Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-02-08
BIBLE REVISION.
The New RECESSION of the Old Testament
Soon to he Published-Old Versions
Curious RenderinRs Of the Scrintures

~ '
completed and will be published within q few
weeks, This New Revision was instituted by
1870, by which committee was appointed for
the purpose, who were authorized to invite
the cooperation of any persons eminent for
scholarship, to whatever nation or religious
body they might belong. On these two COM
mittees-one for the Old Testament and one
for the New-were many o. the m' st dis
tingu shed Biblical scholars of all religious
denominations. The first meeting of the New
E Ssament Company was he'd June -, 1870,
AMI that of the Old Testament Company June
N, 1871. From that TN forward until the
completion of their WORK both companies held
sessions of four days every month i'm the
Deanery of Westminster one occupyiny the
celebrated Jerusalem Chamber.
Shortly after the Canterbury Committees
began their labors, the cooperation of dis
tingushcd American scholars was invited
and under the direction of DR. Philip Schaf
of the Union Theological Seminary of New
York. company composed exclusively of
Company was constituted as follows: DIR. L.
]. COnant tBaptist). brooklyn, n. Y: Dr. Z.
Day (C9nyregationalistl. New Haven. Conn;
\. j.; Dr.. G. E. Hare (Episcopalian) Phia-
deiphia, Penn: DIR. c. p. krauih Lutheran.
palian). Fairfax, Va; DIR. ...E: stowe, Con
gregatonalist, Cambridge, Mass; DIR. J.
Strong tMethodist) Madison, N. J.; DIR. c. A.
spending member; DR.. T. Lewis tReformed),
Schenectady. n. Y: To the company were
later ia added p nr G. a. Aiken, of Princeton.
He
Osgood, Flushing, l.. /. This company entered
upon their work IN October, 1852.
For their guidance In the prosecution of
their labors the reVisers, both English and
American, adopted programme of general
principles, of which the more important were
t. introduce as few alterations as possible
into the text of the authorized version tor one
now in common use among Protcstantsl
consistent with faithfulness: to limit, far
as possible, the expression of such alterations
to the language of the authorized and earlier
English version; that each company should
go twice over the portion TO be revised; that
the text adopted be that for which the evil
dence she uld be decidedly preponderating;
that to make no change in the text except
upon twothirds vote. and torcvise the head
rigs OF chapters, pages, paragraphs, italics
and punctuation.
The character of the alterations that will be
made in the New Revision of the Old Tesla
ment Is, TO some extent, indicated in the New
Revision of the New Testament. The princi-
pal defects of the present version corrected
Will be the doubtful rcnderings of words, in
correct rendcrngS. needless distinctions
made, real distinctions effaced, faults of gram
mar, faults of leNicography, treatment of
proper names official titles, arch@isms, de-
fects in English and errors of the press. To
aid them in this work they have older Greek,
as well as a wider knowledge Ct the history
and geography of the Bible texts than were
accessible 10 the Ievisers of former years.
There have been n number of versions of
the Scriptures, only a few of which, however.
have obtained celebrity and fewer still have
been adopted for use. The oldest and most
important translation of the Old Testament
dria, Egypt, about three hundl cd years before
Christ The transators are unknown. There
Is tradition that il was made by command
OF King Ptolemy, who employed for this pur
pose seyenty-two Hebrew elders mt to him
from the Jews of Jerusalem. II was highly
esteemed by the Hellcnistic Jews before the
time of Christ, ana an annual festival was
held at Alexandria to commemorate its COM
pletion. Among the later versions of the Old
Testament have been the following: The
Netus Latina, supposed TO have been made in
Africa in the seconl century. The Vuigate.
made by Jerome, was the first b. ok printed
from movable types by Gutenberg. which
took place between 14s0 and 1855, many CEN
turtles after Jerome's death.
