Letters 106.2–106.42

You ask of me a task of great labour and greater ill will, in which not the talent but the learning of the writer is tested: that, while I wish to judge others, I should offer myself to be judged by all, and that in the Psalter, following the arrangement of your list, wherever there is a dispute between Latins and Greeks, I should indicate which agrees better with the Hebrew. On this I briefly remind you that you should know that there is one edition, which Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea and all the Greek commentators call the koine, that is, the 'common' and popular edition, and which by most is now called the Lucianic; and another, that of the Seventy translators, which is found in the manuscripts of the Hexapla, which we have faithfully turned into Latin, and which is sung in Jerusalem and in the churches of the East. On this subject my holy son Avitus too had often asked; and since the opportunity has been given by our brother Firmus the presbyter, who delivered your letter to me, I reply by writing to you all in common, and free myself from a great debt of friendship, which the more we pay, the more we owe. And as in the New Testament, if a question arises among the Latins and there is a variety among the copies, we run back to the source in the Greek language in which the New Testament was written, so also in the Old Testament, if there is a difference between Greeks and Latins, we take refuge in the Hebrew truth, so that whatever comes from the spring we may seek in the streams. This koine, that is, common, edition is the same as the Septuagint. But there is this difference between them: the common edition is the old one, corrupted according to places and times and the will of copyists, whereas the one that is in the Hexapla and which we have translated is the very translation of the Seventy that is preserved uncorrupted and unblemished in the books of the learned. Whatever differs from this, then, no one doubts also disagrees with the authority of the Hebrews.

The first question was on the fifth Psalm: 'Neither shall the evil man dwell near you.' For this the Greek has 'Neither shall the evil one sojourn with you,' or 'the evildoer,' as the popular edition has it. And you wonder why the Latin translator did not render paroikia, that is, 'sojourning,' but put 'dwelling' for it, which in Greek is called katoikia. He is shown to have done the same in another place: 'Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged.' And in the fourteenth Psalm again he put 'dwelling' for 'sojourning': 'Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle?' And you should know that if we chose to say, 'Lord, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle?' or, in the fifth Psalm, 'Neither shall the evil man sojourn near you,' you would lose the good sound, and while we follow a misguided zeal in translating, we lose all the grace of the translation. And this is the rule of a good translator: to express the idioms of the other language by the proper usage of his own. We show that Tully did this in Plato's Protagoras, in Xenophon's Oeconomicus, and in Demosthenes' speech against Aeschines, and that Plautus, Terence, and Caecilius, most learned men, did so in translating Greek comedies. Nor should anyone think the Latin language very narrow because it cannot translate word for word, since even the Greeks translate most of our words by circumlocution and strive to express Hebrew words not by fidelity of translation but by the proper usages of their own language.

On the same Psalm: 'Direct your way in my sight.' For this the Greek has, 'Direct my way in your sight,' that is, 'direct my way before you'; which neither the Seventy nor Aquila nor Symmachus nor Theodotion has, but only the common edition. Indeed, in the Hebrew too I found it written thus: oser laphanoi darchach, which all have translated in like words: 'Direct your way in my sight,' according to what is also said in the Lord's Prayer: 'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name'; not that what is holy in itself is hallowed by our praying, but that we ask that what is holy by its own nature may be hallowed in us. So here too the prophet asks that the way of the Lord, which is right in itself, may also become right for him.

On the sixth Psalm: 'Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled.' And you say that 'greatly' is not in the Greek. I know; but that is the popular edition. For the Hebrew has mod, that is 'greatly,' and all have likewise translated it sphodra.

On the seventh Psalm: 'Judge me, Lord, according to my righteousness.' For this the Greek has 'according to your righteousness.' But in this too it is wrong; for the Hebrew has sedechi, which means 'my righteousness,' and not sedecach, which means 'your righteousness.' And all the translators rendered 'my righteousness' in like words. Nor should it seem rash to anyone that he asks to be judged according to his own righteousness, since the following verse means the very same thing: 'And according to my innocence upon me'; and the sixteenth Psalm begins thus: 'Hear, Lord, my righteousness'; and in the seventeenth it is also said: 'The Lord will reward me according to my righteousness, and according to the cleanness of my hands he will repay me'; in the twenty-fifth Psalm too it is written: 'Prove me, Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart'; and in the fourth it is said: 'When I called, the God of my righteousness heard me'; and in the eighty-fifth: 'Keep my soul, for I am holy'; and Jacob too says in Genesis: 'My righteousness will hear me tomorrow.'

