Psalm 45.11

[Micawber]

The Sixtux V and Clement VIII Vulgate Edition translates the line as follows:

Vacate, et videte quoniam ego sum Deus

"Vacate" (roughly translated as imperatively as "be empty") seems like the wrong word here.  The Hebrew word means, etymologically, to loosen one's grip, to cease struggling.  That seems a far cry from "vacate" and seems much closer to the imperative "cessate" of other translations, which is far closer to the Hebrew, and has the sense of "be still" of "cease struggling." 

Also, why is it "videte" (imperatively "see") and not "cognoscite" (imperatively "know")?  The latter seems far better. 

 

 

[Scriptorium]

In the Hebrew this is reckoned 46:11. The LXX is skholate kai gnōte, Latin iuxta LXX has vacate et videte, and Latin iutxa Hebraeos is cessate et cognoscite.

rph is Hiphil and means “let go, abandon”.
yd’ is Qal and means “know”.

They actually all agree. Vacate has more meanings than “empty”. It also means “take a rest”. Hence words derived from it like “vacation”. Cessate means rest also, in this case usually implying a rest from something, instead of mere rest as an idea. As for videte, it means see. See is very often used in many languages as another way to say know. A seer is someone with great knowledge. They all agree in the meaning and the implications from this. For instance, Hebrew yd’ can be used for “see” as well as “perceive” and “discern”. The meaning is “take ease and know that I am God”.

At this point whether one Latin translation is better or not is kind of a past argument. We don’t speak the language so it is more of a decision whether we use Jerome’s LXX translation or his Hebrew one.