Biblia Sacra Vulgata (Vulgate): Holy Bible in Latin

Hardcover – November 1, 2007
2032
English
1598561782
9781598561784
31 Oct
This is Jerome’s translation of the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures into Latin. It was recognized as authoritative during the Council of Trent (1546). It includes a Latin introduction, and expanded Apocrypha: Psalm 151, Epistle to the Laodiceans, 3 & 4 Esdras, and the Prayer of Manasses.

Reviews (63)

A Practical Review

Heads up, kids. This bible is in LATIN. To be very clear, this bible is exactly what it claims to be. I confess I thought it would be a little more: a bible with Latin text and some English footnotes and an English introduction and English annotations. This it is not. Picture a regular English bible, then picture the same bible in Latin. That is this bible. Introduction, footnotes, annotations, table of contents all in Latin. Nothing wrong with this! The description did not explicitly claim anything otherwise. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting. The product itself is of medium-high quality. It's a little smaller than I hoped (but again, not inconsistent with the product description). The pages are thin, but very, well, biblical. It lays flat fairly well, and is very portable. Overall just a bit overpriced, in my opinion, but still good to have on the shelf, even for the recreational scholar such as myself.

Wonderful!

I was very pleased with this book. It has been a wonderful tool in learning Latin. For all of you Protestants out there, don't get tripped up with the numbering of the Psalms. The Catholic Bible combines Psalms 9 & 10 and separates Psalm 145. So for example, Psalm 119 is labeled Psalm 118.

Latin is awesome!

I use this Bible plus the Douay-Rhiems translate to further my Latin studies. This Bible is well built but expensive. But hey you cant just run to WalMart and pick up a Vulgate.

Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Holy Bible in Latin

This edition is the one I like to refer to for its brief scholarly apparatus criticus.

Beautiful book!

I love this translation of the Bible. I think every Catholic should try to learn Latin and read this Bible. It really is an excellent translation. The notes are magnificent if a bit confusing at first. But once you know what the small letters mean, then you are good to go. I was a little disappointed with the quality of the book I received. Some of the pages had become bent. A small issue, however. I'm very happy with the purchase! Thank you Amazon for getting it to me so quickly!

Excellent

This is an excellent bible to have, if you need or want to study it in Latin.

Excellent product.

This book is absolutely gorgeous. The edition is itself academic, includes the prologue to each book and disposes of the tentative modern punctuation . Overall a fantastic product, well worth for any biblical scholars.

A superb, competent textual edition of a formidable collections ...

A superb, competent textual edition of a formidable collections of Latin MSS [Manuscripts]. It is the gold standard as well for all serious students of Biblical scholarship in the Latinate tradition.

recommended work, comprehensive

nice volume and designed well by a very adept scholar. the research required to produce this complete bible from so many sources is astonishing to read.

Pretty Much Exactly What I Wanted

Could not be happier with this Vulgate edition. The only thing I’d point out to a potential buyer is that the text will be difficult to read for those who have trouble reading small print. Other than that, heartily recommend

A Practical Review

Heads up, kids. This bible is in LATIN. To be very clear, this bible is exactly what it claims to be. I confess I thought it would be a little more: a bible with Latin text and some English footnotes and an English introduction and English annotations. This it is not. Picture a regular English bible, then picture the same bible in Latin. That is this bible. Introduction, footnotes, annotations, table of contents all in Latin. Nothing wrong with this! The description did not explicitly claim anything otherwise. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting. The product itself is of medium-high quality. It's a little smaller than I hoped (but again, not inconsistent with the product description). The pages are thin, but very, well, biblical. It lays flat fairly well, and is very portable. Overall just a bit overpriced, in my opinion, but still good to have on the shelf, even for the recreational scholar such as myself.

Wonderful!

I was very pleased with this book. It has been a wonderful tool in learning Latin. For all of you Protestants out there, don't get tripped up with the numbering of the Psalms. The Catholic Bible combines Psalms 9 & 10 and separates Psalm 145. So for example, Psalm 119 is labeled Psalm 118.

Latin is awesome!

I use this Bible plus the Douay-Rhiems translate to further my Latin studies. This Bible is well built but expensive. But hey you cant just run to WalMart and pick up a Vulgate.

Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Holy Bible in Latin

This edition is the one I like to refer to for its brief scholarly apparatus criticus.

Beautiful book!

I love this translation of the Bible. I think every Catholic should try to learn Latin and read this Bible. It really is an excellent translation. The notes are magnificent if a bit confusing at first. But once you know what the small letters mean, then you are good to go. I was a little disappointed with the quality of the book I received. Some of the pages had become bent. A small issue, however. I'm very happy with the purchase! Thank you Amazon for getting it to me so quickly!

Excellent

This is an excellent bible to have, if you need or want to study it in Latin.

Excellent product.

