The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1884-08-23
THE REVISED BIBLE.
Ready for the Printer-Character of the
Changes Made in the Old Testament.

Ready for the Printer-Character of tn
Changes Made in the Old Testament.
Philadelphia Press.
The labors of the committees on tn
Anglo-American revision of the transla
ton of the Old Testament are ended
and the work is now in the hands O
the printers. 1t will probably be issuet
from the university presses of Oxfort
and Cambridge in the fall. This grea
work originated in the Convocation O.
Canterbury, May 6, 1870, by the ap
pointment of committee of eminent
biblical scholars and dignitaries of the
Church of England, with power to re.
wise the authorized version of 1911, and
to associate with them representative
biblical scholars of other denomina.
tions. 1t was decided to make the
work international as we'll as interde-
nominational. Accordingly the Ameri-
can committee was organized by invita-
ton and with the approval of the British
revisers, and began active work in Oc-
tober, 1872.
These committees have worked indie
pendently of each other. The Ameri-
can committee has held monthly meet
ings in New York, where after COM
parison of views, it would vote on a
proposed change. A majority vote
would be sufficient to carry the subject
over to the next meeting, when a two
thirds vote would be necessary to secure
its adoption. Achange thus voted would
be communicated to the English COM
mittee. The latter committee, working
in much the same manner and holding
its meetings in London, would prompt
ly send the results of its labors to the
American brethren. Thus constant
correspondence has been kept up be-
tween the two committees. 1t is by
means of this correspondence that the
revision has been completed. No joint
meeting of representatives of the COM
mittees has been held. Both commit
tees have gone over all the books of
the Old Testament, and no change will
be incorporated that has not met the
of both bodies. In some in
stances the British revisers have been
more conservative than the Americans,
and where the latter think their point
of sufficient Importance it will appear
in the appendix, as was done in the
case of the revision of the New Testa-
ment.
Changes in the text of the Old Testa-
ment will be less marked than in the |
revised edition of the New, In the re-
Vision of the latter the translators were |
aided by comparison of authentic |
discovered since the trans
alton in 1911. They were thus led to
correct the Greek text, and consequent
y to make alterations in the text of the
English revision. That they might
ender the original with greater liberal
less they sometimes sacrificed beauties
If phrase, even when the meaning was
lot affected.
In the work now in press there will
,e little or no occasion for complaint
n this regard. The difference between
Hebrew and English idioms is such that
t is impossible to render with such ver-
,al accuracy from the Hebrew as can
,e done from the Greek. Where, there
ore, one phrase expresses the true
meaning no change occurs. Then, too,
he public wish, especially in England,
as pronounced against all avoidable
Ranges in the old version.
Another powerful reason why radical !
Ranges were impossible is the fact that |
be original text of the Old Testament
emains substantially the same as that
sed by King James translators. With
ne New Testament the case was differ |
Mt. The mission of the revisers of the i
I'D Testament has been not so mucn to t
scertain the correct text but to find
ut the true meaning of the old text,
ne origin of which Is lost in antiquity.
n this work they have been assisted by
ne great advance made in the knowl-
dge of the Hebrew language since
ing James time. In many instances t
lie old translators wholly mistook the G
leaning of words, and they were igno- t
INT Of much of the Hebrew grammar t
lat is now the common property of O
,holars. Thus the children of Israel t
id not, as stated in Exodus, XII 9, by
vine direction "borrow" of the Egyp- "
ans what they never intended to re- L
I'm, but they "asked" for and re- O
lived gifts. In other cases the lenses O
verbs ale confused and the sequence "
thought contained in the text is lost n
the translation. Possessive pronouns W
e sometimes misplaced. Thus in tt
aims iix, II, "God of my mercy" b
ould be s'my merciful God" tt
Much light has also been shed on the
gaming of words in the text by the B
ldy of Arabic and other Semitic Ian b
ages. Since the excavation of Nine OF
b the study of these languages has cf
de great progress. "Some improve he
mt In translation may be expected, ia