It is a novel which begins to make sense of the political confusions of recent decades. It tells of a jewish widow, judith, who uses her beauty and charm to destroy an assyrian general and save israel from oppression. The book of judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the septuagint and the catholic and eastern orthodox christian old testament of the bible, but excluded from jewish texts and assigned by protestants to the apocrypha. Begin ye to the lord with timbrels, sing ye to the lord with cymbals, tune unto him a new psalm, extol and call upon his name. He is highlighting here the wellknown emphasis on this virtue that differentiates his book of judith text itself from that of the septuagint. The vulgate version of the book of judith is much more than a mere translation. Were not taken from the original hebrew or greek translations or the latin vulgate. The book relates that nebuchadrezzar, king of assyria, sent his general holofernes on an expedition against. Vulgate synonyms, vulgate pronunciation, vulgate translation, english dictionary definition of vulgate.
Judith, book of definition and meaning bible dictionary. Judith, book of international standard bible encyclopedia. The book is filled with double entendres and ironic situations, e. The oldest extant text of judith is the preservation of 15. These are the books of the latin vulgate along with the names and numbers given them in the. The book of judith has the clarity of leonardo sciascias exploratory fictions, with, in addition, certain elements of crucial importance to hood. The book of judith has aroused a great deal of scholarly interest in the last few decades. Parallel latin vulgate bible and douayrheims bible and king james bible. Nabuchodonosor king of the assyrians overcometh arphaxad king of the medes. In the english versions of the bible of the apocrypha, which unfortunately for its understanding stands alone, 1 esdras, 2 esdras, tobit and judith occupy the. The original language of the book of judith was hebrew, aramaic, or greek. The book of judith is a deuterocanonical book, contained in the septuagint and the catholic and eastern orthodox old testament of the christian bible. Book of judith, apocryphal work excluded from the hebrew and protestant biblical canons but included in the septuagint greek version of the hebrew bible and accepted in the roman canon. The vulgate is a fourthcentury latin translation of the bible, produced primarily by st.
The book judith, tobit and lillith was from the gnostic mystical new age gospels and are not consistent with the rest of the other 66 books. This volume, the first full length commentary on judith to appear in over 25 years, includes a new translation and a detailed versebyverse commentary, which touches upon philological, literary, and historical questions. Jerome, while rejecting in theory those books which he did not find in his hebrew manuscript, yet consented to translate judith because the synod of nicaea is. Why was the book of judith taken out of the king james. In addition, some of the books of the vulgate have content that has been removed to separate books entirely in many modern bible translations. Still it is an historical genealogy, though illconserved. In the septuagint and vulgate, tobit and judith in that order follow nehemiah and precede esther.
In this paper, i shall be looking at the portrayal of judith in a series of medieval hebrew stories or midrashim, concentrating upon those stories which are not based in their entirety on the vulgate judith. The contents of the book of judith include 16 chapters covering two main sections. Name of the city which, according to the book of judith, was besieged by holofernes. The book of judith does not exist in the hebrew bible, and is consequently excluded from the protestant canon of holy scripture. The book of judith does not exist in the hebrew bible. The meaning of judith, book of in the bible from international standard bible. In 382 pope damasus commissioned jerome, the leading biblical scholar of his day, to produce an acceptable latin. In the shorter version of the legend published by gaster proceedings of the society of biblical archeology, 1894, xvi. In her doctoral thesis, lydia lange demonstrates impressively how and. Rahlfs 1952, and weber and gryson 2007 is a critical edition of the vulgate latin text. Like the book of tobit, that of judith was also written in a semitic languageprobably hebrewbut the original text was lost early on. There are 76 books in the clementine edition of the latin vulgate, 46 in the old testament, 27 in the new testament, and 3 in the apocrypha. Catholic answers is pleased to provide this unabridged entry from the original catholic encyclopedia, published between 1907 and 1912. Book of judith biblical studies oxford bibliographies.
