VERSIONS
Translations of the Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek into other tongues. Translation work has made the Word of God available to hundreds of millions of persons unable to understand the original Biblical languages. The early versions of the Scriptures were handwritten and were therefore in the form of manuscripts. However, since the advent of the printing press many additional versions or translations have appeared and these have generally been published in great quantities. Some versions have been prepared directly from Hebrew and Greek Bible texts, whereas others are versions of earlier translations.
The Scriptures have been published, in whole or in part, in more than 1,400 languages. From the standpoint of language coverage, this means that 97 percent of the earth’s population would have access to at least some part of the Bible. An account of versions or translations of the Scriptures will be enlightening and will engender gratitude to Jehovah God for the wonderful way in which he has preserved his Word for the benefit of mankind’s millions.
ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
Extant today are over 1,700 ancient manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures, written in Hebrew (with the exception of a few Aramaic sections). Extant also are many manuscripts of old versions or translations of the Hebrew Scriptures in various languages. Some versions were in themselves translations of earlier versions from the Hebrew. For instance, the Hebrew Scripture portion of the Old Latin version was rendered from the Septuagint Version, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, some ancient versions of the pre-Christian Scriptures (the Septuagint Version, Aramaic Targums, the Syriac Peshitta Version and in the Latin Vulgate) were made directly from the Hebrew and not through the medium of a version in Greek or some other language.
Samaritan “Pentateuch”
After the deportation of inhabitants of Samaria and the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel by Assyria in 740 B.C.E., pagans from other territories of the Assyrian Empire were settled there by Assyria. (2 Ki. 17:22-33) In time they came to be called “Samaritans.” They accepted the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures and in about the fourth century B.C.E. they produced the Samaritan Pentateuch, not really a translation of the original Hebrew Pentateuch, but a transliteration of its text into Samaritan characters, mixed with Samaritan idioms. Few of the extant manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch are older than the thirteenth century C.E. Of about 6,000 differences between the Samaritan and the Hebrew texts, by far the majority are unimportant. One variation of interest appears at Exodus 12:40, where the Samaritan Pentateuch corresponds to the Septuagint.—See CHRONOLOGY, page 335.
Targums
The “Targums” were free translations or paraphrases of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic. They likely assumed their present final form no earlier than about the fifth century C.E. One of the principal Targums, the “Targum of Onkelos” on the Pentateuch, is rather literal. Another, the so-called “Targum of Jonathan” for the Prophets, is less literal, being a paraphrase on the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the twelve so-called “Minor Prophets.” Extant today are Targums on the Pentateuch, the Prophets and, of later date, the Hagiographa.
“Septuagint Version”
The Septuagint Version (often designated LXX) was used by Greek-speaking Jews and Christians in Egypt and elsewhere. Reportedly, work on it commenced in Egypt in the days of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.E.), when, according to tradition, the Pentateuch thereof was translated into Greek by seventy-two Jewish scholars. Later, the number seventy somehow came to be used, and the version of the Pentateuch was referred to as the Septuagint, meaning “Seventy.” The other books of the Hebrew Scriptures (by various translators whose style varied from quite literal to rather free rendition) were gradually added until translation of the entire Hebrew Scriptures had finally been completed during the second century B.C.E. and perhaps by 150 B.C.E. Thereafter the entire work came to be known as the Septuagint. This version is often quoted by writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Apocryphal writings were evidently inserted in the Septuagint Version sometime after it was first completed.—See APOCRYPHA.
One of the oldest extant manuscripts of the Septuagint Version is Papyrus 957, the Rylands Papyrus iii. 458, preserved in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, England. It is of the second century B.C.E. and consists of fragments of Deuteronomy (23:24–24:3; 25:1-3; 26:12, 17-19; 28:31-33). Also of the second century B.C.E. is Chester Beatty Papyrus No. 6, consisting of the Septuagint Version of portions of Numbers and Deuteronomy. Another manuscript, of the second or first century B.C.E., is Papyrus Fouad 266 (possessed by the Société Royale de Papyrologie du Caire), containing parts of the second half of Deuteronomy according to the Septuagint Version. In various places therein the Tetragrammaton (YHWH in English) of the divine name is found in a form of Old Hebrew characters right within the Greek script.—See JEHOVAH, page 886.
The Septuagint Version has thus been preserved in numerous manuscripts, many fragmentary, others fairly complete. Notably, the Septuagint Version texts are preserved in the three famous uncial manuscripts written on vellum, the Vatican Manuscript No. 1209 and the Sinaitic Manuscript, both of the fourth century C.E., and the Alexandrine Manuscript of the fifth century C.E. The Septuagint Version as found in the Vatican Manuscript No. 1209 is almost complete; much of that in the Sinaitic Manuscript has been lost and that in the Alexandrine Manuscript is rather complete, though lacking parts of Genesis, First Samuel and Psalms.
Later Greek versions
Early in the second century (perhaps about 130 C.E.) Aquila, a Jewish proselyte of Pontus, made a new and very literal Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Except for fragments and quotations thereof by early writers, it has perished. Another Greek translation of the same century was produced by Theodotion. His was apparently a revision of the Septuagint Version or some other Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures, though he considered the Hebrew text itself. No complete copy of Theodotion’s version is extant. Another Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures of which no complete copy is extant was that of Symmachus. His rendition, probably translated late in the second century C.E., endeavored to convey the right sense rather than to be literal.
