Jerome's Sources in His Translation of the Hebrew Bible

<p class=ql-align-justify><span>At the close of the fourth century CE Jerome of Stridon-renowned Latin scholar theologian and priest-undertook the monumental task of translating the Hebrew-Aramaic Bible into Latin. The result of this effort now known as the Vulgate has long been regarded as a foundational text of Western Christianity. In this volume Paul Rodrigue investigates the sources that Jerome may have drawn upon in the process of translation.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span>Far from being just a rendering of the Hebrew-Aramaic Bible the Vulgate emerges as a layered and multifaceted translation shaped not only by the Hebrew-Aramaic text but also by a broad array of additional sources. Through a series of carefully chosen case studies Rodrigue analyses a number of verses from the Joseph narrative in Genesis as well as from Daniel and Esther. Each Vulgate passage is meticulously compared with its equivalents in the Hebrew-Aramaic Bible the Septuagint the Latin translations of the Septuagint the Greek versions of Aquila Symmachus and Theodotion and-where applicable-the Targumim and rabbinic writings.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span>This comparative approach reveals Jerome's engagement with texts in four languages-Hebrew Aramaic Greek and Latin-and highlights his responses to both Jewish and Christian exegetical traditions. Importantly the selected translations span Jerome's career as a translator of the Hebrew-Aramaic Bible: Daniel at its outset (392-393) Genesis mid-career (late 390s) and Esther at its close (404-405). As such Rodrigue's analysis offers a chronologically nuanced study of Jerome's evolving translation method (sensus de sensu) providing invaluable insight for scholars of biblical studies late antiquity translation theory and the transmission of sacred texts.</span></p><p></p>