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In the Gospels, Our Lord uses the Aramaic words “Amen, amen, I say to you” to introduce certain statements. “Amen” is variously translated as “Truly”, “Verily”, “I solemnly say to you”, “So be it”, etc. It’s an emphatic way of making a point. Like we would say, “Seriously, the dinner really was good.” “Seriously” is an emphatic – it underscores the importance of the point being made. However, the Greek text preserves the Aramaic (i.e., it says “Amen” rather than “Truly”). When St. Jerome translated the Greek New Testament into Latin (the Latin Vulgate), he maintained the Aramaic words “Amen, amen.” Similarly, when the D-R translators rendered the Latin Vulgate into English, they retained the Aramaic. The King James Version, which followed the Bishop’s Bible, translated “Amen” as “Verily”. The RSV, which is a revision of the KJV, modernized “Verily” to “Truly”.
Several of the Church Fathers felt that the retention of the Aramaic was inspired by the Holy Spirit. For example, St. Augustine felt that Latin translations should retain “Amen” rather than translate as “Truly” because the Aramaic had been left in the Greek text by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Liturgicam Authenticam, which the Vatican recently issued, also calls for the retention of the Aramaic phrases.
“Raca” is Aramaic for “empty-headed” or “fool”. The Catholic tradition retained the Aramaic phrase (neither the original Greek text nor the Latin Vulgate translates it); the Protestant tradition translated it into English. In the RSVCE Second Edition “Amen” is translated as “Truly” and “Raca” is translated as “insults his brother”. Thus, the RSVCE Second Edition continues the Protestant tradition in several areas (although it does make marked steps towards the Catholic tradition). It’s just unfortunate that the editors didn’t do a more thorough revision of the RSVCE. They made substantial changes, but they stopped short of fully implementing Liturgiam Authenticam.
