There were also numerous Latin translations from the Greek - two steps
removed from the Hebrew. It was their unreliability, in part, that led
Damasus to commission Jerome with the translation of the Vulgate.
There were also other Greek texts in circulation: Theodotion and Symmachus,
for example, which were preserved in Origen's Hexapla. If only we still had
Origen's work! We would then be in a much better position to discern the
evolution of the text and suspect readings - a kind of "Origen on the
Specious". (Sorry, I couldn't resist a lame gag.)
Regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au