seventy do not? Christ our God, the Creator of both Testaments, says in the Gospel of John: “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Of course, what is written, since the Savior affirms it. Where is it written? Seventy do not, the Church does not know the apocrypha; therefore, we must turn to the Jews, with whom both the words of the Lord and the examples given by the Apostles are consistent. With this I say “peace” to the ancients and answer my scolders, who gnaw at me like a dog’s fangs, vilify me publicly, read in corners, at once accusing and defending me; approving in others what they reject in me, as if virtue and vice did not lie in the things themselves, but depended on their creator. In addition, I remember that I once handed over to ours an edition of the Seventy, translated from Greek, and should not be considered an enemy of those whom I always correct in the assembly of brothers. And now, if I translated Debreyamin, i.e. “Words of Days,” he did this in order to make the names spoiled by the scribes, like impassable forest thickets, clearer, revealing their meaning, describing them in poetic form in order, as Ismenius says, “to sing them to oneself and to one’s friends” if the ears of others are deaf. I have not yet decided which is more difficult: to do what you ask, or to refuse you it; for there is no point in refusing you your urgent request, and the enormity of the work entrusted to me is such that it is easier to fall under this burden than to lift it. Immediately the bias of envious people will set in, who consider it necessary to vilify everything that we write; Convicted by their own conscience, they publicly tear apart what they read in secret, forcing me to exclaim: “Lord, free my soul from the lips of the wicked and the tongue of the envious. “For the third year now you have been writing and writing for me to translate the book of Ezra for you from the Hebrew, as if you did not have its Greek and Latin translations, or as if everything that we translate from these books was not immediately subjected to public spitting. “To try in vain,” as someone said, “to labor in order to gain universal hatred is a sign of extreme madness.” Therefore, I pray you, my Domnion and Rogatian, content with reading at home, do not take this book out into public and do not offer tedious food to those who can neither judge nor do anything themselves. If there is any of the brothers who does not turn away from our writings, give them a copy, exhorting them to clearly and separately copy the Hebrew names, of which there is great abundance in this volume. For there is no point in correcting a book if the correction does not preserve the care of the scribes. Let no one be indignant at the fact that we have translated only one book; for among the Jews also the words of Ezra and Nehemiah are compiled into one book; those that they do not have and are not counted among the twenty-four, according to the number of elders, should be discarded. If anyone contrasts you with the Seventy interpreters, of which the most torn and scattered multitude of copies speaks for itself, since what differs from each other cannot be a statement of truth, send them to the Gospel, in which there is much that is taken from the Old Testament and which the Seventy do not have, such as this: “For he will be called a Nazarene,” and: “Out of Egypt I called My Son,” and: “they will look upon him whom they have pierced,” and many other things which we reserve for a more voluminous work; and find out from those where it is written, and when they cannot answer, read to them from those copies that we have recently translated and with which the language of the damned is daily put to shame. But, coming to the end, I will say that what I bring is certainly the most reliable. I published what is not in Greek or what is not as translated by me. Why scold the translator? Let them ask the Jews, and according to the writers themselves, they either give faith to my translation or not. For it is another matter to curse me, as they say, with your eyes closed and not to follow the zeal and well-disposedness of the Greeks, who, after the Seventy Interpreters, already at the radiance of the Gospel of Christ, read with curiosity the Jewish and Ebionite interpreters of the Old Law, Aquila, that is, Symmachus and Theodotion, and dedicated them in the adaptation of Origen to the churches. How much more grateful should the Latins be, seeing that Greece borrows something from them, rejoicing. Firstly, it is possible to acquire all copies only through great expense and endless difficulties; then, those who have them are ignorant of the Hebrew language, and even more so they will wander, not knowing which of this multitude speaks the truth more. This recently happened to the most learned of the Greeks, who, abandoning the meaning of Scripture, followed the error of one of the translators. We