On the eighth Psalm: 'For I shall see your heavens.' And you say that 'your' is not in the Greek. That is true; but in the Hebrew one reads samacha, which means 'your heavens,' and it was added in the Seventy from the edition of Theodotion under an asterisk. I will briefly explain to you the meaning of this. Where something is less in the Greek than in the Hebrew truth, Origen added it from Theodotion's translation and set the sign of the asterisk, that is, a star, which lights up and brings into the open what earlier seemed hidden; but where something that is not in the Hebrew is found in the Greek manuscripts, he set before it an obelus, that is, a horizontal stroke, which in Latin we may call a 'spit,' by which it is shown that what is not found in the authentic books should be cut through and stabbed. These signs are also found in the poems of the Greeks and Latins.

On the sixteenth: 'Let your eyes behold equity.' You said you had read 'my eyes'; but 'your eyes' is more correct, since he had also said above, 'Let my judgment come forth from your face,' so that the eyes of God behold in the prophet's actions not crooked but right things. In the same Psalm: 'Keep me as the apple of the eye.' And you say that in the Greek one reads 'Keep me, Lord,' which is found neither in the Hebrew nor in any translator. In the same: 'Arise, Lord, go before him and trip him up.' For which the Greek has 'go before them and trip them up'; but it is better if it is read in the singular, since it is said of the ungodly man, about whom there follows at once: 'Go before him and trip him up; deliver my soul from the ungodly.' And no one doubts that it signifies the devil.

On the seventeenth: 'Hail and coals of fire.' And you ask why the Greek does not have this line a second time, two verses later. But you should know that it was added in the Seventy under an asterisk from the Hebrew and the edition of Theodotion. In the same: 'Who made my feet like the feet of harts.' For which you write that in the Greek is found 'like a hart,' the singular for the plural. But in the Hebrew the plural chaialoth is used, and all the translators rendered the plural. In the same: 'And you have given me the protection of your salvation.' For which you said you had read in the Greek 'of my salvation.' But in the Hebrew iesacha means 'of your salvation,' not 'mine'; and all the translators rendered it so. In the same: 'You have tripped up under me those who rose against me.' For which you say you have found more in the Greek, 'all who rose against me'; but 'all' has been added. In the same: 'The Lord lives, and blessed be my God.' And you say that 'my' is not in the Greek. It was not added under an asterisk but translated from the Hebrew truth by the Seventy themselves; and all the translators agree in this place. In the same: 'My deliverer from angry nations.' For which you say you found in the Greek, 'from my strong' or 'mighty enemies.' And since we are once for all devoted to the truth, if anything has been corrupted by the haste of the translator or the fault of copyists, we ought simply to confess and correct it. The Hebrew has nothing else than 'my deliverer from my enemies.' The Seventy added 'angry.' And for 'nations' both in the Hebrew and in all the translators 'enemies' is put; and I wonder how 'nations' was substituted for 'enemies.'

On the eighteenth: 'He rejoiced as a giant to run his course.' And you say that the Greek does not have 'his'; but we found this added under the obelus, and it is clear that it is not in the Hebrew.

On the nineteenth: 'May he grant you according to your heart.' And you say that in the Greek you found the name 'Lord' added in this verse, which is superfluous, since it is understood in common from what precedes, where the Psalm begins, 'May the Lord hear you in the day of trouble,' so that here too, in the same sense, it is said, 'May he grant you according to your heart,' that is, the Lord himself, of whom it was spoken above. In the same: 'And hear us in the day on which we call upon you.' For which you say you read 'on whatever day'; but the former agrees with the Hebrew truth, where biom, that is, 'in the day,' is written.

