My Rock and my salvation, 2: Coverdale and the Vulgate

Miles Coverdale

In my last post I examined all the uses in the Psalms of the metaphor rock to refer to God, comparing a standard English translation (RSV) with a recent English translation of the Septuagint (LXX) (NET). As it turns out, Miles Coverdale's 16th-century translation of the Psalms in the Book of Common Prayer does virtually the same thing, with one exception. A little digging reveals that Coverdale based his translation on the Latin Vulgate then in use in those churches in communion with Rome. 

The Vulgate appears to follow the LXX's skittishness in referring to God as Rock, but Augustine insists that Jerome translated his Latin Old Testament directly from the Hebrew. Nevertheless, Jerome's initial translation of the Psalms was from the LXX. Could there have been a Hebrew version of the Psalms now lost to us that formed the basis of both LXX and Vulgate versions? Might this Hebrew version have already shunned the rock metaphor? I won't venture a guess, as I am not especially competent to do so. But I will point out that my personal copy of the Latin Vulgate Bible has two columns for the Psalms: one for the traditional Clementine Vulgate and the other for a newer Latin translation authorized by Pope Pius XII in 1945, the latter of which recovers the rock metaphors for God. Oddly enough, Coverdale's translation does assert that "the Lord is my stony rock" in Psalm 18:1, but that is the single exception.

Psalm 18:31
RSV: For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?—
Coverdale: For who is God, but the Lord: or who hath any strength, except our God?

Psalm 18:46
RSV: The Lord lives; and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation,
Coverdale: The Lord liveth, and blessed be my strong helper: and praised be the God of my salvation.

Psalm 19:14
RSV: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Coverdale: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord: my strength, and my redeemer.

Psalm 28:1
RSV: To thee, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the Pit.
Coverdale: Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my strength: think no scorn of me; lest, if thou make as thou thou hearest not, I become lik them that go down into the pit.

Psalm 42:9
RSV: I say to God, my rock: “Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
Coverdale: I will say unto the God of my strength, Why has thou forgotten me: why go I thus heavily, while the enemy opopresseth me?

Psalm 62:2
RSV: He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved.
Coverdale: He verily is my strength and my salvation: he is my defence, so that I shall not greatly fall.

Psalm 62:6
RSV: He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
Coverdale: He truly is my strength and my salvation: he is my defnece, so that I shall not fall.

Psalm 71:3
RSV: Be thou to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress.
Coverdale: Be thou my stronghold, where until I may alway resort: thou has promised to help me, for thou art my house of defence, and my castle.

Psalm 78:35
RSV: They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.
Coverdale: And they remembered that God was their strength: and that the high God was their redeemer.

Psalm 89:26
RSV: He shall cry to me, ‘Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
Coverdale: He shall call me, Thou art my Father: my God, and my strong salvation.

Psalm 92:15
RSV: to show that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
Coverdale: That they may shew how true the Lord my strength is: and that there is no unrighteousness in him.

Psalm 94:22
RSV: But the Lord has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.
Coverdale: But the Lord is my refuge: and my God is the strength of my confidence.

Psalm 95:1
RSV: O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Coverdale: O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.

I might add here that anyone who has attended Morning Prayer in an Anglican church will be familiar with the opening of the Venite, named for the first word of the Psalm in Latin.

Psalm 144:1
RSV: Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
Coverdale: Blessed be the Lord my strength: who teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight;

Psalm 144:2
RSV: my rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under him.
Coverdale: My hope and my fortress, my castle and deliverer, my defender in whom I trust: who subdueth my people that is under me.

Thirty years ago Staffan Olofsson, of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, wrote a scholarly monograph, God is My Rock: Study of Translation Technique and Theological Exegesis in the Septuagint, which appears to be unavailable from the major book sellers. Here is the description on one vendor's website:

Why is Yahweh as "the rock" in the Hebrew Old Testament translated by "God" or "helper" in the Septuagint? How does the equivalent "helper" come to be used for God as "fortress" as well as "shield" and "rock"? Which role is played by the translators' theological presuppositions in the rendering of divine epithets? The present study seeks to deal with these issues on the basis of a comprehensive study of translation equivalents in LXX for metaphorical epithets of God and for the same terms employed in literal meaning or as ordinary metaphors and of a study of theological exegesis in LXX Psalms.