Wycliffes Bible was the first translation of
the entire Bible into English. This was made
about 1880, and was prepared for the common
people. Notwithstanding the invention of
death, no part OF his translation was printed
until 1873. nearly FIVE hundred years after 1t
was made, and the entire Bible was not
printed until 1850. Tyndales Bible was begun
| in 1875, and printed secretly. Miles Cover
dale's Bible was translated between 1921 and
1888 IN which year II was printed at ARtiSSerp
the real editor of which was John Rogers,
was printed i'm 1877. Ii was chiefly valuable
| for its numerous marginal notes and COM
ments. Traverncrs Bible was the transla-
! ton of an eccentric lay preacher of that name.
1t was printed in l540. The Great Bible" was
IA revision of Matthews Bible, and derived its
| name from its size, the pages being fifteen
| inches by nine, and larger than those of any
other then in existence. BY order OF the
| this Bible to he set up In convenient place
| within the churcn and the people were urged
to read it. The Gcneyan Bible. published in
| 1870, was the joint production of a number of
| scholarly refugees in Geneva, and was mainly
! the work of William Whittingham, Anthony
Gilby and Thomas Sampson. IL WIS the first
| English Bible printed i'm Rom IN type; the
| nrst broken up into verses. after the plan of
the present version; the first &c use italics TO
and the first to omit the Apocrypha. II was
the family Bible of ITS day. The Bishops
Bible issued in 1858 by Matthew Parker. was
the product OF the labors OF twelve or fifteen
learned men, the majority of whom were
bishops, hence the name. distinguishing
feature Of this version was the Classification
| torical," "sapiential'' and prophetic" Pas
sages not considered suitable for reading IN
omitted. The Rheims and Douay version
| which is that used by the Catholic Church, was
translated about 1873 by Gregory Martin. as
sisted by "A number of distinguished Biblical
scholars 1t derives its name from the loca-
| ton or a theological seminary In which
gregory WAS an instructor first at pouay,
| then at Rheims, and afterward a. Douay
again. The authorized version" was trans
iated by special command of james l., and
was published In 1911 Fifty-four of the most
learned men of the realm we're engaged upon
q. II was based upon the Bishops Bible, then
the ordinary Scriptures read I'm the church
| speaking people than any book ever written
What the St James version did for the En-
gish-speakng world Luther's Bible has done
|
lished in 1894, and has ever since been and il
stlli the only Bible In common use by German
| Professionals.
The history of the development and growth
OF the English language may be traced in the
numerous versions of the Old and New Testa-
| ments, as found in manuscripts and old
| printed volumes The following Gre speci-
mems:
In the Durham books, translated $50. the
lords Prayer reads:
| Fader uren thu arth in hoefnum, sic gehal-
| Zud MONA thin: TO cymeth ric thin; sic willo
thin suals I'm heofne & In earthe," etc.
In the Ormulum. translated about l225, John
Thierafterr onn an otherr dagg ldayl
Stod SAINT Johan Bapptiss.e.
Oh his MISUNDERSTANDING fDisciplesl. etc:
Richard Roiia, about I3c5 translated the
twenty-third Psalm after the following style:
Our lord gouerneth me nd nothynge TO me
shall wante; stede of pasture thar he me settle.
In the water of the hetyng forth he me
brought: my soule he turnyde. etc =.
Wycliffe, 1880, translated Matthew vi, ~, as
follows:
mo man may serue to two lords. forsothe
:other. outher he schal susteyne the toon and
1ispise the tother:, fe mowne not serve 10
In Tyndaie's Bible. 1880, Genesis KILL. IL.
was rendered thus:
Than their father Israel sayde unto the, IF
fh 6e 20 "a the lam ande eG
sclies. and brynge the man present acurtesie
oawlme. and a curtesie OF hony spyces ana
nyrre, dates and almondes.
In Coverdale's Bible. i5S5. Mark xiv, 1. is
shus printed:
An after two dayes was Easter and the
scrybes sought how they might take him with
isceate put him TO death. But they sayde:
Not in the feast daye. lest there be an uproure
The same passage was printed in the Great
Bible. 1882 thus:
| Of swete breed. And the bye presfes and the
scribes sought how they myghte take Him by