These are the books of the latin vulgate along with the names and numbers given. The lord putteth an end to wars, the lord is his name. The majority of theologians down to the 19th century regarded the story of judith as pure history. When jerome translated the latin vulgate he recorded that his translation of the book of judith was from an aramaic version. At the start of this war nebuchadnezzar orders all the city states in surrounding kingdoms to send him a levy of soldiers, but they flout his command. Jerome, who had been taught at rome by the rhetoric teacher aelius donatus, otherwise known for advocating punctuation and as the author of a grammar and biography of virgil. Vulgate definition of vulgate by the free dictionary. The book exists in distinct greek and latin versions, of which the former contains at least eightyfour verses more than the later. Jerome, while rejecting in theory those books which he did not find in his hebrew manuscript, yet consented to translate judith because the synod of nicaea.
The vulgate is a latin translation of the bible, written in the late 4th century and start of the 5th, largely by the dalmatiaborn eusebius hieronymus st. Nebuchadnezzar for information about babylon and its king at the start of this war nebuchadnezzar orders all the city states in surrounding kingdoms to send him a levy of soldiers, but they flout his command. If you are using a protestant bible like the new international version niv, you will not find judith in your book. And after these things he went down into the plains in the days of the harvest, and he set all the corn on fire, and he caused all the trees and. In the english versions of the bible of the apocrypha, which unfortunately for its understanding stands alone, 1 esdras, 2 esdras, tobit and judith occupy the first place and in. Book of judith the catholic encyclopedia bible encyclopedia. It was likely written in the late second to early first century bc. Giving you holy bibles the way they were originally printed. Jerome translated tobit and judith anew from the aramaic. Then judith sung this canticle to the lord, saying. Jerome made a free translation of an aramaic text, cutting it down to approximately a fifth of its size, and this is the latin version in the vulgate. With regard to the septuagint version of the book of judith it should be noted that it has come down to us in two recensions.
Nabuchodonosor, king of ninive, sends his general holofernes to subdue the jews. Working from ancient greek manuscripts, the original hebrew, aramaic texts, and existing latin translations, jerome aimed to create a translation that the church could confidently say preserved the original scriptures. The translations of the other 38 books were used, however, and so the vulgate is usually. It is clear that the author was a jew, both from his emphasis on the origin of a jewish festival and from the jewish nationalism that permeates the story. Please be advised, that with all ancient texts, one must be careful and view it together with other editionsreprints in case some text is lost or unreadable due to age etcetera. While other books of the bible had been translated much earlier, the group undertaking a complete translation only got as far as judith in the late fourteenth century, in part because of the difficulties posed by the vulgates awkward, hebraizing prose. Book of judith encyclopedia volume catholic online. Catholics with very few exceptions accept the book of judith as a narrative of facts, not as an allegory. It is a valuable resource for subjects related to theology, philosophy, history, culture, and more. It was to become the catholic churchs officially promulgated latin version of the bible during the 16th century and is still used in the latin church alongside the hebrew and greek sources. Douayrheims version the douayrheims bible abbreviated as dv is a translation of the bible from the latin vulgate into english made by members of the english college, douai, in the service of the catholic church. The book of judith relates the story of gods deliverance of the jewish people.
Catholics with very few exceptions accept the book of judith as a. The history of the latin vulgate the following twopart essay provides an excellent overview of the history of the latin vulgate, beginning with the life of st. The vulgate is a latin version of the holy bible, and largely the result of the labors of st jerome eusebius sophronius hieronymus, who was commissioned by pope damasus i in 382 a. The book of judith is among the books of the septuagint, the old testament accepted as inspired and canonical by the orthodox church in the greek orthodox bible, and found in the books of the old testament of the vulgate and included in the canon of inspired scripture by the third council of carthage 397.
