03/29/05

The Ancient Versions and Text

The Septuagint

A translation of the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, make at Alexandria about 250 B.C.

The Samaritan Pentateuch

Not strictly speaking a version, but the Hebrew text perpetuated in Samaritan characters.

The Peshitta or Syriac

The whole Bible, date uncertain, (first or second century?), a translation into the common language of certain parts of Syria.

The Vulgate

The entire Bible translated into Latin, by Jerome of Bethlehem.  Completed about 400 A.D. and for a 1000 years this was the standard Bible in the Roman Catholic church.

The Mosoretic Text

An authoritive edition of the Hebrew scripture (Old Testament) developed by Jewish scholars from 500-950 A.D., in which vowel points were first introduced into the consonantal (consonants only) Hebrew Text.