Anonymous
6/16/2025, 3:04:05 PM No.24471050
You know how the Septuagint/ Latin Vulgate/ Douay-Rheims has a different numbering for the Psalms from Bibles based on the Masoretic Text?
There is a similar thing for the book of Esther across different translations. Esther of the Septuagint and all other translations that contain the Deuterocanon has 16 chapters. Esther of Masoretic Text has 10 chapters. How the Septuagint places the other 6 chapters is by dividing them into 6 parts that merge with other chapters - not being whole chapters - and they are interspersed throughout the whole book. Saint Jerome - however - when he was translating his Latin Vulgate, combined all the 6 separate parts and put them at the end of the Protocanonical Esther - the body of text common to that of the Hebrew canon - and not in the original order of the Septuagint. The KJV - when it comes with the Apocrypha - mirrors this and even keeps the verse numbering and chapters of the Latin Vulgate, ending the Protocanonical ‘Esther’ at chapter 10, verse 3, and beginning the Deuterocanonical/ Apocryphal ‘the Rest of Esther’ at chapter 10, verse 4. However, newer translations with the Deuterocanon/ Apocrypha use the Septuagint placement of the verses, but have different verse numbering. The NRSV uses the Vulgate numbering, but has the order of the Septuagint, so the chapters are out of order. The ESV uses the Protocanonical numbering, but adds letters after the verse number to include the Deuterocanonical/ Apocryphal text. I’m not sure about the RSV.
Anyway, my point is that there is so much diversity in how the verses are numbered and where they are placed, so I call for the need of an online converter or at least a simple table to allay confusion.
There is a similar thing for the book of Esther across different translations. Esther of the Septuagint and all other translations that contain the Deuterocanon has 16 chapters. Esther of Masoretic Text has 10 chapters. How the Septuagint places the other 6 chapters is by dividing them into 6 parts that merge with other chapters - not being whole chapters - and they are interspersed throughout the whole book. Saint Jerome - however - when he was translating his Latin Vulgate, combined all the 6 separate parts and put them at the end of the Protocanonical Esther - the body of text common to that of the Hebrew canon - and not in the original order of the Septuagint. The KJV - when it comes with the Apocrypha - mirrors this and even keeps the verse numbering and chapters of the Latin Vulgate, ending the Protocanonical ‘Esther’ at chapter 10, verse 3, and beginning the Deuterocanonical/ Apocryphal ‘the Rest of Esther’ at chapter 10, verse 4. However, newer translations with the Deuterocanon/ Apocrypha use the Septuagint placement of the verses, but have different verse numbering. The NRSV uses the Vulgate numbering, but has the order of the Septuagint, so the chapters are out of order. The ESV uses the Protocanonical numbering, but adds letters after the verse number to include the Deuterocanonical/ Apocryphal text. I’m not sure about the RSV.
Anyway, my point is that there is so much diversity in how the verses are numbered and where they are placed, so I call for the need of an online converter or at least a simple table to allay confusion.
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