speak a little Hebrew, and our knowledge of Latin has not been taken away from us, and we can judge many things from others, and what we understand, we can express. And so, although the viper will hiss, and “the victorious Sinon will throw incendiary fire,” never, thanks to the fact that Christ helps me, will my word be silent, and even the cut tongue will babble. Let those who want to read; whoever doesn't want it, let him throw it away. Let them dismantle the commas, slander the letters; your love will only induce my zeal more strongly than their blasphemy and hatred will oppress me. Greetings to Chromatius and Iliodorus bishops in the Lord! I continue to be amazed at the persistence of your demands. You demand that I translate into Latin a book written in the Chaldean language, namely the book of Tobit, which the Jews, having separated from the list of divine Scriptures, rank among the Hagiographa. I did as you wish, but without desire. For the learned Jews denounce us, accusing us of conveying into the ears of the Latins what they do not have in the canon. But considering that it was better to despise the court of the Pharisees and satisfy the demands of the bishops, I decided to work as hard as I could, and since the Chaldean language is close to the Hebrew, I found a man very knowledgeable in both dialects, devoted one day to this work, and what he conveyed to me in Hebrew, having invited a scribe, expressed in Latin. May your prayers be my payment for this work, which you have deigned to demand from me and which I gratefully offer to you. Among the Jews, the Book of Judith is read among Hagiographers; its authority is very low when resolving controversial issues. Nevertheless, written in the Chaldean language, this book is considered historical. But since they write that this book was included among the Holy Scriptures by the Council of Nicea, I agreed to fulfill your request, or even torture, and, putting aside my studies, with which I was greatly overwhelmed, I devoted one sleepless night to it, translating it more according to the meaning than word for word. I discarded many extremely corrupt lists and translated into Latin only those in which I could find meaningful content. Receive the widow Judith, a model of chastity, and herald her with eternal solemn praise. She was made worthy of imitation not only by wives, but also by husbands, by the One who, as reward for her chastity, gave her such strength to defeat the undefeated by any of the husbands and overcome the insurmountable. The Book of Esther has clearly been corrupted by various translators. Taking it out of the Jewish archives, I translated it as word for word as possible. Its widespread edition 9 shows traces of multiple additions, similar to those usually invented by scholars when presenting a given topic, such as, for example, what words could be used to express the one who caused the offense or the one who suffered it. But you, O Paula and Eustochius, since you diligently strive to penetrate the Jewish book depositories and support the competition of translators, holding the Hebrew book of Esther, examine every word in our translation in order to see that I have not multiplied anything by adding, but have translated the Jewish history into Latin as it is written in Hebrew. We do not strive for human praise and are not afraid of blasphemy. Trying to please God, we are not at all afraid of human threats, “for God will scatter the bones of those who want to please people” and, according to the Apostle’s word, “cannot be servants of Christ.” NB: After 10, 3 in the text of the translation it says: “What is in the Hebrew, I have stated here with complete sincerity. What follows I found in a common edition, in Greek and in Greek writing, and yet at the end of the book this chapter is attached, which we, as is our custom, mark with a tick.” Then, after the last, 5th, verse of the 12th chapter: “Hitherto an introduction. We found what follows only in a common (vulgata) book, where it is written: “And they plundered their goods or property.” I am forced to answer for every book of the divine Scripture to my opponents, who charge my translations with contempt for the Seventy Interpreters, as if the Greeks did not translate Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, sometimes literally, sometimes according to the meaning, when combining both of these types of translation, and as if Origen did not divide the entire body of the Old Testimony by white and asterisk, adding either from himself or from Theodotion to the old text, indicating that this had not happened before. Therefore, let my persecutors learn to accept in full everything that they accepted in parts, or let them scratch my translation with their asterisks. For it cannot be that, having accepted many insertions, one should not admit that in other places these insertions are erroneous, especially in the book of