Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>For while there were other interpreters who translated these\r\nsacred oracles out of the Hebrew tongue into Greek, as Aquila,\r\nSymmachus, and Theodotion, and also that translation which,\r\nas the name of the author is unknown, is quoted as the fifth\r\nedition, yet the Church has received this Septuagint translation\r\njust as if it were the only one; and it has been used by\r\nthe Greek Christian people, most of whom are not aware that\r\nthere is any other. From this translation there has also been\r\nmade a translation in the Latin tongue, which the Latin\r\nchurches use. Our times, however, have enjoyed the advantage\r\nof the presbyter Jerome, a man most learned, and skilled\r\nin all three languages, who translated these same Scriptures\r\ninto the Latin speech, not from the Greek, but from the\r\nHebrew. But although the Jews acknowledge this very\r\nlearned labour of his to be faithful, while they contend that\r\nthe Septuagint translators have erred in many places, still the\r\nchurches of Christ judge that no one should be preferred to\r\nthe authority of so many men, chosen for this very great work\r\nby Eleazar, who was then high priest; for even if there had\r\nnot appeared in them one spirit, without doubt divine, and<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_272\">[Pg 272]</a></span>\r\nthe seventy learned men had, after the manner of men, compared\r\ntogether the words of their translation, that what pleased\r\nthem all might stand, no single translator ought to be preferred\r\nto them; but since so great a sign of divinity has\r\nappeared in them, certainly, if any other translator of their\r\nScriptures from the Hebrew into any other tongue is faithful,\r\nin that case he agrees with these seventy translators, and if\r\nhe is not found to agree with them, then we ought to believe\r\nthat the prophetic gift is with them. For the same Spirit\r\nwho was in the prophets when they spoke these things was\r\nalso in the seventy men when they translated them, so that\r\nassuredly they could also say something else, just as if the\r\nprophet himself had said both, because it would be the same\r\nSpirit who said both; and could say the same thing differently,\r\nso that, although the words were not the same, yet the same\r\nmeaning should shine forth to those of good understanding;\r\nand could omit or add something, so that even by this it\r\nmight be shown that there was in that work not human\r\nbondage, which the translator owed to the words, but rather\r\ndivine power, which filled and ruled the mind of the translator.\r\nSome, however, have thought that the Greek copies of\r\nthe Septuagint version should be emended from the Hebrew\r\ncopies; yet they did not dare to take away what the Hebrew\r\nlacked and the Septuagint had, but only added what was\r\nfound in the Hebrew copies and was lacking in the Septuagint,\r\nand noted them by placing at the beginning of the verses\r\ncertain marks in the form of stars which they call asterisks.\r\nAnd those things which the Hebrew copies have not, but the\r\nSeptuagint have, they have in like manner marked at the\r\nbeginning of the verses by horizontal spit-shaped marks like\r\nthose by which we denote ounces; and many copies having\r\nthese marks are circulated even in Latin.<a id=\"FNanchor_578_578\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_578_578\">[578]</a> But we cannot,\r\nwithout inspecting both kinds of copies, find out those things\r\nwhich are neither omitted nor added, but expressed differently,\r\nwhether they yield another meaning not in itself unsuitable,\r\nor can be shown to explain the same meaning in another way.\r\nIf, then, as it behoves us, we behold nothing else in these\r\nScriptures than what the Spirit of God has spoken through<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_273\">[Pg 273]</a></span>\r\nmen, if anything is in the Hebrew copies and is not in the\r\nversion of the Seventy, the Spirit of God did not choose to\r\nsay it through them, but only through the prophets. But\r\nwhatever is in the Septuagint and not in the Hebrew copies,\r\nthe same Spirit chose rather to say through the latter, thus\r\nshowing that both were prophets. For in that manner He\r\nspoke as He chose, some things through Isaiah, some through\r\nJeremiah, some through several prophets, or else the same\r\nthing through this prophet and through that. Further, whatever\r\nis found in both editions, that one and the same Spirit\r\nwilled to say through both, but so as that the former preceded\r\nin prophesying, and the latter followed in prophetically\r\ninterpreting them; because, as the one Spirit of peace was in\r\nthe former when they spoke true and concordant words, so the\r\nselfsame one Spirit hath appeared in the latter, when, without\r\nmutual conference, they yet interpreted all things as if with\r\none mouth.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK EIGHTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-457"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"ac28c839e82350dfc18c9f5efdd8990e832a032e8c8bebe4c13a3918b1bcfec1","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_578_578","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_578_578","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_578_578\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_578_578\"><span class=\"label\">[578]</span></a> Var. reading, \"both in Greek and Latin.\"</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_578_578","text_sha256":"92c64dad063dfac62a36001b7755cb6bbfdcb170839de07f32b0477d7823c986","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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