The Latin translation of the Bible largely prepared by St. Jerome in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, which became the standard version for the Western Church.

Historical Information

Commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 CE, Jerome revised the Old Latin Gospels and then translated most of the Old Testament directly from Hebrew sources ('Hebraica veritas'), completing around 405 CE. He also translated Tobit and Judith from Aramaic and revised the Psalms based on the Septuagint. It gradually replaced the various Old Latin versions.

Usage

Standard Bible of the Western Church for over a millennium. Official text of the Roman Catholic Church. Base for many early vernacular translations. Used as a reference or source by later translators (e.g., Erasmus, Luther, WEB for Apocrypha).

Trustworthiness

A highly influential translation by a major scholar of antiquity. While a secondary witness compared to original language texts, it reflects Hebrew and Greek manuscripts available in the 4th century, making it valuable for textual criticism. Its accuracy is generally respected, though influenced by Jerome's sources and interpretations. The Sixto-Clementine edition (1592) was the Catholic standard for centuries; the Nova Vulgata (1979) is the current official version.