Jerome’s Sources in His Translation of the Hebrew Bible

Jerome’s Sources in His Translation of the Hebrew Bible

Paul Rodrigue (author)

 

• Semitic Languages and Cultures vol. 38
• ISSN Print: 2632-6906
• ISSN Digital: 2632-6914

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.

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.

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.

 

DOI

https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0474

License

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Copyright

Paul Rodrigue;

Published On

2025-08-20

ISBN

Paperback978-1-80511-637-0

Hardback978-1-80511-638-7

PDF978-1-80511-639-4

Language

• English

Print Length

368 pages (xviii+350)

Dimensions

Paperback156 x 20 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.79" x 9.21")

Hardback156 x 22 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.87" x 9.21")

Weight

Paperback524g (18.48oz)

Hardback701g (24.73oz)

OCLC Number

1534046954

 

Contents

1. Introduction

(pp. 1–106)

• Paul Rodrigue

2. The Translation of the Joseph Story (Gen 37–50)

(pp. 107–154)

• Paul Rodrigue

3. The Translation of the Book of Daniel

(pp. 155–240)

• Paul Rodrigue

4. The Translation of the Book of Esther

(pp. 241–308)

• Paul Rodrigue

5. Conclusion

(pp. 309–314)

• Paul Rodrigue