The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-11-07
Sunday.SchOOl Lessons.
THE REVISION OF TIE OLD TES.
TAMENT.
FOURTH QUARTER,

y
was unanimously carried through both
Houses of the Convoca.ion of Canter-
bury to appoint Joint Committee ''to
report upon the desirableness of revis-
ion of the authorized version of the Old
and New Testament, whether by mar
ginal notes or otherwise, in all those
passages where plain and clear errors,
whether in the Hebrew or Greek text
originally adopted by She translators,
or in the TRANSACTIONS made from the
same, shall on due investigation be
found to exist" This led to the for
nation of two companiss-one to labor
on the Old Testament and the other to
labor on the New Testament; and these
companies, though including eight of
the most accomplished English Bishops,
we're enlarged by other eminent schoi-
ars without regard to nationality or re-
ligious creed; and further, an American
Committee on each OF the Testaments
Was invited to cooperate with the Eng
lish reV:Sers. The results of the New
Testament COMMITTEES Rave already
been gwen to the world, with what sue
cess our readers have had ample oppor-
tunity TO know.
Owing to changes resulting from
death and otherwise, and the introduce
ton of new members into the Old les
lament Committee, it was deemed adj
visable not to be contant with second
final revision of their work, but to seek
greater thoroughness and accuracy by
reviewing it a third time and in the
most critical manner. This has been
the occasion of some delay; but we I'M
derstand that at their meetings during
the latter part of October and Novem-
Der, the American scholars will throw
into IN appendix certain of the emenda-
tons which they originally proposed,
but which were not adopted by their
English brethren into the text; and that
then the task Of publishing the COM
| pleted Old Testament will be rapidly
pushed forward. 1t will not, however,
be out probably before the first of May.
The only authorized editions will be
those from the University presses of
Oxford and Cambridge, but from these,
doubtless, there will be innumerable re-
prints in various forms. Two reasons
conspire to render the publication slow:
first, because it is intended to print one
edition in four volumes on heavy paper
not for the market but for preseuta-
ton to every person who has contributed
SO or more toward the publication.
The labor done on this will be largely
by hand and very elegant, but. of
course, tedious. A second reason for
slowness will be the necessity of getting
q vast number of copies ready in adj
vance of attempted sale, so as TO be
n fp ipor doy,, nd no
will certainly be made for them.
The revisers. wishing their work to
stand or fall on its completed merits
and not by any partial criticisms on
particular and disconnected passages,
are pledged to secrecy as to the specific
character of the changes made. 1t
seems, however, to be pretty we'll I'M
derstood that they have been much
more conservative than were their New
Testament colleagues, and that, to
quote the language of DR.. Chambers,
'they have confined themselves in the
main to such changes as were deemed
indispensable, instead of embracing all
the cases which might seem desirable"
says:
Bible to memory could read the new edition
for pages without knowing that any changes
had been made. The reysers have been very
conservative and have left the old text undis-
turbed wherever possible. Some of the
broader passages, however, have been soft
ened, and a number of minor changes made,
such as retaining the old Hebrew word :Je-
hovah instead of tho modern rendering
Lord The English revisers, however. cling
to the word Lord We have found in our
labors that the old revisers were better Greek
Hebrew scholars
mistakes were due to too slavish adaptation
of the Septuagint"
The established order of the books
will not be disturbed. The Apocrypha
will not be included, but will be revised
by an English Committee, independent
of the Revision Committee. And it is
supposed that some such changes will
be introduced rs the following: In place
of the Hebrew plural cherubim there
will be the English plural cherubims,
and in the same way seraDhims, neIh-
inims. anakims. etc. Ineligible words
and phrases will take the place of ar
chaisms such as ..taches," .'ouches,'
"knops." ''neesings,' and ''all to-"
meaning altogether. Again, uniformity
will be sought in the spelling of proper
names and places, retaining, however,
as q rule, the Hebrew forms FOR Hebrew
names. except where a foreign name
has been thoroughly naturalized and
unalterably fixed in English usage.
Again, there will be n rev sion OF orthog-
raphy. pronunciation, capitals and
perhaps metrical arrangement of
poetry according to the laws of Hebrew
parailelism. These and similar changes
were at least foIe~hadowed in an ar
ticle long since published by DIR. Schaff.
Christian at W0rk.