Job, from which a large part will disappear if everything marked with an asterisk is taken away. This is exactly how things are with the Greeks. Moreover, the Latins already had seventy or eighty verses published before we recently published the translation under asterisk and obel, and this book, cut, torn, mutilated, reveals its ugliness to those who read it publicly. In this translation, I do not follow any of the ancient interpreters, but the Hebrew, Arabic, and sometimes Syriac language, where literally, where in meaning, where by harmonizing both. For among the Jews this book is considered unclear and doubtful, what the Greek rhetoricians call εσχηματίσμεηoζ, that is, when one thing is said and another is done, as when you want to hold an eel or a small moray eel with your hands, but the harder you squeeze them, the faster they will jump out. I remember that in order to understand this book, I hired for money a teacher from the Jews, who was revered among them as one of the first; and I don’t know how much I gained from his teachings, but I know one thing, that I could not translate what I had not learned. From the beginning of the volume to the words of Job, the Hebrew narrative is told in prose. Further from the words of Job to the very end of the book, where it says “Therefore I reproach myself and bear repentance in ashes and dust” - a hexameter, combined with dactyl and spondee, as well as with other meters due to the peculiarities of the language, differing in the number of syllables, but not in their length. This gives a special sweet and sonorous rhythm, understandable more to connoisseurs of the laws of versification than to a simple reader. The small remainder from the above-mentioned verse to the very end of the book is presented in prose. If this seems incredible to anyone, namely, that among the Jews, in the manner of our Flaccus or the Greek Pindar, Alcaeus and Sappho, the Psalms and Lamentations of Jeremiah and all the hymns of the Scriptures in general are set out in poetic meter, let him read Philo, Josephus, Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea and, on the basis of their testimony, be convinced that I am telling the truth. Let my dogs hear that I worked on this volume not as a reproach to the ancient translation, but in order to make clearer in ours what was obscure in the ancients, or omitted, or spoiled by the translators; because we studied the Hebrew language and studied Latin speech from the very beginning, communicating with grammarians, rhetoricians and philosophers. If the Greeks, already after the publication of the Seventy, already at the radiance of the Gospel of Christ, accepted the Jew Aquila and the Judaizing heretics Symmachus and Theodotion, who covered up many of the secrets of the Savior with a crafty interpretation, and moreover, in the churches there are exaploiV, which are explained by the clergy; Moreover, I, a Christian, the son of Christian parents, bearing the sign of the cross on my forehead, zealous for the restoration of what was lost, the correction of what was damaged, and for the presentation of the sacraments of the Church in pure and faithful language, will not be condemned by arrogant and crafty readers. Let anyone who wants to keep old books written on purple parchment in gold and silver letters rather for the sake of the burden of the so-called uncial letters, rather than for the sake of the books themselves, and let me and those who are with me have poor leaves of books that are not as beautiful as they are correctly corrected. Both editions: the Seventy on the Greeks, and mine on the Jews, were translated into Latin by my works. Let everyone choose what he wants, thereby showing his zeal rather than ill will. I improved the Psalter, which had long been known in Rome, and, according to the Seventy Interpreters, I corrected it, albeit hastily, in many places. If you, O Paula and Eustochius, again see that what has been corrupted by copyists and the errors of the ancients is valued more highly than what has been newly corrected, imagine that I labored over the already plowed virgin soil and pulled out the thorns that had grown in the uneven furrows, because you rightly say that bad plants should be pulled out more often, the faster they grow. Therefore, I exhort you in the usual preface, even if this work complicates you, and everyone who wants to have these copies, to diligently and carefully rewrite what I have carefully corrected. Let everyone mark a horizontal line and an asterisk, i.e. asterisk and obel, and where he sees a comma in front of the word, let him know that from it to the colon we put there is less than in this place by the Seventy Interpreters; where he sees the likeness of an asterisk, let him know that here he has added from the Hebrew books up to the colon, in accordance with the edition of Theodotion, which does not differ in the simplicity of the