Latin Vulgate

Jerome translated Genesis directly from the Hebrew, producing a Latin text that frequently diverges from the Old Latin (Vetus Latina) translations derived from the Septuagint. His Genesis translation demonstrates careful attention to Hebrew idiom and occasionally introduces readings that became theologically foundational for Western Christianity, most notably the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15.

Jerome produced three distinct Latin Psalters: the Romana (a light revision of the Old Latin), the Gallicana (revised from the Hexaplaric LXX, c. 392), and the Iuxta Hebraeos (translated fresh from the Hebrew, c. 392). The Gallicana became the standard Psalter in the Vulgate and in Western liturgical use, despite Jerome's own preference for the Iuxta Hebraeos. This means the Vulgate Psalms are primarily a LXX-based text, unlike most of Jerome's Old Testament, which was translated from Hebrew.

Jerome translated Isaiah directly from the Hebrew, frequently departing from the Old Latin and LXX traditions. Isaiah was a theological battleground: Jerome consciously defended his christological readings (especially 7:14 virgo) while insisting on the superiority of the Hebrew text. His Isaiah commentary reveals the tensions between fidelity to Hebrew and the demands of Christian theology.

Jerome translated Jeremiah from the Hebrew, following the longer Masoretic Text rather than the significantly shorter Septuagint version. The LXX Jeremiah is roughly one-eighth shorter than the MT and has a different arrangement of the Oracles against the Nations. Jerome's choice to follow the MT meant the Western church received a longer Jeremiah with a different structure than the Greek-speaking East. Jerome was aware of the discrepancy and defended the Hebrew text's priority.

Jerome translated Daniel from the Hebrew/Aramaic but included the deuterocanonical additions (Prayer of Azariah, Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon) from the Greek, marking them with critical signs (obeli) to indicate they were not in the Hebrew text. His preface to Daniel (Prologus Galeatus) became a foundational document in canon discussions, as Jerome openly stated these additions were not part of the Hebrew canon while still including them in his translation. Jerome also used Theodotion's Greek translation rather than the LXX for Daniel, as the LXX Daniel was widely considered unreliable.

The Gospels were the first books Jerome revised (382-384 CE), at the request of Pope Damasus I. Rather than a fresh translation, Jerome revised the existing Old Latin (Vetus Latina) against Greek manuscripts. His revision was relatively conservative in the Gospels — he changed readings only where the Old Latin seriously departed from the Greek. This means the Vulgate Gospels preserve many Old Latin readings that had become liturgically entrenched. The Gospels became the most copied and most influential portion of the Vulgate.

Romans in the Vulgate is the most theologically consequential Pauline text for Western Christianity. Jerome's Latin renderings of Paul's Greek established the entire vocabulary of Western soteriology: justificatio (justification), gratia (grace), fides (faith), peccatum (sin), lex (law), and iustitia Dei (righteousness of God). Every major Western theological movement — Augustinianism, scholasticism, the Reformation, Counter-Reformation — was shaped by debates over the Latin Romans.

Hebrews in the Vulgate is the primary biblical text for Western priesthood theology, covenant theology, and the relationship between Old and New Testaments. Jerome's Latin renderings established the vocabulary for testamentum (testament/covenant), sacerdos (priest), mediator (mediator), and the entire sacrificial-typological framework that dominated Western theology. The book's argument — that Christ's priesthood surpasses the Levitical — was mediated to the West entirely through Jerome's Latin terms.

Revelation (Apocalypsis) in the Vulgate was among the most cautiously received New Testament books in the Western church. Jerome included it but noted its contested status in some Eastern churches. His Latin translation of the Apocalypse established the Western vocabulary for eschatology, spiritual warfare, and the final consummation. The book's Latin text shaped medieval apocalypticism, Joachimite speculation, Reformation-era polemics (identifying the papacy or Rome with Babylon), and ongoing Western eschatological thought.