The first Latin Bible was the Vetus Itala, which was used at Rome for about two hundred years before Jerome - it was a cobbled-together edition of the Bible, translated by many hands from the Greek.
Most editions of the Vulgate have two Latin translations of the Psalms - the old Vetus Itala translation from the Greek (which was provided because Christians in Rome had been chanting and praying that particular translation of the Psalms for generations and did not want to change) and Jerome's new translation from the Hebrew.
Could we also say the first standardized edition of the Bible in any language?
In 331 Emperor Constantine ordered Eusebius to supervise an edition of 50 Bibles (at that time an enormous undertaking) to be distributed to the bishops of the East.
No authenticated copy of this edition survives (most were presumably destroyed in the Muslim invasions), but it was theoretically the first standardized edition of the entire Bible.
Jerome's is therefore the second oldest standardized edition of the Bible and the oldest surviving standardized edition of the Bible in any language.
You must be a Latin scholar or a Bible scholar. I thought about changing the title last night and then decided I would let my lack of knowledge fall for itself.
Thanks.
Jerome's is therefore the second oldest standardized edition of the Bible and the oldest surviving standardized edition of the Bible in any language.