language from the Seventy Interpreters. Knowing everything that I have done diligently, as well as you, for whom I did it, I have no doubt that there will be many who, out of envy or arrogance, “prefer to despise the beautiful than to know” and drink from a troubled river rather than from a pure source. Eusebius Jerome to his Sophronius - rejoice! I know that many people think that the Psalter is divided into five books, so that wherever the Seventy interpreters say genoito genoito, that is, let it be, be it, the book ends, for which reason in Hebrew it is read Amen, Amen. We follow the authority of the Jews and especially the Apostles, who in the New Testament always talk about the Book of Psalms and claim that this book is one. The authors of all the psalms are named in their titles, i.e. David, Asaph, Jedithun, the sons of Korah, Eman the Israelite, Moses, Solomon and others, and we testify that Ezra included all of them in one scroll. If the Amen, which Aquila translated as pepistomenoV 10, is placed at the end of the books, and not at the beginning or at the end of the sentence, then does not the Savior say: “Amen, Amen, I say to you,” and in Paul’s epistles this occurs in the middle of the text, and in Moses and Jeremiah in many books the “Amen” is often inserted in the middle of the scroll, and yet these books are numbered among the mysterious number of twenty-two Hebrew books. Even the very name in Hebrew, Sefar Fallim, which is translated as the Book of Hymns, according to apostolic authority, reveals not several books, but only one. Recently, arguing with a certain Jew about the Lord Savior, you cited evidence from the Psalms; he, wanting to ridicule you, asserted about every word that in Hebrew it is not at all what you give in the Seventy, and you most earnestly ask me, after Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, to translate everything again into Latin. You say that the abundance of translations rather confuses you, and being persuaded by love, you are very pleased with my translations and judgments. Therefore, forced by you, to whom I cannot refuse anything, I again surrender myself to my persecutors, deciding to seek strength from you rather than self-will in friendship. I will confidently and sincerely say, calling many as witnesses, that I know for sure that I have not changed anything in the true Jewish text. If my edition differs from the old ones, ask one of the Jews, and you will see that in vain I am tormented by zealots, “who prefer to despise the beautiful than to know,” the most corrupt of people. For if they are always looking for new pleasures and their gluttony is not enough for the sea, why are they content with only the same old pleasure that they get from studying the Scriptures? I say this not to bite my predecessors, or because I consider anything worthy of reproach from those whose translation I once corrected with all care and made available to the people of my language; but because in the churches that believe in Christ, the Psalms are the same, and the Jews, slandering, quote every word completely differently. If you translate this book of mine into Greek, as you promise, antijiloneikwn toiV diasupousin 11, and you want to make very learned men witnesses of my ignorance, I will tell you in the words of Horace: “Do not carry firewood into the forest.” Unless this will give me consolation in the knowledge that we will share common labor and common reproach. I wish you good health in the Lord and remember me. Chromatius and Iliodorus to the bishops - Jerome. The letter united those united in the priesthood, and paper does not separate those whom Christ's love has united. You ask for commentary on Hosea, Amos, Zechariah and Malachi; If I get the chance, I’ll write. You sent financial assistance for scribes and booksellers, so that our minds could especially work for you. And now I am surrounded by a crowd of persistently begging people, as if it were fair to work for others while you are thirsty, or as if I owed anything to anyone other than you. Therefore, after a long illness, so as not to prolong my silence for a whole year, I dedicated to you the fruit of three days’ work, namely the translation of the three books of Solomon, namely: Oil, which the Jews call Proverbs, and the popular edition among us - Proverbs; Kohelet, who in Greek we can call Ecclesiastes, and in ours - Public Orator; Siriassim, which is translated into our language as the Song of Songs. They also enclose the 12 Book of Jesus, son of Sirach, and the 13 Book of the supposed Wisdom of Solomon. The first of them I found in Hebrew, under the name Proverbs, and not Ecclesiasticus, as in the Latins 14; Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs were added to it, so that the semblance of Solomon's authorship was preserved not only in the number of books, but also in the very subject of their content. The Jews do not