This was for the use of the Alexandrian
Jews. The version was called the Septuagint, or translation of the
seventy. The various portions of the translation are of unequal merit,
the rendering of the Pentateuch being the best; but the completed work was
of great value, not only to the Jews dispersed in the countries where
Greek had been adopted as the national language, but it opened the way for
the coming of Christianity: the study of its prophecies prepared the minds
of men for the great Advent, and the version was used by the earlier
Christians as the historic ground of their faith.
The books of the New Testament were written in Greek, with the probable
exception of St. Matthew's Gospel, which, if written in Hebrew, or
Aramaean, was immediately translated into Greek.
Contemporary with the origin of Christianity, and the vast extension of
the Roman Empire, the Latin had become the all-absorbing tongue; and, as
might be expected, numerous versions of the whole and of parts of the
Scriptures were made in that language, and one of these complete versions,
which grew in favor, almost superseding all others, was called the _Vetus
Itala_.
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