What did the Angels really say on the first Christmas? Part I

The Gospel for Midnight Mass (Luke 2:1-14) ends thus: "and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and singing".  followed by verse 14.

Here are three translations of that verse.  See if you can spot the differences:

Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.(Douay-Rhiems)

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (King James)

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.(New International Version)

When I was a wee lad sitting in the pews during the Great Chaos (otherwise known as the 1960's), this was a verse so widely known that it even appeared on network TV (A Charlie Brown Christmas), and I would hear these differences and wonder, "What does it really say?"  This was what impelled me, eventually, to study Greek so that I could find out for myself.

First, of all, let's look at the Latin translation of the original Greek:

Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

Pretty straightforward, although we have 'in altissimis' instead of 'in excelsis' from the Gloria in the Mass (the meaning is basically the same: "in the highest").  Then we have the phrase "pax hominibus bonae voluntatis". "Bonae voluntatis" must be the genitive singular case.  So, according to the Latin, we would come down in favor of "on earth peace to men (dative plural) of good will", which is what Douay-Rhiems has.

This would make a nice parallel in the construction:  A (glory) in B (the highest) to C (God),  and X (peace) in Y (earth) to Z (men). This makes "bonae voluntatis" look like an extraneous addition, though, and where did those other two translations come from?  How could something as simple as "hominibus bonae voluntatis" come out as "good will toward men"?  It would have to be something like "et in terra pax, hominibus bona voluntas".  And where in the world does "on whom his favor rests" come from?

We'll examine that in the next post.