have a second book at all, and its very style smacks of Greek eloquence, and some of the ancient writers call it the author of the Jew Philo. Consequently, just as the Church reads the books of Judith, Tobit and the Maccabees, which are not found among the canonical ones, so let her read these two for the edification of the crowd, but not for the establishment of church dogmas. If anyone likes the edition of the Seventy more, then there is one that we recently corrected, for we are not creating a new one in order to destroy the old. And yet, reading with special care, let him understand ours as best as possible, for we do not pour wine three times from vessel to vessel, but serve it, still retaining the freshness of the taste just from the press. Let no one be surprised to see that the Prophets express themselves in verse, and do not think that the Jews observed poetic meters, as well as in the Books of Psalms and Solomon; but what is usually observed in Demosthenes and Tullius, who spoke in prose, but were written in columns and commas 15, we applied here for the first time for the convenience of readers. The first thing to know about Isaiah is that he is very skilled in speech, like a noble man, refined and refined, not mixing anything simple into his speech. Hence the impossibility of preserving in translation other flowers of his eloquence. Then it should be added that he should be called not so much a prophet as an evangelist. He explored the mysteries of Christ and His Church so subtly that one might think that he did not foresee the future, but was compiling the history of the past. This is why I assume that at one time the Seventy Interpreters did not want to clearly reveal the secrets of their faith to the pagans, so as not to give sacred things to dogs and pearls to pigs, making them hidden, as I noted while reading this publication. I know well the difficulty it takes to understand the Prophets, and how difficult it is for anyone to judge a translation if he has not first understood what he read, and also how much we have to endure the stings of many whom envy prompts to despise what they themselves cannot do. Therefore, knowing that, being careful, I put my hand into the fire, and yet I ask those who annoy me: just as the Greeks read the work of the Seventy interpreters along with the translations of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, either out of diligence in the teaching, or in order to better understand the Seventy interpreters from these additions, so let them deign to read one more translation, in addition to the many previous ones. Let them first read, and then despise, so as not to be condemned not out of reason, but out of prejudice and hatred, what they do not know. Isaiah preached in Jerusalem and Judea, at a time when the ten tribes had not yet been taken into captivity, composing a narrative about both kingdoms together, then about each separately. And while talking about contemporary events and foreshadowing the return of the people after the Babylonian captivity to Judea, he is primarily concerned about the calling of the pagans and the coming of Christ. But you, O Paula and Eustochius, the more you love Him, the more strongly you ask Him, for the sake of the present reproaches with which the zealots constantly torment me, to give me greater reward in the future, for He knows that I worked, studying a foreign language in order that the Jews would no longer insult His Church, accusing the Scriptures kept in it of falsity. The Prophet Jeremiah, to whom this prologue is being written, is considered by the Jews to be simpler in style than Isaiah, Hosea and some other prophets, but equal to them in content, for he prophesied by the same Spirit. He owes the simplicity of his expressions to his native places. He was from Anathoth, now a village three miles from Jerusalem, a priest from a priestly family, and being sanctified in his mother’s womb, he dedicated his virginity, like an evangelical man, to the Church of Christ. Here the youth began to prophesy and saw the captivity of the people and Judea not only with spiritual, but also with carnal eyes. Already ten tribes of Israel were resettled in Media, their lands already belonged to pagan colonies. He predicted the same thing to Judah and Benjamin, and mourned the destruction of his city, repeating the alphabetical order four times in the first letters of the lines, which we convey in poetic meter. In addition, we have brought into original order the visions presented in an extremely confused way by the Greeks and Latins. We omitted the book of Baruch, his scribe, which is not read and is not kept by the Jews, readily expecting because of this the curses of the zealots, to whom we must respond in separate works. And I tolerate it since you force me. However, it would be more correct to respond to their evil fury with silence rather than arouse the