On the twenty-first: 'But you, Lord, do not remove your help far from me.' For which you say you found 'my help'; which is true and should be corrected so. In short: if anything has been changed by the error of copyists, we think it foolish to defend it with contention. In the same: 'All the seed of Jacob, magnify him,' for which the Greek has 'glorify him.' But you should know that wherever 'glorify' is written in the Greek, the Latin translator rendered 'magnify,' according to what is said in Exodus: 'Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified,' where the Greek has 'glorified'; but in Latin, if it is so translated, the rendering becomes unseemly. And when we formerly corrected the Psalter, wherever the sense was the same, we did not wish to change the usage of the old translators, lest we frighten the reader's devotion by too much novelty.

On the twenty-second: 'My cup that inebriates, how excellent it is!' For which you say you read in the Greek 'your cup'; but this has prevailed in the common edition by error. For both the Seventy and the Hebrew and all the translators have 'my cup,' which in Hebrew is chosi; otherwise 'your cup' would be chosach.

On the twenty-fourth: 'Let all who act unjustly be confounded.' And you say that the Greek does not have 'all,' and rightly; for it is not in the Hebrew either, but in the Seventy it was added under the obelus. In the same: 'The innocent and the upright have clung to me, because I waited for you.' And you say you found 'Lord' in the Greek, which is superfluous.

On the twenty-sixth: 'And now, behold, he has lifted up my head.' But 'behold' is superfluous. In the same: 'My face has sought,' for which the Greek has 'My face has sought you.' But the former is better.

On the twenty-seventh: 'Hear the voice of my supplication,' for which you said you found 'Hear, Lord.' But this too has been added.

On the twenty-eighth: 'And in his temple everyone shall speak glory,' for which the Greek has pas tis. If we chose to translate it word for word as 'every whoever,' we fall into a misguided zeal in translating, and the translation becomes absurd. In the same: 'The Lord makes the flood to be inhabited,' for which you say you read, 'The Lord inhabits the flood.' Of these the first refers to the grace given to believers, the second to the dwelling of him in whom they believe. But since iasaph is an ambiguous word and can mean either (for it means both 'sitting' and 'dwelling'), and since in this very Psalm it was said of the grace of baptism, 'The voice of the Lord upon the waters; the Lord upon many waters,' and, 'The voice of the Lord preparing the harts, and he will uncover the thickets, and in his temple everyone shall speak glory,' we wished it to be understood of those who glorify the Lord, and translated: 'The Lord makes the flood to be inhabited.'

On the thirtieth: 'For you are my protector.' Again in this place the name 'Lord' has been added; and, not to press the same point always, you should note that the name 'Lord' and 'God' is very often added, and that you ought to follow what we have corrected from the Hebrew and from the Seventy. In the same: 'But I said in the ecstasy of my mind.' For this the Latin manuscripts used to read 'in my fear,' and we translated according to the Greek, en te ekstasei mou, that is, 'in the ecstasy of my mind'; for the Latin language cannot express ekstasis otherwise than as 'going out of the mind.' Otherwise, I knew I had read in the Hebrew: 'in my amazement and wonder.'

On the thirty-first: 'Nor is there guile in his spirit.' For this you say you read in the Greek 'in his mouth,' that is, 'guile in his mouth,' which only Symmachus put. Otherwise both the Seventy and Theodotion and the Fifth and Sixth editions and Aquila and the Hebrew itself have 'in his spirit,' which in Hebrew is brucho. If it were 'in his mouth,' it would be written baffio. In the same: 'I was turned in my distress.' You point out that 'my' is not in the Greek; it was added under an asterisk from the Hebrew and the translation of Theodotion, and in the Hebrew one reads lasaddi. lasaddi …

On the thirty-fourth: 'All my bones shall say, Lord.' For this you say you found 'Lord' twice in the Greek. But you should know that there are many copies among the Hebrews which do not have 'Lord' even once.

On the thirty-sixth: 'And he will delight in his way.' You said you read in the Greek 'he will delight greatly.' That has been added and is not found in any of the translators.

