Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-08-11
The Revised Bible.
CHARACTER or THE WORK
Pbilpdelphia Record.

iCNIslDu vi tlt tEdIlt-
lation of the Old Testament are ended
and the work Is now in the hands of
the printers. IL will probably be is
sued from the University presses OF
Oxford aud Cambridge in the fall.
vocation of Canterbury, May q, 1870,
by the appointment of u committee of
eminent biblical scholars and dig.
nitalies of the Church of England,
with power to revise the author
lied version of 1911, and to associate
with them representative biblical
scholars of other denominations. 1t
was decided to make the work inter-
national as well rs interdenomina-
tional Accordingly the American
committee was organized by invita-
ton and with the approval of the
British revlsers, and began active
work in October, 1872 The two COM
mittees thus organized embraced some
of the most eminent scholars on either
side of the Atlantic. The committees
worked independently. No joint
meetings of representatives of the
committees have been held. Both
committees have gone over all the
books of the Old Testament, and
NO CHANGE WILL BE INCORPORATED
that has not met the approval of both
bodies In some instances 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 APP
pendiX, as was done in the case of the
revision of the New Testament.
Changes in the text of the Old Tes-
lament will be less marked than in the
revised edition of the New. In the re-
vision of the latter the translators
were aided by a comparison of au-
| thentic manuscripts discovered since
the translation in 1911. They
were thus led to correct
the Greek text, and consequently
| to make alterations in the text of the
English revision. That they might
| render the original with great literal
ness they sometimes sacrificed beau
| ties of phrase, even when the meaning
was not affected.
In the work now in press there will
! be little or no occasion for complaint
in this regard. The difference between
Hebrew and English idiom is such
that it is not possible to render with
such verbal accuracy from the Hebrew
as can be done from the Greek. Where,
therefore, one phase expresses the tue
! meaning no change occurs. Then, too,
the public wish, especially In England
has pronounced against all avoidable
changes in the old version.
Another powerful reason why radi'
cal changes are impossible is the fact
that the
ORIGINAL TENT or THE OLD TESLA
MENT
remains substantially the same as that
used by King James translators. With
the New Testament the case Is differ
ent. The mission of the revisers o
the Old Testament has been not Sc
much to ascertain the correct text, bu
to find out the true meaning of the ole
text, the origin of which is lost in an
tiIuity. In this they have been as
sisted by the great advance made II
the knowledge of the Hebrew laG
guage since King James time. Ii
many instances the old translators
wholly mistook the meaning of words
and they were ignorant of inuci
of Hebrew grammar ithtt Is nov
H.. common ,Ss on; ,apTs roPzd sen not IS
stated in Exodus WIN, n by dlyin'
direction '1boyfowMSSpthe Egyptian
) what they never M$pded to return
but they ''asked" for and receive,
gifts. In other cases the lenses o
verbs are confused and the sequence o
thought contained in the text Is ios'
in translation. POssessive pronoun'
are sometimes misplaced. Ihus IL
Psalm liz, II, God OF my mercy
should be ''my merciful God"
Much light has also been shed on
the meaning of words In the text 10y
J the study of Arabic and other Semitic
, languages. Since the excavations al
| Nineveh the study of these Languages
, has made great progress. "Some i'm
provement Ia our translation may bt
expected alson says President Chas'
of Harvard, one OF the revisers OF thu
New Testament, "from the greatly In
creased knowledge III recent times
the ways and
CUSTOMS OF ORIENTAL PEOPLE,
and of the geography, flora and faun,
of the Bible lands. The NEUROLOGICAL
satyrs should be verltable goats; ant
that fabulous beast, the unicorn
shonld no longer exslt his horn In TN
Bible. though he may continue 10 IL
so on the royal arms of England, bu
; will doubtless give place to the WIG
ox--the same wild OK, or urus, which
: Caesar describes in Germany, ano
: which has been preserved with grea'
care even to our time on a nobiem an
estate in Great Britain"
The parallelism in thepoetical book
will be shown by printing In vers'
: form. which will be an immense gait
in the cleaners and f3rce OF meaning
For example, the earliest specimen .
: POETRY extant Genesis iv. q, ~ Illus.
: trates itself If arranged Ia some sucl
way as this:
aAnd LamAch said unto his.wiye',
Adam aud Zlllah, hear my voice. 49,
Ye wives of Lamech, heafxen INV" ~
Z speech an IN NV woundlng
ri And y youog man to my hurt.
Iffain ahaii no avenged ssven1,,,
Truly Lamech seventy and sesenio'a'
The completion OF this work marx
the third great step In the ren .,:a,
ing OF tile Scriptures Ia the Engns.
Language. The first Translation entii'
was tie work Of John Wyc!ihe, 10 ~
last quarter OF the fourteenth century
There were din srent attempts 20 up
NV The want Of = better trnnslatiol
. until in 1911 King James version W.
0iven to the world ~ the best produc
81 the rlpest scholarship OF that Gay