unreasonableness of envious people, who search in abundance every day for something new. The prophet Ezekiel, together with the king of Judah, Jehoiakim, was taken captive to Babylon and there he prophesied to his fellow captives, who repented of trusting the opponents of Jeremiah’s prophecy, and the city of Jerusalem, which was about to fall, was seen as if standing indestructible. In the thirtieth year from birth and in the fifth from captivity, he began to prophesy to his fellow tribesmen. Although he was younger, he prophesied in Chaldea at the same time as Jeremiah in Judah. His speech is not very refined, but also not common, but moderate in both. He, like Jeremiah, was a priest; the beginning and end of his writings are quite dark and difficult. Its generally accepted editions are not very far from the Hebrew original. What surprises me is how, since all the books were translated by the same translators, in some places we read one thing, in others – something else. Read this translation of ours, which, being written in poetic lines and in size, makes the meaning more accessible to readers. If my friends even laugh at this, tell them that no one forced them to write. But I’m afraid that they won’t turn out to be what in Greek is more accurately called jagoloidoroi 16 . The Prophet Daniel in the churches of the Lord Jesus is not read according to the Seventy Interpreters, but they use the edition of Theodotion, and I don’t know why this happened. Either because the Seventy did not want to preserve in translation what was written in the Chaldean language, and differs in the properties of this language, or this book is only inscribed as their work, and the translation belongs to an unknown person, ignorant of Chaldean, or for some other reason, but I can only say one thing, that it is very far from the true text and is quite rightly rejected. It should be known that Daniel especially, like Ezra, as well as one pericope of Jeremiah, are written in Hebrew letters, but in the Chaldean language; Job's language has much in common with Arabic. In my early youth, after studying Quintilian and Tullius and the beauties of rhetoric, I finally enclosed myself in the quarry of this language and with many sweats over a long time I began to master the pronunciation of words with an aspiration and a whistle, and, as if wandering in a dungeon with a barely visible light overhead, I last of all took up Daniel, and such despair seized me that I already wanted to abandon this work. But thanks to the admonitions of one Jew, who often inspired me in his own language: “Insatiable work conquers everything,” and who seemed to me the most knowledgeable among the others, I again began to study Chaldean. And I confess in truth, to this day I can read and understand Chaldean more easily than I can speak. This was told in order to show you the difficulty of Daniel, which among the Jews does not contain either the story of Susanna, or the song of the three youths, or the fables of Bel and the dragon, which we, since they are widespread throughout the world, have placed, crossed out in front, so that the ignorant would not think that we have cut off most of the book. I heard one of the Jewish teachers ridicule the story of Susanna, saying that it was composed by some unknown Greek, repeating the objection to Origen of a certain African: etumologiaV apo tou scinou scisai apo tou prinou prisai 17. In the same way we could give the following interpretation: from the name of the oak (ilex) it is said “therefore you will perish” (ilico pereas) or from the olive tree (lentiscum) “an angel will turn you into oil” or “you will immediately (non lente) perish”, or “soft (lentus), that is, you will be humbly led to death,” or something else similar, similar to the names of trees. Then he also ridiculed the fact that the youths in the oven, as if they had nothing else to do, rejoice and call on all the elements of the world in order to praise God, or the supposed miracle of divine inspiration in killing a dragon with a piece of resin or in exposing the machinations of the priests of Vila, which shows much more intelligence from everyday experience. When he reached Habakkuk and read aloud about the dish transferred from Judea to Chaldea, he began to look for an example in all the books of the Old Testament, which would talk about one of the saints who flew physically and overcame such a great distance at the same time. When one of our people quickly gave him the example of Ezekiel, saying that he was transferred from Chaldea to Judea, he ridiculed the speaker and immediately proved from the book that Ezekiel saw himself transferred in spirit. Finally, our Apostle, although a knowledgeable man and learned in the Law from the Jews, according to him, did not dare to assert that he was lifted up bodily, but says: “Either in the body or outside the body, God knows.” With these and similar arguments