Psalm numbering off in Douay-Rheims Bible

[workingman]

I have a question. The Psalm numbering seems to be off by one in the DR Bible I received for Christmas. I went to read Psalm 23 to my children and noted that it was found in Psalm 22. I checked it against other translations that I have to make sure I was not going nutty. Why it is off by one Chapter numbering?

 

[Mintaka]

Douay-Rheims uses the old Psalm numbering, that dates back to ancient times and the Septuagint. This is the method of divvying up the Psalms that you’ll find in the Latin Vulgate, and among the various Eastern Orthodox churches. This is called the “Greek numbering”.

Most Bibles today go with the later-than-Septuagint Masoretic Hebrew, and thus Protestant, divvying up of the Psalms. So the numbers go back and forth, sometimes higher and sometimes lower than the “Greek numbering”. This system is called the “Hebrew numbering”.

There’s also a Syriac numbering system that divvies up the Psalms into 155, adding works that other churches don’t find to be canon.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalms#Composition_and_numbering

 

[WMM]

I have a question. The Psalm numbering seems to be off by one in the DR Bible I received for Christmas. I went to read Psalm 23 to my children and noted that it was found in Psalm 22. I checked it against other translations that I have to make sure I was not going nutty. Why it is off by one Chapter numbering?

***The Latin Vulgate and Greek Septuagint versions of the Bible combine Psalms 9 and 10 from the Hebrew Bible and also combine Psalms 114 and 115 from the Hebrew Bible and separate Psalms 116 and 147 into two Psalms each.

Thus the Hebrew and Greek/Latin Vulgate numbering is different.

You may see numbering such as Psalm 23 (24) or Psalm 32 (33) in print. The first number is the liturgical number and the second is the Greek/Latin Vulgate numbering.***

 

[Zooey]

Yes, the numbering is different, because the numbering system had not yet been standardized at the time of translation.
What I have done, is to go through and mark what the more standard numbering (as mentioned by WMM)is, so that I don’t have to try to figure out what Psalm I am looking for is “called”. (I have problems w/ num,bers…almost like dyslexia, & I need to have them correct in front of me!!)

 

[Joe_Kelley]

The RSV-CE gives both numbers. I am working from an old [mid 19th century] family Douay bible.

They are the same through psalm 9.

The newer system splits psalm 10 at verse 18 and continues it as psalm 11.

This makes all numbers higher by one through 113 [New]

My old Douay has psalm 113 go through verse 6 and then restart for verses 1 through 8, which the new breaks into Psalm 114 and 115. The old psalm 114 is then combined with 115[which has only verses 10-18] to make the new 116.

Numbering continues high by one through 146 [145]

Then 146 and 147 are combined to make the new 147.

Leaving the last three the same.

 

[NHInsider]

Worth keeping in mind that the numbering (both chapters and verses, and not only in the Psalms but throughout both Testaments) are very late additions and are not inspired.

Numbers (chapters first, later verses) were introduced by scholars in the late medieval and early renaissance periods in order to facilitate study, and different scholars developed/adopted different systems. By the time you get to mass-production of the Scriptures (after Gutenberg) you’ve got the Reformation in full swing, so the likelihood of everyone agreeing on a single set of numbers was about zero.

 

[Tepeyac]

The Latin Vulgate and Greek Septuagint versions of the Bible combine Psalms 9 and 10 from the Hebrew Bible and also combine Psalms 114 and 115 from the Hebrew Bible and separate Psalms 116 and 147 into two Psalms each.

Thus the Hebrew and Greek/Latin Vulgate numbering is different.

You may see numbering such as Psalm 23 (24) or Psalm 32 (33) in print. The first number is the liturgical number and the second is the Greek/Latin Vulgate numbering.

Just to confuse things a little more, the numbering can be different in other languages too. If you use the Roman Gradual (the songbook of Gregorian chants for Mass), the Psalm references use the Greek/Latin Vulgate numbering. So “Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness…”, Psalm 51 in the NAB, is called Psalm 50 in the Gradual. I think Missal in Latin still uses the Greek/Vulgate numbering too.

In Spanish, bibles may use the Hebrew numbering with the Greek numbering in parentheses. However, in the Spanish translations of both the Mass Lectionary and the Liturgy of the Hours, the Greek numbering is used. So in the case of Spanish, the Greek numbering really is the liturgical numbering.

 

[DianaCC]

For the sake of arguing, what rationales can be proposed for either numbering?