Hi /r/askhistorians!
I'm a Jewish Israeli, and a lot of times in movies or on the internet when people cite from the bible (what christians refer to as the 'old' testament), I'm completely confused by the names they throw out, as they don't correspond to the hebrew names.
I completely understand why "Beresheet" (Genesis) was translated to Genesis - it's the same meaning, only in a different language. However, "Shemot" (Names) was translated to Exodus, and "Vayikra" (And he Called) was translated to Leviticus. Bamidbar (In the desert) was translated to Numbers, et cetera.
I find some of these changes to be confusing - who are these changes attributed to, and why? Do the changed English names correspond to the names in Greek and Latin, or is it unique to the English versions?
EDIT To further clarify my question - I understand why Exodus (for example) can be a thematically fitting name; My question is not where such a name comes from, but rather, why and who decided that the original names shouldn't be kept as-is or directly translated
The question has an incorrect premise. The books of the Torah/Pentateuch were not originally titled as books are today. The current Hebrew names should not be seen as the true, correct, or original names that were changed in translation. Rather, there were multiple ways to refer to the texts in the ancient world.
Within the Jewish tradition, Shemot (Names) was also referred to as Sefer Yetziat Mitzrayim (The Book of the Exodus from Egypt). Viyikra (And He Called) was also referred to as Torat Kohanim (The Law of the Priests). Bamidbar (In the Desert/Wilderness) was also referred to as Pekuddim (counting). D’varim (The Words) was referred to as Mishneh Torah (The Repeated Law – not to be confused with the 12th c. CE text by Maimonides of the same name)
These names are roughly analogous the to the English names “Exodus,” “Leviticus” (referring to Levites, the priestly tribe), Numbers, and Deuteronomy (“Second Law” in Greek). These English names comes from the Greek Septuagint, which was written by Hellenistic Jews. The difference in contemporary Pentateuch/Torah book titling between the Hebrew and English is not a result of mistranslation but rather due to the fact that there were multiple ways to refer to the text in the ancient world.