This book is absolutely gorgeous. The edition is itself academic, includes the prologue to each book and disposes of the tentative modern punctuation . Overall a fantastic product, well worth for any biblical scholars.

A superb, competent textual edition of a formidable collections ...

A superb, competent textual edition of a formidable collections of Latin MSS [Manuscripts]. It is the gold standard as well for all serious students of Biblical scholarship in the Latinate tradition.

recommended work, comprehensive

nice volume and designed well by a very adept scholar. the research required to produce this complete bible from so many sources is astonishing to read.

Pretty Much Exactly What I Wanted

Could not be happier with this Vulgate edition. The only thing I’d point out to a potential buyer is that the text will be difficult to read for those who have trouble reading small print. Other than that, heartily recommend

Great

This book is, quite obviously, great. Its biggest fault is that the pages are far too thin and fragile; it would have been better had it been published with a greater length and width so as to allow for thicker paper. The symbols showing different manuscript sources are also sometimes a bit too ubiquitous, and choke the text itself. But I like that the text maintains the old manuscript look (little punctuation, etc.), whereas I think the Vatican copies's texts probably look more modern. A great buy.

Five Stars

A great collection undoubtedly!

looks great on my shelf and fits well in the hand ...

Splendid edition, well bound, looks great on my shelf and fits well in the hand when reading.

Happy Customer!

Awesome! Good quality Bible. If you're looking for a copy of the official Bible of the Catholic Church, this the one to get.

Great book, extremely small print.

I was expecting a much larger book. Physically it is small and the text is teeny tiny. Not for old eyes. Other than that, it's very well made and is what it is: the Bible in Latin.

beautiful and timeless

You know the text and it's all online, so as for this edition... The full text, with apocrypha, without punctuation (as in the original), with a small guide to the various manuscripts and papyri from which the modern recension is assembled, and with a nice hard cover and attractive pages. The only problem is that the pages, while made of good quality paper, are a little too thin, and have too much showthrough to be truly appealing. I find it useful and enjoyable, so I am drawn to it whenever I have the time, but it seems to me they could do just a little better with slightly thicker pages. Showthrough is quite a distraction for me when reading these venerable books that are made of such thin paper, and it would have been easy enough to fix. Recommended nonetheless.

Exactly what I wanted!!

This text was exactly what I was looking for. Complete old and new testaments in full Latin. Vulgate is wonderful for volume translating and this textbook has already started paying for itself!

Amazing

Quality is good, as expected, came quick enough. Good book.

GREAT BOOK

GREAT DEAL

I am glad I have this book

I am glad I have this book. Excellent workmanship: paper, printing, binding. As to the content - well enough centuries have already given an estimate of its worth. As to the provider: they did it promptly and satisfactorily. Enrique

Perfect

Pristine

eh

This is not a particularly handsome volume, especially for the price. It is about the same size and quality as the bible you find in the bedside drawer in a hotel. Very small type, very thin pages. Unlike the Gideon's bible though, this one is in Latin. It is nice to have a Latin bible. This will not be some kind of treasured family heirloom, however.

Fantastic

I'm a Latin novice, but this is a beautiful Bible is worth learning it for. Construction is very good, its surprisingly small, bookmark sash works well too. Highly recommended!

Five Stars

A most useful resource and a excellent binding.

It's a beautiful bible that's beautifully written.

The Bible is for my son for Christmas. He's going to love it!

Five Stars

son loves it

An independent witness to the original readings.

Most other editions "correct" the Latin readings from modern critical Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic editions. In contrast, this is a semi-critical reconstruction of a translation into Latin (mostly by Jerome) from manuscripts that were older than any that are now known. As such, it is an independent witness to the original readings of the Scriptures, complementing critical editions in Greek or Hebrew/Aramaic. Catholic readers looking for a Latin edition that is official for use in Roman rites should purchase The Nova Vulgata (Bibliorum Sacrorum nova vulgata editio), also known as the Neo-Vulgate, which is the text included in the Nestle-Aland Greek-Latin edition of the New Testament. The Vulgate contains books that were reputedly included in spite of Jerome's personal objections to them. While those books are considered noncanonical, either by Protestants or by both Protestants and Catholics, they help provide background for our understanding of the other books. This edition's textured hard binding appears to be substantial, but it font is fairly small, and its paper is extremely thin and very fragile.

Beautiful book

I give this book its high rating mostly based on aesthetic value. I love the paper, the binding is perfect, the print is impeccable, and the size is a force for good in my life. Though I would consider myself an agnostic humanist, I have grown to appreciate the Bible very much for its contents of humanity. The Latin makes that cultural experience even more fantastic. I have not fully immersed myself yet and maybe I am writing this review too hastily, yet I already feel like this book will last a long time on my shelf and be much loved.

Book looks great - I just can't make any sense out of ...

