Book of Genesis: Parallel Latin-Latin: Sebastian Castellio's and the Vulgate

Sebastian Castellio (Sébastien Châteillon; 1515 – 29 December 1563) was a French preacher and theologian. As an Expert in Latin, Hebrew and Greek, he translated the Bible into Classical Latin. His translation was published in 1555. The Latin Vulgate – the most popular Latin translation of the Bible - contains many instances of Hebraism and generally-speaking closer to the original Hebrew, where Castellio’s translation is more lax at times, in order to adhere to more idiomatic classical Latin.

This work presents Castellio’s translation of Genesis, paralleled with the Vulgate. We believe that due to the different styles, this work can be of great value to the learner of Latin, as he can appreciate and compare different kinds of expression for basically the same meanings. Here are several examples to illustrate this point:

20:10 Castellio: Quid tibi veniebat in mentem, cum istud faceres?

20:10 Vulgate: Quid vidisti, ut hoc faceres?

23:8 Castellio: Si vobis cordi est

23:8 Vulgate: Si placet animae vestrae

31:35 Castellio: Noli, Domine, aegre ferre

31:35 Vulgate: Ne irascatur dominus meus