On the thirty-eighth: 'Yet every man is disquieted in vain.' And you say that you did not find 'is disquieted' in the Greek. But this too was added in the Seventy under the obelus. And hence the error arises among you and among very many, that through the carelessness of copyists the strokes and asterisks have been removed and the whole distinction is confused.

On the thirty-ninth: 'And your law in the midst of my heart.' For this you say you found in the Greek, 'in the midst of my belly,' which is also what is written in the Hebrew, batthoch meai. But for the sake of good sound it was translated 'in the heart' among the Latins; and yet we ought not to take away what is true. In the same: 'Lord, look to my help.' For this you say you found in the Greek speuson, that is, 'make haste.' But in the Seventy prosches, that is, 'look,' is written.

On the fortieth: 'And if he came in to see.' And you say that 'if' is not in the Greek, although it is most plainly written both in the Hebrew and in all the translators, and the Seventy translated, 'And if he came in to see.'

On the forty-first: 'The salvation of my countenance, my God.' For this you say you found 'and my God.' But you should know that this is found twice in this Psalm: in the first place it reads, 'The salvation of my countenance, my God,' and in the second, that is, at the end of the Psalm, 'The salvation of my countenance and my God,' but only in such a way that the conjunction was added from the Hebrew and from Theodotion under an asterisk. In the same: 'Those who afflict me reproached me.' For this you said you found hoi echthroi mou, that is, 'my enemies,' although the Seventy have hoi thlibontes, and the Hebrews sorarai, that is, 'my foes.' In the same: 'Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him.' And you say that 'yet' is not found in the Greek. It was added under an asterisk; for so we found it written in the Hebrew, chi od, which means hoti eti and in Latin is said 'for yet.' The same is to be understood in the forty-second.

On the forty-third: 'And you will not go out with our hosts.' For this you say you found in the Greek, 'And you will not go out, O God.' But that is superfluous. In the same: 'You have made us a likeness among the nations,' for which the Greek has en tois ethnesin, 'among the nations'; but if it had been said in Latin 'into a likeness in the nations,' it would sound ill, and so the elegance of the translation has been kept without loss to the sense. Otherwise, in the Hebrew I found it written thus: 'You have made us a byword among the nations.' In the same: 'Arise, help us.' For which, as usual, the name 'Lord' has been added in the Greek.

On the forty-fourth: 'Your arrows are sharp.' For this you say you read in the Greek, 'sharp, O most mighty.' But this is wrong and was added from the preceding verse, in which one reads, 'Gird your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty.'

On the forty-seventh: 'For behold, the kings were gathered.' For this you say you read in the Greek, 'For behold, his kings were gathered.' The very text of the passage shows that this is superfluous; and in the old Latin manuscripts 'the kings of the earth' was written, which we removed, because it is found neither in the Hebrew nor in the Seventy. In the same: 'As we have heard, so we have seen.' For this you say you found in the Greek, 'so we have also seen,' which is superfluous; for in the Hebrew one reads chen rainu, which means houtos eidomen, that is, 'so we have seen.' In the same: 'We have received your mercy, O God, in the midst of your temple.' Where we translated 'your temple' from the Hebrew and the Seventy, you say you read in the Greek 'your people,' which is superfluous. In the Hebrew echalach is written, that is, tou naou sou, 'of your temple,' and not ammach, which means 'your people.'

On the forty-eighth: 'Man, when he was in honour.' For this you say you found in the Greek, 'And man, when he was in honour.' But you should know that this verse occurs twice in this Psalm, and in the first place it has the conjunction added, at the end it does not. In the same: 'And the righteous shall have dominion over them.' For 'the righteous' you say you read in the Greek eutheis, that is, 'the upright'; but it was turned into Latin so for the sake of good sound. Otherwise, in the place where we read written 'in the book of the upright,' we understand 'in the book of the righteous'; and we ought not to express word by word in such a way that, while we follow the syllable, we lose the understanding. In the same: 'When he shall deliver me from the hand of hell.' For this you say you read in the Greek, 'when he shall receive me.' We too translated it so from the Seventy, and I wonder by whom it has been corrupted in your manuscript.