Book looks great - I just can't make any sense out of the words...just kidding ;) Our son-in-law is studying Latin and this was a great gift for him.

Five Stars

Thank you!

Four Stars

Very easy to read,nice presentation and harmony between the different chapters

Five Stars

i recieved

Fine but Small Print

Print is tiny but text is fine.

Five Stars

Arrived in excellent condition. Was a present for our son who is taking Latin.

A Great Gift

I'm not the religious type, but my boyfriend's parents are. I got this for a gift for them for the holidays, and they LOVED it. I wanted to be different, so I'm like, "What the heck. I'll get them a bible in Latin." Now, the mother actually spoils me more than her own daughters.

Biblia Vulgata

Although there is no punctuation or capitals, the text is divided into chapters and verses and is easy to read.l It is a wonderful way to read the Bible in a new light.

Classical Bible Studies

I purchased the Vulgata Bible and donated it to Veteran's Administration Medical Centre chapel where my Chaplain friend is comparing it to the Talmud. They were excited about the holy book. He does classical studies in Latin, Hebrew and Greek.

Biblia Sacra Vulgata

If you're looking for a Latin bible, this is definitely the one. Clean cover and neat typing! I love it.

Five Stars

Love my Latin bible

The best gift ever!

The book is just fabulous! I am glad I have it and can put the Latin I am learning to good use.

Great Latin Bible

I bought this for my niece last year for Christmas. This was the best price, and it was exactly what she wanted. She is a Latin and Greek scholar and she wanted a Latin bible i.e., a copy of St Jerome's translation from the original Hebrew and Aramaic. I think the first translation from Hebrew was in Greek, and some of those writings may have been used as well. Anyway, I just know that this is the one she wanted and she was thrilled to receive it.

Great book! Good way to reinforce the Latin!

My son wanted to reinforce the Latin he is learning and decided this was the gift he wanted. It has been great!

Five Stars

I LOVE READING THE BIBLE IN LATIN. I CAN READ IN FIVE LANGUAGES. BEAUTIFUL BIBLE!

Biblia

A wonderful Book, nicely arranged in page, in an easy to read format. Other than that, what can I say, it's the beautiful, wise and warm Bible.

Fifth Edition. Tacky advertisements.

I would just like to point out that I bought this listed as the fourth edition and received the fifth edition (editio quinta), ISBN 978-3-438-05303-9. That is fine, however a few advertisements for other holy works available from Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft that are printed on the last pages of the Bible itself seem especially inappropriate and profane, considering the fact that even the publisher has labelled this work "sacra". Beside that, of course, it remains the gold standard.

The Vulgate

I learn Latin well with this book since I know the Bible cover to cover(English).

Table of contents

Maybe I'm missing something here...but I took delivery of this and it looks very nice BUT it doesn't seem to have a table of contents..!!!???? I'd love to know why that is?

If it only had bigger fonts and ...

Good & beauty manufacturing *but* the typography (font size) is very small and the pages' paper is very thin. About the books' text, the edition is _not_ the Clementine edition nor the Nova Vulgata edition, but as the editors say in the english introduction: "a new text, established from the evidence of the manuscripts..." although its an amazing academic/scholar work with a superb apparatus criticus, the editors in their efforts to preserve and imitate with maximum fidelity the old manuscripts/writings and style, decided to eliminate all punctuation signs! (sigh) and all divisions between books!! They also decided to preserve the originals' orthographic inconsistencies/errors, but well, at least they decided to use capitalization for proper names. So if you are learning to read Latin or want to learn, this book is _not_ for you. Therefore, without any punctuation marks, almost without capitalization, without divisions between books, with text in tiny fonts & also very tiny chapter and verse numbers, this book is a little bit difficult to read and search even if you already know the Bible.

