Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1849-07-27
CAPITAL, PUNISHMENT

MIR. EDITOR | observe that you state in the
last Telegraph, that the commonly received
translation of the passage in Gen. 9; 6, "Whoso
sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be
shed, is incorrect according to the declaration
OF $ A learned correspondent of an exchange"
That the words ''by man." are an Interpolation,
and were never contained in the original: and that
the original reads g Whatsoever sheddeth mans
blood its blood shall be she'd.
The g correspondent . is right as regards the
words "by man." which are not found in the
Septuagint, the most ancient and authentic trans
lation into Greek of the Old Testament Hebrew
now extant From this version, the Savior, and
the apostles always quoted. But then, he is in
correct, as respects the whOle passage. The
literal translation from the Septugint is, ''Whoso
sheddeth the blood of man, his blood shall be shed
. in reqnltal OF. Now | am unable to perceive,
what Is gained TO the argument for the abolition
of capital punishment, by this literal translation.
As it stands in our English Bible, the rendering
is faithful to the spirit of the preceding context
''At the hand of every mans brother will re-
quire the life o: man. That is, Il will ayenge
the blood of the murdered, upon the murderer "
| There the passage stands, in its awful authority
for requiring the blood of the murderer, in atone
ment for his crime; and no change of translation
can alter it. The original hebrew is substan
| TALLY the same JUS.
a. We give below the extract on which oul
remarks of last week were founded. 1t will be
seen that our correspondent and the one we
| quote are at direct issue We could hope fo
the sake of those who place more confidence il
: types and ink which are the work of men, thar
, in the constitution Of Man and Nature which art
the works OF God, that the question might be de
cidcd in favor of the correspondent we quote
| For ourself no combination of characters. whe
Their made with the writing or printing fluid, car
convince us that the gallows is not a murderou,
instrument unworthy of civilization, and fit onl,
only for the use of semi-barbarians:
In late number of the Exeter England
Times, we fad an ably written review of ser
mon preached by the Dean of Exeter, and jus
published under the title off, Sacredness O
| Human Life, and the Doom of Murder Tn,
Dean takes for his text the passage, :" Who's
sheddeth mans blood. by man shall his blood b,
shed : and the reviewer who evidently under
stands what he is talking about denies the au
thory OF these words and gives the following
| reasol:
| say these are not the words of God. 1t ma,
! seem strange TOR ayman to contradict a clergy
man, and Dean to boot, on such point: bu
this Is not the first time that ecclesiastical digni
tarles have been set right in their theology; no
will 1t be the last. must, therefore, be PARDON
ed for my presumption. The words of God are
these: "WhatsOeyer shedGeth mans blood il.
| hood shall be she'd: and if Mr. Lowe asks mt
| how | prove this. refer him 10 the 0riginaI He
bre~, 10 the SeptHogiW, 10 the Tulgato. and 10 tn
Scio md OMcrraid. The words "bv man, ar,
] an interpolation, and were placed in the passage
by the Bishops, Priests, and D oacons' who pro
duced one common version, and dedicated it t.
that Solomon of British Sovereigns. the mos
high and mighty Prince, James, who burne,
thousands of old women for witchcraft, upol
Bible authority.