he exposed the apocryphal nature of the church publication. Leaving this to the reader's judgment, I note that among the Jews Daniel is not considered among the prophets, but among the writers of hagiographies. For among them the Scripture is divided into three parts: the Law, the Prophets and the Hagiographs, that is, five, eight and eleven books; which we will not discuss now. What Porfiry argued against this prophet was witnessed by Methodius, Eusebius, Apollinaris, who refuted his nonsense in thousands of verses, but I don’t know whether they pleased the inquisitive reader. Therefore, I pray to you, O Paul and Eustochius, pour out prayers to the Lord for me, so that while I am still in this little body, I may be able to write for you something useful to the Church, worthy of posterity. For I am not very interested in the judgments of my contemporaries, who rush from extreme love to extreme hatred. 16. To the Books of the Minor Prophets Our order of the Twelve Prophets does not coincide with the Jewish one. Therefore, here they stand in accordance with how they read. Hosea is short and concise, and expresses his words as if in maxims. Joel is clear at first, darker towards the end. And each has its own characteristics up to Malachi, all together for the Jews proclaim the scribe and teacher of the law Ezra. And since it is too long to talk about everyone now, I want you, O Paul and Eustochius, to know that there is one book of the Twelve Prophets, and Hosea suncronon 18 to Isaiah, Malachi was during the time of Haggai and Zechariah. Therefore, their time is not specifically indicated in the title, for they prophesied under the same kings as those prophets whose time is indicated. Translation from Latin according to the edition: Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem. Stuttgart. 1994. From the Preface to the 1st edition of the Stuttgart Vulgate (1969) In its current meaning, the expression editio vulgata means: a Latin translation commonly used in the Latin Church since the 7th century. This is not the work of a single author, created in a certain period of time, but, on the contrary, a whole collection of translations, very different in their origin and quality. The Vulgate Old Testament includes, along with books translated by Bl. Jerome directly from the Hebrew language and constituting the largest part of it, one book, the Psalter, the text of which is the old Latin version, revised by the holy teacher according to the Greek text of Origen's hexaples, as well as the Wisdom of Solomon, Icus, the son of Sirach, Baruch, the Maccabees, which preserve a more or less corrupted text of the ancient Latin versions, to which Bl. Jerome did not touch at all. The main text of the New Testament belongs to the ancient Latin version, one way or another, however, revised later from the Greek text, a little hastily in the Gospels, much more carefully in other books, while the identity of the editor of each book or group of books is not established, except for the text of the Gospels, the work of which was bl. Jerome is beyond doubt. Thus, the Vulgate is a rather heterogeneous complex, which can be attributed to Bl. Jerome can only be interpreted very broadly, as the main of his authors. The text of the Vulgate has come down to us in many manuscripts. The numerous variations reflect the shortcomings of a living and constantly updated text. Italy, Spain, Gaul, Ireland, in the end, all have their own versions, which differ quite significantly from each other. During the time of Charlemagne, Theodulf of Orléans undertook the revision of the Latin Bible, which has come down to us in several manuscripts. Other, more numerous manuscripts are associated with the name of Alcuin, which is why their significance was great in subsequent times. The text that served for the printed edition of princeps, on which all subsequent ones directly depend, goes back to Sixto-Clementine, adopted only in the 13th century. University of Paris and leaves much to be desired. This edition includes all the books of the Bible that are available in the Roman edition of 1592, printed at the behest of Pope Clement VIII, including the Prayer of Manasseh, and the 3rd and 4th Books of Esdras, given in the appendix. We have only added, also in the appendix, the 151st Psalm and the Epistle to the Laodiceans. Desiderius – (Latin) “desired”, “one whose absence causes melancholy, suffering.” Nenias – (lat. lit.) “sorrowful chants.” Cicero (by family name: Marcus Tullius Cicero). “Hexaples” (Greek lit. “unrolled scroll”) - edition of the Old Testament produced by Origen. A Latin proverb referring to the usual extreme caution and intelligence of crows. This name remains to this day for this book in Western Christian use. A special rhythmic technique of ancient recording of literary texts. “The olive tree (scinoV) is split into two (scishV), and the oak (prinoV) is sawn (pristoV).