The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-10-30


The corrections necessary to bring the
English text into accord with the language
OF to-day, many as they are, are insignih-
| cant, however, when compared with the
errors Of early translators. In many cases,
so weak were they in Hebrew, they were
compelled to leave Hebrew words untrans-
lated. not knowing or being unable to guess
their meaning. A familiar instance is the
word Behal, which is supposed to be pro-
per name, but it simply means unworthy,
and the phrase " sons of Belial should pro-
perly read unworthy men ;" E Jasher is
not proper name, but an adjective, mean
ing upright, and the " Book of Jasher was
the Book of the Upright" The " Gam
madims " (Ezek. xvii, III are warriors ;
Pannag" ". l7) means a candy "Sheth"
means a tumul; Bajith an idol temple.
Their wild " guesses F" often show absurd
blunders. The "mulesT mentioned in
Genesis as having been found were warm
springs; pledges they turned into thick
clay; " flee" " into both piercing and
crooked /; 4" curls into galleries /; '' leaders -
into ayenging " ostriches into owls /;
"goats into satyrs droves into linen
yarn set up" they render as cast down,
and Joseph's " tunic with sleeves" " they
transmogrify into coat of many colors." :"
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
illustration of this will suffice: Mark says
that on the cross the Christ was given aoine
mingled with myrrh Matthew says Uinegdr-
Tho ff1rat inf 10 fhaf the did
not disagree, and that the error arose in
copying By comparing 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 atheisti-
cal shoemakers, when shown the manu-
scripts. would not hesitate in his acknow-
ment that there was no contradiction, and
that the cause of the error was to be found
in the carelessness of some copyist of the
Greek text of Matthew. s
Reverence for the Bible is modern. 1t is,
In fact, an outcome of the Reformation.
The Greek and Roman Churches respect
the Bible; the Protestant reveres-some-
times worships it. In old times copies were
made with care, but not sufficient to avoid
mistakes, and very few agreed. Very few
agree now, except when printed from the
same plates, and it is not safe to cast stones.
The denunciation of those who " added to OF
took away" has always been confined to
Scotland
When the present translation was made
there 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, and texts known to be corrupt had
to be used for want of better. The eldest
copy of a manuscript that they consulted was
OF the middle ages.
Within the present generation two copies
of the Bible, made about $40 AID, have been
brought to light, the pages photographed,
and copies distributed among scholars.
These are the celebrated "CodeZ Sinaiticus,"
found by Tlschendorf in a convent on Mount
Sinai and the "Codex Vaticanus," found
in the Vatican library at Rome, where for
centuries it had reposed unnoticed and un-
cared for. Those two alone have been of
priceless value in detecting errors of tran
scription and in harmonizing discordant pas
sages satisfactorily to the skeptical as well
as the credulous seeker for truth The
present version of the Bible is based upon a
very few modern manuscripts, not exceeding
five in number. That now before us made
from careful comparison of over twelve hun
dred, ninety-eight being ancient-from the
fourth to the tenth century. In addition all
the quotations by the patristic and early
writers have been collected. and the early
translations into Syriac, Latin, Gothic,
Egyptian. Celtic, Arabic, and Slayonic. =.
Three centuries ago the translators of
King James had few aids and little material
for the work, Those of Victoria have the
accumulated treasures of ten thousand able
workers, and storehouse filled with material.
Astonishment must be expressed that they
have found so little of vital importance to
Christianity to condemn in the work of their
predecessors-not that they have made ten
thousand trivial and one thousand important
changes in the New Testament.
The translation of King James was more
a new revision than the ordered translation
the revision of Victoria is more a new trans
lation than the ordered revision. In each
case the exigencies of the labor compelled a
departure from and compromise with the in
structions. In the latter case there IS less
reason than the former, but after the first
excitement dies away it will not be re-
gretted. r..-r o. -..--.-.- ...-
r.. '(To be continually