Septuagint and Catholic Bible

The Septuagint (which comes from the Latin for 70, "septuaginta") was a translation of the Hebrew Books of the Old Testament into Greek, by 70 Jewish scholars. The translation became necessary when it was found that most of the Israelites in exile, especially as a result of the Babylonian Captivity of 586-536 B.C., did not know Hebrew, but wanted to read the sacred books. The work was done in Alexandria, Egypt, sometime between 250 B.C. and 100 B.C.. This translation was warmly welcomed by Jews outside Palestine, as was read by many Gentiles. Consequently, many Gentiles were familiar with the important ideas in the Old Testament and were thus prepared to hear and accept the teachings of Jesus Christ.

In the early Church no list of inspired books had been accepted or approved. Christ, and then the Apostles, did not give us a list of books which were inspired. However, the Septuagint was extremely influential among Jews living outside Palestine (and some inside Palestine), and was the sacred writings adopted by the early Greek-speaking Christians. Throughout the New Testament there are more than 300 direct quotations or paraphrases from the Septuagint Bible out of some 350 Old Testament references. Scholars regard this as an indication that the Catholic Christian writers of the Apostolic Era had adopted the Septuagint as their own. The Christians took the Septuagint over so completely that the Jews decided to adopt their own version. This was done about 90 A.D.. The Council of Hippo (393), the Council of Carthage (397), and Pope Innocent I (405) listed the 46 books of the Septuagint as inspired. The Catholic, Greek, Russian and other Orthodox Old Testaments are based on the Septuagint.

Vulgate

The Vulgate is the Latin version of the Bible prepared by St. Jerome (382-404), at the request of Pope St. Damasus I. He translated the Old Testament directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and revised the existing Latin text of the New Testament. "Vulgate" means "common" or "popular", since Latin was the popular language in Europe at the time. This translation was done in a language they could understand. Very few knew how to read. The Vulgate was used through the centuries and was declared the official Latin text of the Bible for Catholics by the Council of Trent (1545-63). It was from the Vulgate that almost all English Catholic translations were made until the middle of the 20th century, when scholars began to use original sources. It remained the official Latin text of the Bible for the Catholic Church until Pope John Paul II replaced it with the New Vulgate in 1979.

Catholic Christians and non-Catholic Christians believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. This belief is based on their acceptance of the fact that the Catholic Church had the authority to declare which books were inspired and should be included in the list of sacred books or "Canon", and which should not be included.

The Catholic Church knew it had this authority and guidance because:

1. "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever - the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16-17)
2. "However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, as come, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13)
3. "... I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20)
4. "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19)
5. "... it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets" (Ephesians 3:5)
6. "... the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15)

See Figure, Number of Canonical Books in the Old Testament .

Hebrew Scriptures and Protestant Bible

Jewish scholars set up four criteria which sacred books had to pass in order to be in the Jewish canon (official list of sacred writings):

1. They had to be in harmony with the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible).
2. They had to have been written before the time of Nehemiah (c.400 B.C.).
3. They had to have been written in Hebrew.
4. They had to have been written in Palestine.

The Protestant Old Testament is the same as the Hebrew canon, and their New Testament is the same as the Catholic New Testament. Most Protestant Bibles, while not accepting those seven books as inspired, are now including them at the end of the Old Testament, as did the 1611 King James Version (Authorized Version).

The Bible In English (before printing)

Various parts of the Bible were translated into Saxon, the language of England at that time, by:

c. 670	Caedmon, a monk
c. 709	Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne
c. 735	Venerable Bede, a monk of Jarrow
c. 849-901	King Alfred
c. 955-1020	Aelfric, Archbishop of Canterbury
c. 1020-15thC.	English, as we know it today, was developed during this time, and translations appeared in the language of the time.
c. 1382	John Wycliffe produced the first complete translation of the entire Bible in English

Printed Bibles - (A) Protestant
1525	Tyndale Bible Translated by William Tyndale. It had many errors in it, and was not complete.
1535	Coverdale Bible This was the first complete English Bible to be printed, and was commissioned by King Henry VIII's Secretary of State, Cromwell.
1537	Matthew's Bible This was the work of John Rogers.
1539	The Great Bible This was the work of Miles Coverdale. It was the first official Church of England Bible. It was in the language of the people and set up in every church in England.
1560	Geneva Bible Sometimes called the "Breeches Bible". "They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves breeches." (Genesis 3:7 GB). It was a revision of the Tyndale and Great Bible, and was the Bible of Shakespeare, Bunyan and the Puritans.
1568	Bishop's Bible Replaced the Great Bible as the official Bible of the Church of England.
1611	King James Bible (Authorized Version) King James I appointed 54 of the best scholars in England to revise the Bishop's Bible. It took them seven years. The authorities authorized this translation which had enormous influence on the minds of people, and on English literature. The New Testament in the King James translation was taken, with few exceptions, from the Catholic Douay Rheims translation, which was completed 29 years previously. Like all translations, the King James translation had errors in it. In the last century, Protestant Scripture scholars met to come up with a better translation because there were several thousand errors in the existing King James translation.
1881-1885	Revised Version The King James version was revised.
1952	Revised Standard Version King James translation again revised.
1970	New English Bible
1973	New International Version
1980	New King James Version
1986	New Revised Standard Version
Printed Bibles - (B) Catholic
1582-1609	Douay Rheims This translation was done from the Vulgate by Gregory Martin and William Allen in Douay and Rheims, France.
1749-1763	Challoner Revision Bishop Challoner revised the Douay-Rheims and this remained in almost universal use among English-speaking Catholics for nearly 200 years.
1941	Confraternity Revision It revised only the New Testament.
1944-1950	Knox Bible Ronald Knox was commissioned by the English Bishops to make a new translation from the Vulgate.
1952-1970	New American This translation, from the original languages, was commissioned by the American Bishops, and in 1964 was adopted for use in the Liturgy.
1966	Jerusalem Bible The Jerusalem Dominicans edited this French translation. It was then translated into English.
1965	Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition New Testament was prepared by a committee of the Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain. It included wording which reflects Catholic Tradition.
1966	Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition Old Testament was an updated translation of the KJV which included the Deuterocanonical books.

See Figure, Sources for English Translations .

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS:

1. Written the New Testament.
2. Decided which books went into the Bible, i.e., decided what books are inspired and should make up the "Canon" of scripture.
3. Compiled those books into a collection which it named the "Bible."
4. Preserved the Bible, for the first 1500 years by hand writing each book over and over again on fresh papyrus, or on fresh skins of animals.
5. Preserved the Bible from destruction.
6. Preserved the Bible from error.
7. Defended the Bible through the last 1900 years.
8. Grounded her doctrines upon the Bible.
9. Held the Bible in highest veneration.
10. Interpreted the Bible for Her people.
11. The right to call the Bible Her Book.

"I would not believe the Gospel
unless moved thereto by the
authority of the Church."
St. Augustine