Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-10-01

lete words; doves td6efSag on their Breasts
instead of dsumnasag, "The lion filled his
den with raciN, instead of pluader; "Nether
is there any ddymaa,' instead of umpire,
"Ouches,' for sockets; "clouts," for patches;
earring" tor ploughing; "bruit," for report;
boiled for swallow, and other examples.
The changes in signification however, are
much more important, and lead to error,
contradiction and dispute
7 When we read that the daughter Of Hero
dias said, Give me, by and by, in charger,
the head of John the Baptist" it is natural to
think that she was in no great hurry But
800 years ago "by and by meant instantly
Immediately, forthwith, and a Charger was
not war horse" but what our housewives
call dish and yours d platter. sGive mo
instantly n q dish the head If John ~.
Baptist" IS quite different from the old form
The ARTILLERY" so often spoken of in the
Bible is not our artillery, but literally bows
and arrows "Go to" then meant come
"let," to hinder; careless" free from care
"prevcnt," to anticipate; admiration" won
der; "botch," an ulcer; campfire" cy-
press; "pommel," globe, &c.
MISTAKES OF EARLY TRANsLAToRs.
The corrections necessary to bring the
English text into accord with the language
OF the day, many as they are, are insignifi-
cant, however, when compared with the err
rors of early translatoH. Three hundred
years ago the grammatical niceties Of the
Greek language were unknown and Hebrew
studies were in their infancy Buxtorf pub
lished his little Hebrew grammar while the
translators were at work, and his larger one
after they had finished. In many cases, so
weak were they in Hebrew, they were COM
PEELED to leave Hebrew words untranslated,
not knowing or being able to guess" their
meaning. A familiar instance is the word
Bclial, which is supposed to be u proper
name, but it simply means unworthy, and
the phrase "sons of Belial" should properly
read unworthy men" flasher" is not a
proper name, but an adjective, meaning up
right, and the "Book of Jasher" was the
Book Of the Upright" The "Gammadims"
(Ezk xvii, ~ are warriors; "Pannag"
", ~ means a candy; "Sheth" means tu-
mutt; "Bajth" an idol temple. Their wild
"guesses" often show absurd blunders. Their
"mules," mentioned in Genesis as having
been found, were warm springs; "pledges"
they were turned into thick clay; fleet in
to both piercing and crooked "curls" into
galleries; "lcaders" into avenging Ostrich
cs' into owls; goats" into satyrs; "droves"
into linen yarn; "set up" they render us cast
down, and Joseph's "tunic with long sleeves"
they transmogrify into 'coat of many col
ors" Instances might he multiplied until
patience was exhausted OF their inacuracy.
In the New Testament they were better
qualified for the work, and their errors We're
not So gross, though equally numerous. The
grammatical forms, upon which 50 much de-
ponds, especially with catholic epistlcs,
where there is close logic, and the place of a
word in sentence may qualify its meaning,
are never considered, and they stumble
through their work in IA trough and tumble"
But still more important than either the
changes of the language or the blunders Of
translators, have been the corrections that
have been made in the original text, by the
comparison Of manuscripts generally, and
by the discovery Of two very ancient manu-
scripts of the Bible in particular A single
that on the cross Christ was given rjie min
gled with myrrh; Matthew says Utaegar.--
The harmony" that gives Him two drinks
is bosh for children; scholars know there is
contradiction. The natural inference il
that the error arose in copying. BY compar-
ing manuscripts the inference is found to be
correct, the older codices agreeing upon wine.
The two words in the Greek are very much
alike, Of the same length, and differing only
in the middle letter The most violent of
the atheistical shoemakers, when shown the
manuscripts, would not hesitate in his ac-
acknowledgement that there was no contradic-
ton, and that the cause Of the error was TO
be found in the carelessness of some cOpyist
Of the Greek text Of Matthew
ORIGINAL TEXTS.
Reverence for the Bible is modern. IL is,
in fact, an outcome Of the Reformation. The
Greek and Roman churches respect the BIZ
blc the Protestant reveres-sometime wor-
ships it, In old times copies were made
with care, but not sufficient 10 avoid mis-
takes, and very few agreed. Very few agree
now, except when printed from the same
plates, and il is not safe 10 cast stones. The
denunciation of those who "added 10 or took
away" has always been confined to Scotland.
had been comparatively no comparison of
manuscripts for the elimination of errors !;
there were very few manuscripts available /;
no very old manuscripts were known the
inaccurate Vulgate latin translation) Of that
day was the staff upon which the forty
leaned the texts known TO be corrupt had
10 be used for want Of better The oldest
copy Of a manuscript that they consulted
was Of the middle ages.
Within the present generation two copies
Of the Bible, made about $40 A. d., have
been broughtto light, the pages photographed
and copies distributed among scholars
These are the celebrated "Codex Sinanit.
Gus" found by Tschendorf In convent on
Nj. Sinai, and the "Codex Vaticanus," found
in the Vatican library at Rome, where for
centuries Il had rcposcd unnoticcd and un.
cared for These two alone have been of
princcIy value in detecting errors Of trans.
cription and Ia harnonizing discordant pas.
sagcs satisfactorily to the skcptical ~ well
az the credulOus seeker for truth The pres.
cnt version Of the Bible b based upon few
very modern manuscripts, notexeoeding five
IN number. That now before us IL made
from careful comparison Of over twelve hun.
drcd-ninoty eight being ancient--from the
fourth b. the tenth century IN addition,
ali tb o.r..t.tf.pa Ht, tho ,,atrfstte .,I ,a.f.,