Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
was void; but,if they heard without disallowance, it was to remain good. (Numbers 30:3-18) (3)
Votive offerings arising from the produce of any impure traffic were wholly forbidden. (23:18)
•For vows of abstinence, see Corban.
•For vows of extermination Anathema and (Ezra 10:8; Micah 4:13) It seems that the practice of
shaving the head at the expiration of a votive period was not limited to the Nazaritic vow. (Acts
18:18; 21:24)
Vulgate, The
the Latin version of the Bible. The influence which it exercised upon western Christianity is
scarcely less than that of the LXX. upon the Greek churches. Both the Greek and the latin Vulgate
have been long neglected; yet the Vulgate should have a very deep interest for all the western
churches, many centuries it was the only Bible generally used; and, directly or indirectly is the real
parent of all the vernacular versions of western Europe. The Gothic version of Ulphilas alone is
independent of it. The name is equivalent to Vulgata editio (the current text of Holy Scripture. This
translation was made by Jerome-Eusebius Hieronymus—who way born in 329 A.D. at Stridon in
Dalmatia, and died at Bethlehem in 420 A.D. This great scholar probably alone for 1500 years
possessed the qualifications necessary for producing an original version of the Scriptures for the
use of the Latin churches. Going to Rome, he was requested by Pope Damascus, A.D. 383, to make
a revision of the old Latin version of the New Testament, whose history is lost in obscurity. In
middle life Jerome began the study of the Hebrew, and made a new version of the Old Testament
from the original Hebrew which was completed A.D. 404. The critical labors of Jerome were
received with a loud outcry of reproach. He was accused of disturbing the repose of the Church
and shaking the foundations of faith. But clamor based upon ignorance soon dies away; and the
New translation gradually came into use equally with the Old, and at length supplanted it. The vast
power which the Vulgate has had in determining the theological terms of western Christendom can
hardly be overrated. By far the greater part of the current doctrinal terminology is based on the
Vulgate. Predestination, justification, supererogation (supererogo), sanctification, salvation,
mediation, regeneration, revelation, visitation (met.) propitiation, first appear in the Old Vulgate.
Grace, redemption, election, reconciliation, satisfaction, inspiration, scripture, were devoted there
to a new and holy use. Sacrament and communion are from the same source; and though baptism
is Greek, it comes to us from the Latin. It would be easy to extend the list by the addition of orders,
penance, congregation, priest ; but it can be seen from the forms already brought forward that the
Vulgate has brought forward that the Vulgate has left its mark both upon our language and upon
our thoughts. It was the version which alone they knew who handed down to the reformers the rich
stores of medieval wisdom; the version with which the greatest of the reformers were most familiar,
and from which they had drawn their earliest knowledge of divine truth.
Vulture
The rendering in the Authorized Version of the Hebrew daah, dayyah, and also in (Job 28:7)
of ayyah . There seems no doubt that the Authorized Versions translation is incorrect, and that the
original words refer to some of the smaller species of raptorial birds, as kites or buzzards. [Kite]
But the Hebrew word nesher, invariably rendered “eagle” in the Authorized Version, is probably
the vulture. [Eagle]
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William Smith