The Biblical Canon of
the Latin Vulgate

The Latin Vulgate, is a late-4th-century Latin version of the Bible largely translated by Jerome of Stridon.  The original work is no longer extant, but many manuscript copies have survived.  The Vulgate is usually credited as being the first translation of the Old Testament into Latin directly from the Hebrew Tanakh rather than from the Greek Septuagint.  Augustine of Hippo, a contemporary of Jerome, said;

“in our own day the priest Jerome, a great scholar and master of all three tongues, has made a translation into Latin, not from Greek but directly from the original Hebrew.”  (The City of God, Book XVII ch. 43)

Jerome had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to revise the Vetus Latina (earlier Latin translations) text of the four Gospels from the best Greek texts. By the time of Damasus’ death in 384, Jerome had completed this task and went on to translate the entire Bible by 410 A.D.  Jerome’s translation of the New Testament was revisions of Vetus Latina translations he did while having the Greek as reference.  Having separately translated the book of Psalms from the Greek Hexapla Septuagint, Jerome translated all of the books of the Jewish Bible from Hebrew himself. He also translated the Deuterocanonical books of Tobit, Judith from Aramaic versions, the additions to the Book of Esther from the Common Septuagint and the additions to the Book of Daniel (the Song of the Three Children, the Story of Susanna, and the Story of Bel and the Dragon) from the Greek of Theodotion.  He took the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah from earlier Vetus Latina translations.  In Jerome’s Vulgate, the Hebrew Book of Ezra–Nehemiah is translated as the single book of “Ezra”, which he argues that the two books of Ezra found in the Septuagint and Vetus Latina, Esdras A and Esdras B, represented “variant examples” of a single Hebrew original.

Sources: 

  • Houghton, H. A. G. (2016). The Latin New Testament; a Guide to its Early History, Texts and Manuscripts. Oxford University Press.
  • Edmon L. Gallagher and John D. Meade. The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity:  Texts and Analysis.  Oxford University Press. 2017

The Canon List of
the Latin Vulgate:

Source Used:  Edmon L. Gallagher and John D. Meade. The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity:  Texts and Analysis.  Oxford University Press. 2017

The New Testament Canon:

 

Latin Vulgate N.T. Canon

Modern Catholic N.T. Canon

Modern Protestant N.T. Canon

Matthew

Matthew

Matthew

Mark

Mark

Mark

Luke 

Luke 

Luke 

John

John

John

Acts

Acts

Acts

Romans

Romans

Romans

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

Galatians

Galatians

Galatians

Ephesians

Ephesians

Ephesians

Philippians

Philippians

Philippians

Colossians

Colossians

Colossians

1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

1 Timothy

1 Timothy

1 Timothy

2 Timothy

2 Timothy

2 Timothy

Titus

Titus

Titus

Philemon

Philemon

Philemon

Hebrews

Hebrews

Hebrews

James

James

James

1 Peter

1 Peter

1 Peter

2 Peter

2 Peter

2 Peter

1 John

1 John

1 John

2 John

2 John

2 John

3 John

3 John

3 John

Jude

Jude

Jude

Revelation

Revelation

Revelation

The Old Testament Canon:

Latin Vulgate O.T. Canon

Modern Catholic O.T. Canon

Modern Protestant O.T. Canon

Genesis

Genesis

Genesis

Exodus

Exodus

Exodus

Leviticus

Leviticus

Leviticus

Numbers

Numbers

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Joshua

Joshua

Judges

Judges

Judges

Ruth

Ruth

Ruth

1 Kingdoms (Samuel)

1 Samuel

1 Samuel

2 Kingdoms (Samuel)

2 Samuel

2 Samuel

3 Kingdoms

1 Kings

1 Kings

4 Kingdoms

2 Kings

2 Kings

1 Paralipomenon

1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles

2 Paralipomenon

2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

1 Esdras

1 Esdras (1 Ezra)

Ezra (1 Ezra)

2 Esdras

2 Esdras (2 Ezra)

Nehemiah (2 Ezra)

Esther

Esther

Esther

Tobit

Tobit

 

Judith

Judith

 

1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees

 

2 Maccabees

2 Maccabees

 
   

Job

Job

Job

Psalms

Psalms

Psalms

Proverbs

Proverbs

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes

Canticle of Canticles

Canticle of Canticles

Song of Songs

Wisdom of Solomon

Book of Wisdom

 

Wisdom of Jesus Sirach

Ecclesiasticus / Sirach

 

Isaiah

Isaiah

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Jeremiah

Jeremiah

Lamentatons

Lamentations

Lamentations

Baruch

Baruch

 

Ezechiel

Ezechiel

Ezekiel

Daniel + Susanna + Bel & the Dragon

Daniel

Daniel

Hosea

Hosea / Osee

Hosea

Joel

Joel

Joel

Amos

Amos

Amos

Obadiah

Obadiah

Obadiah

Jonah

Jonah

Jonah

Micah

Micah

Micah

Nahum

Nahum

Nahum

Habakkuk

Habakkuk

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Zephaniah

Zephaniah

Hagai

Hagai

Hagai

Zecharias

Zecharias

Zechariah

Malachias

Malachias

Malachi