What is the oldest translation of the Bible?

star_gazer

Some of the first translations of the Jewish Torah began during the first exile in Babylonia, when Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Jews. With most people speaking only Aramaic and not understanding Hebrew, the Targums were created to allow the common person to understand the Torah as it was read in ancient synagogues. The most well-known movement to translate books of the Bible appeared in the 3rd century BC. Most of the Tanakh then existed in Hebrew, but many had gathered in Egypt, where Alexander the Great had founded the city that bears his name. At one time a third of the population of the city was Jewish. However, no major Greek translation was sought (as most Jews continued to speak Aramaic to each other) until Ptolemy II Philadelphus hired a large group of Jews (between 15 and 70 according to different sources) who had a fluent capability in both Koine Greek and Hebrew. These people produced the translation now known as the Septuagint. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations Apr 05 07, 1:18 PM

lanfranco

Into what language? The Septuagint is the oldest translation of the Old Testament into Greek -- actually into the Koine, a widespread, popular dialect of Greek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuagint Apr 05 07, 1:19 PM

Arpeggionist

The Septuagint is the oldest known translation just of the Torah - the first five books. The oldest known translation of all the Old Testament (and one of the best known) was made in the first or second century CE by one Onkelos, a Roman official who converted to Judaism. He translated the text into Aramaic. Later, when the rabbis of the Talmud were writing about the need to hear the Torah read in its original language and its translation, they were referring to the translation of Onkelos. Apr 05 07, 3:42 PM

lanfranco

A useful clarification, Arpy. On the subject of the "Vetus Latina," texts translated into Latin prior to Jerome's Vulgate (and including New Testament material), this site offers some information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vetus_Latina Apr 05 07, 3:58 PM

hansika

Because the New Testament was written in Greek, the story of the transmission of the text and the establishing of the canon sometimes neglects the early versions, some of which are older than the oldest extant Greek text. The rapid spread of Christianity beyond the regions where Greek prevailed necessitated translations into Syriac, Old Latin, Coptic, Gothic, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, and Arabic. Syriac and Latin versions existed as early as the 2nd century, and Coptic translations began to appear in the 3rd century. These early versions were in no sense official translations but arose to meet regional needs in worship, preaching, and teaching. The translations were, therefore, trapped in local dialects and often included only selected portions of the New Testament. During the 4th and 5th centuries efforts were made to replace these regional versions with more standardized and widely accepted translations. Pope Damasus I in 382 commissioned St. Jerome to produce a Latin Bible; known as the Vulgate, it replaces various Old Latin texts. In the 5th century, the Syriac Peshitta replaced the Syriac versions that had been in popular use up to that time. As is usually the case, the old versions slowly and painfully gave way to the new. Apr 06 07, 4:17 AM