Judith esther job psalms proverbs ecclesiastes song of solomon wisdom sirach ecclesiasticus isaiah jeremiah lamentations baruch ezekiel daniel hosea joel amos obadiah jonah micah nahum habakkuk zephaniah haggai zechariah malachi 1 maccabees 2 maccabees. The names and numbers of the books of the latin vulgate differ in ways that may be confusing to many modern bible readers. We have in this book that zeal for orthodox judaism which marked the age of the maccabees, and the same strong belief that the war in which the nation was engaged was a holy one. It is also known as the biblia sacra vulgate eidition. To the english translation in the new revised standard version, found in many study bibles, one can compare. Achior the ammonite, who speaks in defense of the jews, is maltreated by him and sent into the besieged city to await his punishment when holofernes shall have taken it. Latin vulgate bible with douayrheims english translation. Since the council of trent it is dogmatically accepted as inspired and. Now arphaxad king of the medes had brought many nations under his dominions, and he built a very strong city, which he called ecbatana, of stones squared and hewed. Jan 03, 2007 the book judith, tobit and lillith was from the gnostic mystical new age gospels and are not consistent with the rest of the other 66 books. There are now a number of latin and greek texts which can be used as controls on one another. Judith might well have been written during the persecution of the maccabean age, as was almost certainly the book of daniel. In 382 pope damasus commissioned jerome, the leading biblical scholar of his day, to produce an acceptable latin version of the bible from the various.
The book of judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the septuagint and the catholic and eastern orthodox christian old testament of the bible, but excluded from the hebrew canon and assigned by protestants to their apocrypha. Codex b or vaticanus on the one hand, and codex alexandrinus with codex sinaiticus on the other. There are four greek recensions of judith septuagint codices vaticanus, sinaiticus, alexandrinus, and basilianovaticanus, four ancient translations old latin, syriac, sahidic, and ethiopic, and some late hebrew versions, apparently translated from the vulgate. Whatever the reasons, the rabbis did not count judith among their scriptures, and the reformation adopted that position. Entry for judith, book of, cyclopedia of biblical, theological and ecclesiastical literature one of 8 bible encyclopedias freely available, this encyclopedia, with its nearly 50,000 entries and 17 millin words, dwarfs modern bible encyclopedias with the depth of knowledge. The name bethulia may, therefore, be assumed to be an allegorical one, meaning perhaps bethel house of god. The book of judithconsidered canonical by roman catholics, apocrypha literature by protestants, and noncanon by jewstells the story of the ignominious defeat of the assyrians, an army bent on world domination, by the hand of a hebrew woman judith. Wolf 1861 and yon gumpach, protestant scholars in recent times are practically agreed that the book of judith is a historical novel with a purpose similar to daniel, esther and tobit.
Hanhart 1979 is the best critical edition of the greek text of the septuagint, or the old testament in greek but see also brooke, et al. In her doctoral thesis, lydia lange demonstrates impressively how and under which perspectives the. The early church, however, held this book in high honor. This is the latin vulgate of the catolic church that was published in 1685. The bible, douayrheims version dv judith by douayrheims. Although we do not know who wrote the book of esther, from internal evidence it is possible to make some inferences about the author and the date of composition. But the church has always maintained its canonicity. The latter besieges them in bethulia, a city on the southern verge of the plain of esdrelon. Peshitta vetus latina vulgate masoretic text new testament manuscript categories new testament papyri new testament uncials.
In the english versions of the bible of the apocrypha, which unfortunately for its understanding stands alone, 1 esdras, 2 esdras, tobit and judith occupy the first place and in the order named. The book of judith is a deuterocanonical book, contained in the septuagint and the catholic and. Now arphaxad king of the medes had brought many nations under his dominions, and he built a very strong city, which he called ecbatana, 2. This list is an aid to tracking down the content of a vulgate reference. Nebuchadnezzar for information about babylon and its king. Sep 07, 2018 the vulgate is a fourthcentury latin translation of the bible, produced primarily by st. The book of judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the septuagint and the catholic and. The detail that she did not wear her widows weeds during holidays, derived from judith 16. Even jahn considers that the genealogy of judith is inexplicable on the hypothesis that the story is a mere fiction introductio, vienna, 1814, p. Judith disappeared from jewish tradition for well over a thousand years and when she returned, she was, in many instances, quite changed. Judith, book of, cyclopedia of biblical, theological and.