Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jason A. Hare" <language_lover64801 AT yahoo.com>]

Just as an FYI... the Vulgate is online in a very easy-to-use format:

http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?language=latin

In fact, you can verify that Genesis 1.1 reads as Jack says by visiting
this link:

http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=genesis+1:1&language=latin

You can replace the passage with any reference... NO SPACES (use + to
separate book and reference).  It will also let you see entire chapters.

Shalom,
Jason

> > No, LXX is not useless! You make the decisive point yourself: "They were
> > simply translating what was before them". What was before them (in their
> > reading tradition) was BARA' not BERO'. And they, as Hebrew speakers of
> > the 2nd-3rd century BCE (at least that seems to be the consensus
> > dating), understood BERE'SHIT BARA' 'ELOHIM as "In the beginning God
> > created..." not "In the beginning of God creating...". We have the
> > testimony there of Hebrew speakers from long before the time of Rashi.
> > 
> > The Vulgate is similarly useful, for Jerome translated from Hebrew with
> > the help of Hebrew speakers and so his translation is based on their 4th
> > century CE understanding of Hebrew, also well before Rashi. Does anyone
> > have the Vulgate text available to check?
> 
> 
> 1.  in principio creavit Deus caelum et terram 
> 
> Jack