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Some Ancient Versions in other languages.
As the Gospel spread from Palestine, adjoining countries demanded the Scriptures in
their own tongues. Accordingly we have:
The Syriac Version. Known as the Peshitto or "Simple" version. This was made
about the second or third century after Christ. The copy in the British Museum was made
in 464A.D., and is the oldest copy of the Bible of which the exact date is known.
The Coptic Versions. These were produced for use in Egypt. They are important as
witnesses to the true text of the Greek N.T., and are of considerable help to the student of
the 70: The two most important are the one prepared for northern Egypt called the
Memphitic, and the one prepared for southern Egypt, called the Thebaic, about the third
century.
Ethiopic, Armenian, Arabic, Georgian and Slavonic versions appeared.
The Latin Versions.
These versions were demanded by the Roman provinces of Africa. They were
defective and contained many pronunciations and defects of African translators. To
remedy this a version called the Itala appeared in the second century.
Jerome. What Origen did for the Greek versions, Jerome did for the Latin. He
prepared a translation of the O.T. in Latin direct from the original Hebrew, a work that
occupied twenty years. This version became known as the Vulgate and was the Bible of
the Roman Catholic church and of Europe until the Reformation.
We shall devote a separate study to the Septuagint and to other ancient manuscripts.