On the forty-ninth: 'Sitting, you spoke against your brother.' For this you say you found in the Greek kata tou adelphou katelaleis, and you think it not well translated because we said, 'you spoke against your brother,' and that we ought to have said, 'you detracted against your brother'; which even fools see to be faulty and not to stand in our language. Nor are we unaware that katalalia means 'detraction'; but if we wished to use it, we could not say, 'you detracted against your brother,' but 'you detracted from your brother.' And if we did that, again some contentious slanderer of words would ask why we did not say kata tou adelphou, that is, 'against your brother.' These things are superfluous, and we ought not to torture ourselves with a pedantic translation of words when there is no loss to the sense, since each language, as I have said before, speaks with its own proper usages. In the same: 'Lest at any time he seize, and there be one to deliver.' And you say you found in the Greek, 'and there be none to deliver,' which is also what we translated and is so in our manuscripts. And I wonder how you lay the fault of a sleepy copyist to the charge of the translator, unless perhaps it was this: 'lest he seize, nor be there one to deliver,' and the copyist wrote 'and' for 'nor.' In the same: 'The sacrifice of praise shall honour me.' For this the Greek has doxasei me, that is, 'shall glorify me,' of which we have spoken above. In the Gospel, in the place where we read in the Greek, 'Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world was made,' in Latin one reads, 'Father, make me bright.' We did not wish, then, to change what was read by the ancients, since the sense was the same.

On the fifty-fourth: 'I waited for him who saved me.' And you say you found in the Greek, 'I waited for God,' which has been added. In the same: 'From faintness of spirit.' And you say you found in the Greek oligopsychias, which properly means 'faintheartedness.' But you should know that for oligopsychia Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the fifth edition translated apo pneumatos, that is, 'from the wind,' and that in the Hebrew merucha is written, and the whole sense is read thus among them: 'I will hasten to be saved from the wind of storm and whirlwind.' In the same: 'For if an enemy had cursed me.' In the Greek oneidisen, that is, 'had reproached me,' is put. But it is plain that there is no difference in sense between curses and reproaches.

On the fifty-fifth: 'For many are those who war against me; from the height of the day I shall fear.' And you say you found in the Greek 'I shall not fear,' which has been added. And the order is: 'For many fight against me; therefore I shall fear from the height of the day'; that is, I shall fear not those who war against me, but your lofty light. In the same: 'In wrath you will break the peoples.' For this in the Greek one reads, 'In wrath you will cast down the peoples' (that is, kataxeis, 'you will cast down,' not kateaxeis, 'you will break'). And among the Latins, for 'you will cast down,' kataxeis, an error has wrongly prevailed, kateaxeis, 'you will break'; for in the Hebrew too it has hored, that is, katabibason, which we can render 'bring down,' and Symmachus translated it 'cast down.'

On the fifty-eighth: 'For God is my protector.' For this the Greek has, 'You are my protector.' But you should know that neither 'are' nor 'you' is written in the Hebrew, and that they are found only in the Seventy. In the same: 'My God, his will shall go before me.' For this the Greek has to eleos autou, that is, 'his mercy,' which is also truer. But in the Hebrew it is written: 'My mercy shall go before me.' In the same: 'God has shown me among my enemies.' For this the Greek has 'my God'; but 'my' has been added. In the same: 'Do not slay them, lest at any time they forget your people.' For this the Greek has 'your law'; but in the Seventy and the Hebrew it does not have 'your people' but 'my people,' and we translated it so. In the same: 'And they shall know that God is the ruler of Jacob, of the ends of the earth.' For this the Greek has 'and of the ends of the earth'; but the conjunction too has been added. And the order is: 'They shall know that the God of Jacob is the ruler of the ends of the earth.'

On the fifty-ninth: 'Who will lead me into Idumea?' For this the Greek has, 'Or who will lead me?' But that is superfluous.

On the sixtieth: 'For you, my God, have heard my prayer,' for which one reads in the Greek, 'For you, O God, have heard me.' This is not in the Hebrew or in the Seventy, and in the Latin it has been added. In the same: 'I will sing to your name for ever and ever,' for which the Greek has 'for ever.' And the Hebrew has laed once, that is, 'for ever,' and not lolam, which is 'to the age.'

