Ancient Versions and Translations

I. Why Ancient Versions Matter

A biblical version is a translation of the Scriptures into another language. Because the earliest versions were made from Greek manuscripts older than most surviving Greek copies, they can preserve readings that disappeared from the Greek tradition. When a Latin, Syriac, or Coptic witness agrees with a papyrus against later Greek manuscripts, textual critics gain confidence that the reading is ancient. Versions also reveal how the early congregation understood difficult passages and which books it considered authoritative.

The study of versions is not a side branch of textual criticism. As Bruce M. Metzger argued, versions are among the earliest evidence for the text of the Greek Bible, sometimes predating our oldest Greek uncials. They also document the geographic expansion of Christianity: Latin in the West, Syriac in Mesopotamia, Coptic in Egypt, Gothic among the barbarian peoples, and Armenian, Georgian, and Ethiopic at the edges of the Christianized world.

"The versions are of primary importance for establishing the text of the Greek Bible, because they antedate all but a very few Greek manuscripts.", Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the Greek Bible

II. Latin: From Old Latin to the Vulgate

Christianity reached the Latin-speaking West quickly, and by the late second century the Gospels and Pauline letters were being translated into Latin, probably first in North Africa. These Old Latin versions are not uniform. They represent a cluster of regional translations, some closer to the Greek and some more paraphrastic. They are indispensable for reconstructing the Western text-type.

In 382 Pope Damasus commissioned the scholar Jerome to revise the Latin text of the Gospels. Jerome produced a fresh translation from the Greek, and later he translated the Hebrew Bible from Hebrew. The result, after centuries of revision and transmission, became the Vulgate, the standard Latin Bible of the Western congregation for more than a thousand years. It remains the official biblical text of the Roman Catholic Congregation.

III. Syriac: The Peshitta and Its Predecessors

Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, was the literary language of Edessa and much of Mesopotamian Christianity. The earliest Syriac Gospels are preserved in two manuscripts known as the Curetonian and Sinaitic Syriac, both probably from the fifth century and both representing the Old Syriac tradition. These versions are often aligned with the Western text-type and preserve striking harmonistic readings.

By the fifth century the Peshitta emerged as the standard Syriac Bible. Its Greek Bible contains the four Gospels, Acts, the Pauline epistles, James, 1 John, and 1 Peter. The Catholic epistles 2 Peter, 2, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation were added later, mostly from other Syriac versions. The Peshitta became the Bible of the Syriac-speaking congregations and remains in liturgical use today among Assyrian and Syriac Orthodox communities.

IV. Coptic: The Bible in Egypt

Egyptian Christians translated the Greek Bible into Coptic, the final stage of the Egyptian language written in an alphabet derived from Greek. Two major dialects predominate. Sahidic, the dialect of Upper Egypt, produced the earliest complete Coptic Bible and is especially important for the Gospels and Acts. Bohairic, the dialect of Lower Egypt and later the liturgical language of the Coptic Congregation, preserves a carefully standardized text.

Coptic versions are among the earliest witnesses to the Alexandrian text-type. They agree frequently with Codex Vaticanus and the early papyri found in Egypt. Because they were translated before the great Greek uncials were copied, they provide an independent control on the history of the Egyptian text.

V. Gothic, Armenian, Georgian, and Ethiopic

The Gothic version was made in the fourth century by Ulfilas, the Arian bishop who evangelized the Goths. It survives mainly in the magnificent Codex Argenteus, a sixth-century silver-ink manuscript now in Uppsala. The Gothic version is valuable because it preserves a fourth-century Greek text from a region outside the Roman Empire.

The Armenian and Georgian versions were produced after the conversion of those kingdoms in the early fourth century. Armenian tradition credits Mesrop Mashtots, inventor of the Armenian alphabet, with the translation. Both versions were revised in the fifth century against Greek manuscripts brought from Constantinople, and they preserve a text closely related to the Byzantine tradition.

The Ethiopic version came into use among the Christians of Aksum after the conversion of the kingdom in the fourth century. It was translated from Greek, possibly through Coptic or Arabic intermediaries, and later revised against Arabic versions. The Ethiopic canon is broader than that of most Western congregations, including books such as Jubilees and 1 Enoch as part of its wider biblical tradition.

VI. The Role of Versions in Textual Criticism

Ancient versions are used in textual criticism in three ways. First, they witness to the Greek text available to their translators. A reading attested in the Old Latin, Old Syriac, and Coptic is likely to be older than one confined to later Greek manuscripts. Second, versions preserve the canon and order of books accepted in particular congregations, illuminating the development of the Greek Bible canon. Third, they show how early readers interpreted the text, sometimes smoothing obscurities and sometimes preserving a more literal rendering of a difficult original.

Modern critical editions, including the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, cite versions systematically in the apparatus. The work of Kurt Aland and the Institute for Greek Bible Textual Research has made the versional evidence more accessible than ever, though using it well still requires expertise in Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and other ancient languages.

The ancient versions are a chorus of early voices. Each translation bears the accent of its language, its congregation, and its moment in history. Together they confirm that the Greek Bible was not the possession of a single region or party but a book translated, copied, and cherished across the breadth of the Christian world. For the textual critic they provide evidence older than most Greek manuscripts. For the historian they map the expansion of Christianity. For the believer they testify that the apostolic message was meant for every nation and tongue.

Selected Bibliography