Vetus Latina

The Vetus Latina translations continued to be used alongside the Vulgate, but eventually the Vulgate became the standard Latin Bible used by the Catholic Church, especially after the Council of Trent (1545–1563) affirmed the Vulgate translation as authoritative for the text of Catholic Bibles. However, the Vetus Latina texts survive in some parts of the liturgy (e.g., the Pater Noster).

As the English translation of Vetus Latina is "Old Latin", the pre-Vulgate translations are also sometimes referred to as the Old Latin Bible, although they are written in the form of Latin known as Late Latin, not that known as Old Latin. The Vetus Latina manuscripts that are preserved today are dated from AD 350 to the 13th century.

The term Itala ("Italian"), also Vetus Itala ("Old Italian") or Old Italic, may be used synonymously with Vetus Latina, but Augustine of Hippo introduced the term Itala for a particular Latin text stream. Modern scholarship often distinguishes the Itala from the Afra or Vetus Afra ("[Old] African") text forms.

Text

There is no single "Vetus Latina Bible". Instead, Vetus Latina is a collection of biblical manuscript texts that are Latin translations of Septuagint and New Testament passages that preceded Jerome's Vulgate. Scholars have identified four main text-types: Old African (from c.250), Recent African, Early European, and Italian.

Old Testament

Some of the oldest surviving Vetus Latina versions of the Old Testament include the Quedlinburg Itala fragment, a 5th-century manuscript containing parts of 1 Samuel, and the Codex Complutensis I, a 10th-century manuscript containing Vetus Latina readings of the Book of Ruth, Book of Esther, Book of Tobit, Book of Judith, and 1-2 Maccabees.

New Testament

There are over 80 manuscripts or fragments with Latin translations of New Testament books that pre-date Jerome (i.e. before AD 350). There are around 50 for the Gospels in particular. The vetus latina were revised to form the Vulgate New Testament: Jerome producing the Gospels and an unknown scholar producing the rest.

After comparing readings for Luke 24:4–5 in Vetus Latina manuscripts, Bruce Metzger counted "at least 27 variant readings in Vetus Latina manuscripts that have survived" for this passage alone.