are there any major differences between the latin vulgate and the various greek texts?

Question

Is the vulgate regarded as more authentic, and if so, why?

Answer 1

The New Testament books were written in Greek. The Vulgate is a Latin translation made about 350 years after the New Testament books were written.

While there are no major differences as the text (same books, same chapters and verses) any time you translate from one language to another, you introduce some errors. No Latin word can convey all the same meanings as the Greek word it replaces. Some subtle meaning may be lost by the translation, or some unintended meaning may be introduced.

A classic example is Jesus commandment to "Love your fellow man". That verse is sometimes used to justify homosexuality because the English word for "love" can mean "sex". But the Greek word (agape) always means a non-sexual "love". In the translation a shade of meaning is lost ("non-sexual") and another ("sexual") introduced.

So the Vulgate is going to be a less accurate version of scripture then the original Greek. At the same time, because Latin is a more common language that Koine Greek was, the Vulgate can be used to help in understanding some verses where the Greek is unclear.

The major difference in the Vulgate is in the Old Testament which was originally written in Hebrew. There is a 400 year gap between the ending of the Hebrew Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. Several writings appeared in Greek (not Hebrew) which were accepted by some Jewish cults as "scripture". They cover a rebellion against the Greeks which happened shortly after the time of Alexander the Great.

A Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures appeared shortly after that which includes seven of those non-Hebrew writings. When the Vulgate was made around 400AD, rather then go back to the Hebrew scriputres, the translation was made from the Greek version of the Old Testament. So the Vulgate included those seven Greek books. However even the original translators questions their inclusion (since they were not part of the original Hebrew scriptures) and printed a version in which they were collected into a separate section between the the Old and New Testament. At no time as an Christian church or council official recognized those books as part of the Christian scriputres.

So, while the Vulgate is regarded as a good translation, it was made close enough to the original that the translators were familiar with the Koine Greek from everyday speech, it has a high degree of scholastic care, and is useful as an aid in understanding the original Greek, it is still a translation. And as such is going to be less accurate then the original Greek texts. Plus we have about 2,300 Greek texts which predate the Vulgate, some by 300 years, placing them closer to the original autograph (the copy written by the original author), and so making them likely to be more accurate.

Answer 2

The Latin Vulgate translation by St. Jerome is the most accurate translation of the Greek texts ever made in any language, simply because few human beings have ever been as expert in the ancient languages, and at the same time as expert in the Holy Scriptures. The Douay-Rheims translation is one of the most accurate English translations, if not the most accurate, because it was made directly from the Vulgate.

Answer 3

Very little
And the Greek texts, being older, are viewed as more reliable

Answer 4

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