Compare Bible Verses in Latin and English

Did you know that both of the first major translations of the Bible into English were based on St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate translation? Both the Douay-Rheims (Catholic) and King James (Protestant) versions were translated from the Latin version, with reference to the ancient Hebrew and Greek originals. You can compare familiar English verses to their Latin originals at this web site or this one.

The Latin translation of the Bible was called the Vulgate (Sacra Biblia Vulgata = "the Holy Bible in the language of the common people") because most early Christians in the western parts of the Roman Empire (including Rome!) did not speak or read Greek, the language in which the New Testament was written, as well as the language of the Septuagint, the Greek version of Jewish scripture that forms the Christian New Testament; therefore, early on various parts of the Bible were translated into Latin, to make them accessible to Latin speakers. Some of these early Latin translations were not very good, so in the late fourth century St Jerome set about completing and correcting the Latin translations already in existence. The result was what we call the Vulgate, the Bible in the Latin of (often illiterate) ordinary Romans.

The fact that the Vulgate was in ordinary, no-frills Latin is a real boon to modern Christians learning Latin. Reading a familiar, faithful English translation of the Bible (such as the Revised Standard Version) alongside the Vulgate is an excellent way to practice and improve your knowledge of Latin and of the Bible! You may find that by recognizing the Latin roots of familiar English words you gain deeper insight into their meaning.

If you're interested in owning a bi-lingual (Latin/English) Bible, Baronius Press has recently published a very beautiful one, with the Clementine Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims versions side by side.