The classic critical edition

I'm a new student of Latin, and not an expert on the Vulgate, so take my review for what it's worth. As far as I can tell, there are three versions of the Vulgate in print today, and I have copies of all three of them. So I thought that perhaps those who don't want to buy three versions might appreciate a neophyte's impression of their relative strengths and weaknesses. The full names on the title pages are rather long, so I'll refer to these three versions briefly as the Stuttgart Vulgate (Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem), the New Vulgate (Bibliorum Sacrorum nova vulgata editio or Novum Testamentum Latine), and the Madrid Clementine (Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam Clementinam). The Stuttgart Vulgate is a compact one-volume digest of the big multi-volume critical editions, especially the Benedictine Old Testament and Wordsworth and White's New Testament. It comes with a critical apparatus showing the more important variant readings from the Latin manuscripts and editions. This version comes with the prologues of St Jerome, the old medieval critical apparatus of the Gospels (canones evangelorum), the apocryphal books of III and IV Ezra, Psalm 151, Prayer of Manasses, and the Epistle to the Laodiceans, as well as the protocanonical and deuterocanical books. It also contains two complete Psalters, both by St. Jerome: The Psalterium Gallicanum and the Psalterium juxta Hebraicum. The two psalters are laid out side-by-side on facing pages to facilitate comparison. This version attempts to reconstruct the experience of reading a medieval manuscript, so the spelling is medieval, which can be a problem for anyone used to the Clementine, and to anyone looking up words in a dictionary. The text also lacks punctuation: no commas, colons, periods, question marks, or quotation marks; this actually is not a major problem in Latin, which is so rich in conjunctions. However, the lack of question marks sometimes gives me pause, as when Caiaphas says to Jesus "Tu es Christus Filius Benedicti" (Mc 14,61). The text is well cross referenced, although the titles of books in the cross references are given in German rather than Latin. The typeface is modern and easy to read. The Clementine (you can find it used under the title "Biblia Sacra, Vulgatae editionis Sixti V. Pontificis maximi jussu recongnita et Clementis VIII Auctoritate Edita") was the official Latin text of the Catholic Church from 1502 to 1979. The Madrid edition of this classic includes a great many magisterial documents, and the biblical text is footnoted also with references to magisterial documents, although the prefaces of St. Jerome are missing, along with Clement's appendix with its three apocrypha. Color maps are provided, but they are labeled in Spanish, not Latin. The orthography is fully modern, with modern punctuation and typeface, but also quite a few typos. Like the Stuttgart Vulgate, this edition has two psalters in adjacent columns for easy comparison: The traditional Psalterium Gallicanum, and the new Psalterium Pianum, a modern (1940's) translation of the Hebrew into neo-classical Latin. One of the delights of the Clementine is that it eclectically preserves some of the text from the ancient pre-Vulgate Latin versions, which reflect the early Latin liturgy of the Church. The New Vulgate has replaced the Clementine as the official Latin text of the Catholic Church. Its New Testament and most of its Old, like the Stuttgart Vulgate, are based on a critical reconstruction of the original Vulgate text. However, in some cases the ancient text was amended to accord with the modern Greek and Hebrew critical editions. The spelling and punctuation are all modern, so in the majority of the verses the New Vulgate text is identical to the Clementine, but in the Psalms and especially in Judith and Tobit, there are significant differences. I know of two editions of the new Vulgate, the one from Libreria Editrice Vaticana, and the Nestle-Aland edition. We can expect to see much more of the New Vulgate now that its use has been endorsed in the recent encyclical Litugiam Authenticam. The Vatican edition can be found under the title "Bibliorum Sacrorum nova vulgata editio". It contains the complete Old and New Testaments, but none of Jerome's prologues, nor cross references, nor commentary. Its critical apparatus is minimal. It seems to be designed more for use in the pulpit than the armchair. Physically, it is an excellent tome made from red leather with gold lettering, large typeface in one column with plenty of margin on thick pages. It looks magnificent on my bookshelf. More likely to be on my bureau is the Nestle-Aland edition of the New Vulgate. It contains only the New Testament and is sold under the title "Novum Testamentum Latine". The editors provide you with a thorough critical apparatus comparing the New Vulgate with other printed Latin versions such as the Clementine and Stuttgart, mentioned above, the Sistina, the Gutenberg, and other classic editions (the Complutensian and the Wittenberg, as well as those of Erasmus, Stephanus, Hentenius, and Plantinus). Like the Madrid Clementine, this edition has color maps, but they are labeled in English, not Latin.

Not Just the Best Vulgate Currently Available, This Edition is Number One

In addition to this superb edition of the Vulgate (which I always refer to when translating from the Greek), I also possess the authorized edition from the Holy See (which seems to be currently out of print. Presumably the number of Latin scholars among the Catholic clergy has declined somewhat from the peak of 50 years ago). This Papal edition does not have Psalm 151 or Laodiceans, but prints (and in very small print at that) the Prayer of Manasseh and 3 and 4 Esdras as an appendix. The scholarship in both books is impeccable. And of course I referred to them both (the text seems to be almost identical, but the notes, of course, vary considerably) when translating the original portions of 4 Esdras for inclusion in

Roman Catholic Necessity

Absolutely wonderful and a must have for all who profess the one true Roman Catholic faith!

The Size of the Letters is Small. Not for aged persons' eyes.

The book is fine. The only thing I find not meeting my expectation is that the size of the letter font is quite small. The book may be fine to young people but not recommended to old people in their fifties and later that have deteorating eyesights.

Quo Vadis?

I am not Roman Catholic. I bought the book to enhance my knowledge of Ecclestiastical Latin. It is my most prized possession. I am prersently reading it from cover to cover for the fourth time. It affords wonderful insight into the history and attitudes of an almost forgotten world. The Bible in ancient script is considerably more raw and entertaining. Some passages are incredibly beautiful. Read at your own peril.

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