Jerome’s Translation of the Scriptures Called into Question

Perhaps it was a greater piece of daring to alter the books of the divine Scriptures, which the apostles delivered to the churches of Christ as the complete record of their faith, by making a new translation under the influence of the Jews. Which of these two things seems to you the less permissible? As for the sayings of Origen, if we agree with them, we agree with them as the sayings of a man; if we disagree, we can easily set them aside as the sayings of a mere man. But how are we to regard those translations of yours, which you are now sending everywhere, through our churches and monasteries, through all our cities and walled towns? Are they to be treated as human or as divine? And what are we to do when we are told that the books bearing the names of the Hebrew prophets and lawgivers can be had from you in a truer form than the one the apostles approved? [a]

How, I ask, is this mistake to be set right, or rather, how is this crime to be atoned for? We hold it worthy of condemnation that a man should put forward some strange opinions in interpreting the law of God. But to twist the law itself, and make it different from what the apostles handed down to us: how many times over must that be judged worthy of condemnation? To the reckless daring of this act we may far more justly apply your own words: “Which of all the wise and holy men who have gone before you has dared to put his hand to that work?” Which of them would have presumed to profane the book of God in this way, and the sacred words of the Holy Spirit? Who but you would have laid hands on the divine gift and the inheritance of the apostles?