On the sixty-first: 'For God is our helper for ever.' For this the Greek has, 'God is our helper.' So 'for ever' stands under an obelus.

On the sixty-second: 'My soul has thirsted for you,' for which the Greek has, 'My soul has thirsted in you.' But the Hebrew does not have attha, which means 'you,' but lach, which is shown to mean 'for you,' and all the translators rendered it so. So it was turned into Latin according to the proper usage of the language.

On the sixty-third: 'The arrows of little ones have become their wounds.' For this the Greek has 'the arrow of little ones'; but if we said so, it would not sound right in Latin: 'the arrow of little ones have become their wounds.' Instead, the Hebrew has it better: 'God shall strike them with a sudden dart, and their wounds shall be inflicted.'

On the sixty-fourth: 'You who trouble the depth of the sea, the sound of its waves.' You write that in the Greek is added 'who shall endure?' which is superfluous; for it is understood: 'You who trouble the depth of the sea and trouble the sound of its waves.' In the same: 'You have prepared their food, for so is its preparation.' And you say that 'its' is not in the Greek, although in the Hebrew thechina plainly means 'its preparation'; 'its,' that is, of the earth, of which he had said above, 'You have visited the earth and watered it.'

On the sixty-fifth: 'I will offer you burnt offerings full of marrow with the incense of rams.' For this you say you found, 'with incense and rams,' but wrongly; for in the Hebrew it is written em catoroth helim, which means meta thymiamatos krion, that is, 'with the incense of rams.' In the same: 'Therefore God has heard.' For this you say you found in the Greek, 'God has heard me,' which is superfluous.

On the sixty-seventh: 'And let them exult in his sight.' For this you say you found in the Greek, 'And exult in his sight.' We too translated it so, but by whom it was corrupted in your manuscript I cannot know. In the same: 'For indeed they do not believe that the Lord dwells.' For this you say you read in the Greek, 'For indeed the unbelieving [are] of dwelling'; both of which are false. For we translated, 'And indeed those who do not believe that the Lord dwells,' so that the sense hangs on what precedes: 'You ascended on high, you took captivity captive, you received gifts among men,' and those who did not believe that the Lord could dwell with mortals. In the same: 'Blessed be the Lord God, day by day.' For this you say you found in the Greek, 'The Lord God is blessed, blessed be the Lord day by day'; but the reading above is better and truer. In the same: 'Your goings have been seen, O God,' for which the Greek has, 'Your goings were seen, O God.' In the Hebrew it has rachua alichatach, which Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the fifth and sixth editions translated, 'They have seen your ways, O God,' and what follows, 'the ways of my God, my King, who is in the sanctuary.' So we should read, 'They have seen your goings, O God,' and set aside the copyist's fault, who put a nominative for an accusative, although in the Seventy and the Hexapla I found, 'They have seen your goings, O God,' and for etheoresan, that is, 'they have seen,' many manuscripts have etheorethesan, 'they were seen,' which custom has kept. In the same: 'The goings of my God, my King, who is in the sanctuary'; understood: 'They have seen the goings of my God, my King.' But when you say that 'my' is not attached to 'King' in the Greek, it is a most open falsehood; for 'my' is put twice, 'of my God' and 'my King,' with an affectionate tenderness, so that he who is the God and King of all becomes especially his own God and King by the merit of service. Indeed in the Hebrew it is written heli melchi, which means 'my God and my King.' In the same: 'Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, sing psalms to the Lord.' And you say that 'sing psalms to the Lord' is not written in this verse, since there follows immediately, 'Pause. Sing psalms to God, who ascends above the heaven of heavens to the east'; whereas this verse ought rather to have, according to the Hebrew truth, 'Sing to God, sing psalms to the Lord,' and 'Sing psalms to God,' which follows at the beginning of the next verse, is not in the authentic books but marked with an obelus. So read rather what is true, lest, while you accept what has been added, you leave out what was written by the prophet.

On the sixty-eighth: 'I will praise the name of God with a song.' For this you say you found in the Greek 'of my God,' but 'my' is superfluous.