About 245 C.E. Origen, the noted scholar of Alexandria, Egypt, completed a mammoth multiple version of the Hebrew Scriptures called the Hexapla (which means “sixfold”). Though fragments of it are extant, no complete manuscript copy has survived. Origen arranged the text in six parallel columns containing (1) the consonantal Hebrew text; (2) a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew text; (3) Aquila’s Greek version; (4) Symmachus’ Greek version; (5) the Septuagint, revised by Origen to correspond more exactly with the Hebrew text; and (6) Theodotion’s Greek version. In the Psalms, Origen used anonymous versions he termed Quinta, Sexta and Septima. The Quinta and Sexta were also employed in other books.
ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN GREEK SCRIPTURES
Translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures into Syriac (an Aramaic dialect) were produced from the second century onward. A Syriac version of particular note is Tatian’s Diatessaron, a Gospel harmony of the second century C.E. It may have been written originally at Rome in Greek and later translated into Syriac in Syria by Tatian himself, but that is uncertain. The Diatessaron is extant today in an Arabic translation, in addition to a small third-century vellum fragment in Greek and an Armenian translation of a fourth-century commentary on it containing lengthy quotations from its text.
Only incomplete manuscripts of an Old Syriac version of the Gospels (a translation other than the Diatessaron) are extant, the Curetonian and the Sinaitic Syriac Gospels. Though these manuscripts were probably copied in the fifth century, they likely represent an older Syriac text. The original version may have been made from the Greek about 200 C.E. Quite likely, Old Syriac renditions of other books of the Christian Greek Scriptures once existed, but there are no extant manuscripts thereof. All books of the Christian Greek Scriptures except Second Peter, Second and Third John, Jude and Revelation were included in the Syriac Peshitta Version of the fifth century. In about 508 C.E. Philoxenus, bishop of Hierapolis, had Polycarp make a revision of the Peshitta Christian Scriptures, and this was the first time Second Peter, Second and Third John, Jude and Revelation were added to a Syriac version.
The Christian Greek Scriptures had already been translated into Latin by the end of the second century C.E. They were also available in Egyptian by about the middle of the third century.
ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE
The Syriac Peshitta Version of Syriac-speaking people professing Christianity was in general use from the fifth century C.E. onward. The name “Peshitta” means “simple.” The Hebrew Scripture portion was basically a translation from the Hebrew, probably made during the second or third century C.E., though a later revision involved comparison with the Septuagint. Numerous Peshitta manuscripts are extant, the most valuable being a sixth- or seventh-century codex preserved at the Ambrosian Library in Milan, Italy. One Peshitta manuscript of the Pentateuch (lacking Leviticus) has a date corresponding with 464 C.E., making it the oldest dated Bible manuscript in any tongue.
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 Septuagint Version (not yet revised by Origen), but the Christian Scriptures were rendered from Greek. Various translations may have been made, or at least a number of translators worked on the Old Latin version. Scholars sometimes refer to three basic types of Old Latin text: the African, the European and the Italian. No complete manuscripts are extant; only about thirty fragments.
Latin “Vulgate”
The Latin Vulgate (Vulgata Latina) is a version of the entire Bible by the foremost Biblical scholar of that time, Eusebius Hieronymus, otherwise known as Jerome. He first undertook a revision of the Old Latin version of the Christian Scriptures in comparison with the Greek text, commencing with the Gospels, published in 383 C.E. Between about 384 and 390 he made two revisions of the Old Latin Psalms, in comparison with the Septuagint Version, the first called the Roman Psalter and the second the Gallican Psalter, due to their adoption first in Rome and Gaul. Jerome also translated the Psalms directly from Hebrew, this work being called the Hebrew Psalter. Just when he completed his revision of the Old Latin Christian Scriptures is uncertain. He began to revise the Hebrew Scripture portion, but apparently never completed such a revision, preferring to translate directly from Hebrew (though also referring to Greek versions). Jerome labored on his Latin translation from the Hebrew from about 390 to 405 C.E.
Jerome’s version was originally received with general hostility and only gradually did it gain wide approval. With its later general acceptance in western Europe, it came to be called the Vulgate, denoting a commonly received version (the Latin vulgatus meaning “common, that which is popular”). Jerome’s original translation underwent revisions, the Roman Catholic Church making that of 1592 its standard edition. Thousands of Vulgate manuscripts are extant today.
Other ancient versions
As Christianity spread, other ancient versions were required. At least by the third century C.E. the first translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures had been made for the Coptic natives of Egypt. Different Coptic dialects were used in different areas of Egypt, and in time various Coptic versions were produced. The most important are the Thebaic or Sahidic Version of Upper Egypt (in the S) and the Bohairic Version of Lower Egypt (in the N). These versions containing both the Hebrew and Christian Greek Scriptures were probably produced in the third and fourth centuries C.E.
The Gothic version was produced for the Goths during the fourth century C.E. while they were settled in Moesia (Serbia and Bulgaria). Missing from it are the books of Samuel and Kings, reportedly deleted because Bishop Ulfilas, who made the translation, thought it would be dangerous to include for use by the Goths these books that consider warfare and that contain information against idolatry.
The Armenian version of the Bible dates from the fourth and fifth centuries C.E. and was probably prepared from both Greek and Syriac texts. The Georgian version, made for the Georgians in the Caucasus, was completed toward the end of the sixth century C.E. and, while revealing Greek influence, has an Armenian and Syriac basis. The Ethiopic version, used by the Abyssinians, was produced perhaps about the fourth or fifth century C.E. There are several old Arabic versions of the Scriptures. Translations of parts of the Bible into Arabic may date from as early as the seventh century C.E., but the earliest record is that of a version made in Spain in 724 C.E. The Slavonic version was made in the ninth century C.E. and has been attributed to two brothers, Cyril and Methodius.
For further details, see MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE; the book “All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,” pages 298-330.