St. Jerome and the horns of Moses: Do not judge hastily

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of translation quality and translation errors. The aim of the study is to show that when translating certain types of text, one should be cautious about speaking of “elementary translation errors” because they may be interpretations or dogmatic requirements. Discussed is the widespread view that the horns of Moses in Exodus 34:29-30 and 34:35 in the Vulgate are the result of an “elementary” translation error by St. Jerome who “confused” the Hebrew words keren “horn” and its derivative karan “shining, emitting light.” The author supports the view that this is not a translation error, but a conscious translation decision by Jerome, who was aware of the two possible interpretations of the Hebrew text, but deliberately departed from the Hebrew tradition and the Septuagint translation, choosing the literal translation based on certain theological considerations and personal views.