The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-05-31
The Hawaiian Bible.

Mr.. EDITOR Your recent structures Oh the Ha-
waiiau version Of the Bible, as also the %rejoinder Of
your correspondent &C." have been read with no
little interest.
The critic is not the only one on Hawaiian soil who
has . for many years had a painful sense of the need
this people have Of a version greatly improved in its
dictiOn and truer to the originals Doubtless there
are many who sympathize with him in this feeling.
While holding this view, however, why may not one
still rejoice with &C. that 90 we have so good a
translation of the Book of Life - Certainly; so ] re-
joice. And, weTe no better UerSiOn attdinabie, not
wiihstanding - the painful sense Of need, - one might
well be content with the Hawaiian translation in it,
present state, just as We should rejoice in the Vul-
gate and DOuay versions, we're nothing more nearly
like the originals practicable. But is a doubt adj
Missile that a Hawaiian version can be had truer to
the originals: The .4drertiser thinks not, and in
that conviction | am happy to be your humble ser
want. Surely the persistent retention of blunders in
translation, or of awkward phraseology, can never
make those errors truthful, or uncouth Hawaiian
idiomatic. Let us by all mears have a Hawaiian
Bible as perfect as We are able to make it. 1t will,
even then, have sufficient imperfections-aud what
human production has not: The Protestant Mission
owe it to themselves and to this people, as well as to
the cause Of sound letters, to leave a translation,
which, 30 far as may be. shall be to the Hawaiian
vernacular wha; the English translation has been to
that language.
On all these grounds, if on no others, n fearless,
pains-taking revision is justly expected of US. Fear
less, because our aim is, as it ever has been-truth,
aud truth only. And we know, moreover, that the
book contains neither designed nor radical error of
doctrine in any Orm,-nothing in short, that could
lead any honest inquirer astray en- any of the
distinguishing doctrines of salvation. On this point
we may challenge the critical scrutiny Of any every
foe.
The errors in the work are of minor consequence,
and yet Of consequence so grave, and withal so nu-
merous. that no one with n smattering even in the
original languages, can rest satisfied until at least all
available skill shall have been exhausted in the effort
to correct them. But here we are met with the for
midable announcement that the objections which
would prevent u revision of, or n new translation for,
the English lie also, though with diminished force,
against a thorough revision of the Hawaiian. Rather
n thick crust of conservatism this, 1t must be ac-
knowledged. to have formed and cooled over us in less
than a quarter of a century l had supposed We
were hopefully progressive in our Biblical Hawaiian
studies-rather looking toward a state, both in phi
lology and hermeneutics, which might be regarded as
satisfactory, rather than as having attained thereto !
But really are there any grounds Of comparison
between the two versions ? Just look ut the circum-
stances under which they were severally translated.
On the one hand we have forty-seven men picked
from an entire nation distinguished for its achieve
ments in every department of learning, in an age
Astounding in great men, and Mt a period, too, when
- the study of theology was the universal and leading
pursuit" These men, moreover, were all eminently
distinguished for their piety and for a profound
acquaintance with the original tongues. To TINS
remarkable body of men, the translation into English
was committed. In carrying out the enterprise, AL
available helps we're placed at their disposal, and
that no possible care should be wanting, the conf
pany was divided into six classes and to each indi-
vidual Of a particular class was in the first instance
assigned the entire portion committed to his class.
Then the readings were discussed by the class assem-
bled together, and by them adopted. Thus approved
by the company to which it had been allotted, each
portion Of the translation was revised and approved
by each of the other five classes, in its time. Besides
all this, the translators were authorized, in cases of
great difficulty, to seek aid from any of the learned
men in the kingdom.
Now it is submitted, that by no possible means
could more perfect arrangements have been made to
secure the object in view-a large company of the most
thoroughly skilled men, with all possible helps, and
under the most perfect arrangements, to render the
originals into English, their own vernacular. Now,
a p~iori, we should say the translation would be per-
feet. And such it actually was, to the extent of
human ability. No other translation of the Scrip
lures. we are sure, has approached this in accurate
fidelity to the original text. And yet, let it be re-
marked. twenty-five years subsequently,, the whole
translation was submitted TO a searching revision.
Now need We wonder that a translation made
under these extraordinary circumstances should be
regarded as having fixed the English language ?
or that upon so imposing a structure the MOSES and
iyies Of two and a half centuries should have con-
spired to compel the profoundest veneration :
But turn the tables-and We have a small body of
men, few Of whom ever claimed preeminence in a
knowledge Of the Greek and Hebrew, harrassed with
the multifarious duties inseparabe from the mis-
sionary Office among n heather people-with a very
limited apparatus suited TO the necessities of the case
with no possibility Of frequent mutual consultations
with no means Of contemporaneous revisions, and
with No acknowledged umpires who might solve pecu-
liar dificu!ties-we have. 1 say, this catalogue Of
negatives. with which to transfer the word Of God
from the originals, with all fidelity, into idiomatic
Hawaiian-a barbarous language, which they them
selves had but just rendered to writing, and with
which they could hardly have been more than imper-
fectly acquainted.
Now we indeed rejoice that We have so good a
translation. :" and cannot but regard Il it as a monu-
ment of enduring honor to its founders. But need
we marvel that il is not perfect? And shall we con-
ceal the fact that it is marred by serious blemishes
And furthermore, shall we doubt that the past
twenty-five years have accumulated reasonable
grounds Of belief that a considerable portion of these
blemishes may at length be removed, and that by the
mutual consent Of all interested? For one, I would
believe not. 3.