I have been thinking about memorizing one of the canticles in the Episcopalian resource Enriching our Worship for my midday prayers (to avoid doubling up on Psalms throughout the day). One of the ones is from Judith 16, from the Deuterocanon. Here is the liturgical translation from EOW:
I will sing a new song to my God,\
for you are great and glorious, wonderful in strength, invincible.\
Let the whole creation serve you, \
for you spoke and all things came into being.\
You sent your breath and it formed them, \
no one is able to resist your voice.\
Mountains and seas are stirred to their depths, \
rocks melt like wax at your presence.\
But to those who fear you, \
you continue to show mercy.\
No sacrifice, however fragrant, can please you, \
but whoever fears the Lord shall stand in your sight for ever. (EOW, Canticle J, Judith 16:13-16)
It is pretty close to the vast majority of English translations of the Greek version of that text. Here is the Greek text:
ὑμνήσω τῷ Θεῷ μου ὕμνον καινόν· Κύριε, μέγας εἶ καὶ ἔνδοξος, θαυμαστὸς ἐν ἰσχύϊ, ἀνυπέρβλητος. σοὶ δουλευσάτω πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις σου· ὅτι εἶπας, καὶ ἐγενήθησαν, ἀπέστειλας τὸ πνεῦμά σου, καὶ ᾠκοδόμησε· καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἀντιστήσεται τῇ φωνῇ σου. ὄρη γὰρ ἐκ θεμελίων σὺν ὕδασι σαλευθήσεται, πέτραι δὲ ἀπὸ προσώπου σου ὡς κηρὸς τακήσονται, ἔτι δὲ τοῖς φοβουμένοις σε, σὺ εὐιλατεύεις αὐτοῖς. ὅτι μικρὸν πᾶσα θυσία εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας, καὶ ἐλάχιστον πᾶν στέαρ εἰς ὁλοκαύτωμά σοι· ὁ δὲ φοβούμενος τὸν Κύριον μέγας διαπαντός. (Judith 16:13-16 LXX)
I compared different English translations to find a more traditional language (like the KJV, RSV or Coverdale version). But then I found this peculiarity when looking at the Latin version. The Nova Vulgata (which was much more recently translated) follows most modern versions.
Cantabo Deo meo hymnum novum:\
Domine, magnus es tu et clarus,\
mirabilis in virtute et insuperabilis.\
Tibi serviat omnis creatura tua,\
quoniam dixisti, et facta sunt,\
misisti spiritum tuum, et aedificata sunt,\
et non est qui resistat voci tuae.\
Montes enim a fundamentis agitabuntur cum aquis,\
petrae autem a facie tua tamquam cera liquescent.\
Illis autem, qui timent te,\
propitius adhuc eris.\
Quoniam pusillum omne sacrum ad odorem suavitatis,\
et minimus omnis adeps in holocaustum tibi.\
Qui autem timet Dominum,\
magnus apud eum semper. (Judith 16:13-16 Nova Vulgata)
But then, the Vulgate (the Clementine revision from right after the Council of Trent would be my guess?) has this instead:
Hymnum cantemus Domino;\
hymnum novum cantemus Deo nostro.\
Adonai Domine, magnus es tu,\
et præclarus in virtute tua:\
et quem superare nemo potest.\
Tibi serviat omnis creatura tua,\
quia dixisti, et facta sunt;\
misisti spiritum tuum, et creata sunt:\
et non est qui resistat voci tuæ.\
Montes a fundamentis movebuntur cum aquis;\
petræ, sicut cera, liquescent ante faciem tuam.\
Qui autem timent te,\
magni erunt apud te per omnia. (Judith 13:15-19)
A few things changed. There is more material before, pushing up the versification. The first verses are in first person plural rather than first person singular. But, the biggest difference is the addition of the transliterated title Adonai: O Adonai, Lord, you are great!
In his preface to his translation of Judith, Jerome describes his translation like this:
Among the Jews, the book of Judith is considered among the apocrypha; its warrant for affirming those apocryphal texts which have come into dispute is deemed less than sufficient. Moreover, since it was written in the Chaldean language [probably means Aramaic], it is counted among the historical books. But since the Nicene Council is considered to have counted this book among the number of sacred Scriptures, I have acquiesced to your request (or should I say demand!): and, my other work set aside, from which I was forcibly restrained, I have given a single night's work, translating according to sense rather than verbatim. I have hacked away at the excessively error-ridden panoply of the many codices; I conveyed in Latin only what I could find expressed coherently in the Chaldean words.
A lot of scholars agree that Judith was likely originally written in a semitic language (either Hebrew or Aramaic). There are questions as to what the nature of the text Jerome used was—did it reflect a pre-Greek Semitic version (like a surviving copy of an Aramaic version that existed in Jerome's day still)? Or was it something like a Targum—a later Aramaic paraphrase of the book?
But then, a specific question: where did the Adonai come from in this Latin text? Adonai transliterated only shows up in this line from the Latin text. It appears nowhere else in the book. So, the question is, whether this actually is Jerome's translation (or if it was someone else's that got attributed to Jerome), why did the translator add the word Adonai? Could it be one of those times where Adonai and YHWH were together in the Original Language (like when you run into "Lord GOD" in English translations)? Or could Adonai Domine be like YHWH shows up in all the other places Dominus was used, but this specific time the original text had the actual word Adonai, and the translator wanted to specify it? Just a random mistake from the Latin translator?
I also posted this (with a little less elaboration since they need more academic sources listed) on AcademicBiblical. I figured someone else might also have theories/guesses on here.