Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-05

cOtomboraries, one might souciuds that the
last day was ct band. The newspaper. car
rier and tho news-boy's crying With shrill
nasaftwang, 1.-TWO of em for halt dime,n
strikingly fulfill the running 70 snd fro aud
Increase Of knowledge which was to be the
forerunner of the last days. Doubtless, all
tls mysterious, knotty and dark points that
have stood the test of ages Of ignorance, will
now be made clear by the daily newspaper
dispensation and all the errors which have
held mankind in chains will be driven back
primeval darkness. ..
We intend this morning, in brief space.
TO vindicate Jobs wife from the reproach
which ages have visited upon her, on &C
count of the unfortunate mistranslation of
single word in the Protestant version of the
Scriptures. This was brought to our notice
by the speech Of Hon. Joseph Jonas of this
city, in the Legislature. In this, which
showed much learning in the Hebrew Scrip.
lures, as well as in cotemporaneous literature,
after reviewing the relation of slavery as
established by God, and after giving, in
reply to interrogatories, his idea Of the Satan
of the Scriptures, whom he regards as the
chief of the sons of God, and as holding
confidential and honorable post in Heaven,
Mr. Jonas made the following remark;
~ would further remark, before | leave
the Book Of Job, that, in several important
passages, where the Hebrew word Is posi-.
lively Bless or Praise, it is wrongly trans
lated in the present version of the Bible in
M
the text wrongfully. But the Catholic ver.
sion Of the same, passages is correctly trans
lated"
On further investigation, we find that one
most notable instance of this false transla-
tion is where Jobs wife, supposing his death
to be near at hand, exhorts him to praise or
bless God and die: that is, to call on God
even in the hour of death which, in our
Protestant version, is translated, "Curse
God and die"
This puts entirely different face on the
matter. 1t redeems Jobs wife from the
character of a cursing virago and makes her
one of the tenderest and loveliest Of women.
Think of such injustice as this to such wo-
man, through so many ages, inflicted by the
| supposed word OF God
Our readers will remember-for they are
all versed in the Seriptures--that the test of
faith by which God and Satan were trying
Job, was whether he could be brought by
loss Of property, slaughter Of children, and
loathsome disease, to curse God. It will
also be remembered that Job did not curse
God, though he cursed all the works of God,
high and low, Unfortunately. By this un-
fortunate translation, Jobs wife is repre-
sented as trying to give the finishing stroke
to this ordeal, by coarsely telling him in his
misery to curse God and die.
Instead of that, with all the tenderness of
a devoted and deVout wife, believing his end
to be approaching, she exhorts him to praise
and bless God with his expiring powers.
Her faithfulness was equal to Job's-a
matchless pair.
In the NetO England Primer, called the
Shorter CatechiSm, by whose engravings and
rhyming aphorisms undying theological
impressions are made on the minds of New
England youth, there isRn engraving of Job
in his dwelling, sitting in the ashes, but
with face elevated to Heaven. Underneath
is the following couplet:
"Job feels the rod,
Yet hlesseS GOd."
In this picture, Jobs wife is represented as
stout, we'll l-preserved, shrewish woman,
busy about her domestic affairs, and appar-
emily viewing Job with his muss on the
floor as arrangement of her household
economy which she would gladly dispense
with.
But when correctly translated, we see the
devoted wife bending over her afflicted hus-
band, amounting his loathsomeness, cooling
his fevered brow, and assuaging his parched
tongue, and when she thought death at hand,
calling on him to praise and put his trust in
God.
Surely no more estimable character can be
found in Scripture. Surely we ought to
make reparation for the injustice which our
erroneous translation has done to this most
faithful of women, and To relieve our word
of God from a fslsehood. We call on our
religious cotemporaries of this city to come
up to our help in this work of indicating |
the character of woman which has been
damned by an error in our Scriptures; and |
of rescuiDg our Scriptures from an error of |
most.fatal consequences.
What inextricable confusion must arise |
may have already arisen, if in book which
lays down blessing and cursing as eternal
reward and punishment for our conduct, |
these words have been interchanged by an |
error of the translstors What if they who |
are devoutly following the Scriptures to in |
herit the promised blessing, shall find at the
last that owing to the ignorance of the |
translators, they have followed the way to
inherit the eternal curse2
If "bless'' was the word of God it can not
be pretended that it can be translated into
''curse," and still be the word of God. We
assume that to be an impregnable position.
Nor can any lapse of time ner multiplica-
ton of copies by the Bible Societies make it
the word of God.
On some occasions when a revision of the
Bible has been proposed for the purpose of
improving the translation, and correcting
some known errors which have crept in dur
ing the multiplications of editions, partly
from Typography, and chiefly from the inter-
polations of translation, which, though at
first printed in a distinct manner from the
text have many of them become incorpor-
ated in it, it has been defeated by Ihe argu-
ment that if the work were opened for revis-
ion, so many corrections would be made
that it would destroy the faith of the people
in its infallibility; therefore it has been held
to be better to receive it as fnality, and
hold printers and translators' errors and in
terpolations IS all the word of God.
This may be correct and necessary, as a
rule for it really seems that to hold the
Bible open to revision, subjects it to human
criticism and correction. If that were to be
allowed, an infallible Church would be found
as necessary to revise an infallible Bible, as