The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1885-05-27

owl, Lev. Xl: 10, Ostrich.
Plain of Mamre Gen. xviii l, Oaks of Mamre.
Paper reeds, Is. XXX, Meadows.
Pots, Jer. xxxv: 5, Bowls
River of Egypt. Mum. xxxiv: 8, Brook of Egypt,
mot the Nile).
Reward, Jer. xl: 5, Present.
Satyrs, Is xiiI:2, Goats.
Scapegoat, Lev. xvi: s, Removal
Screech owl, Is. xxxiv IA, Night monster
Scum, Eek. XIV: 6, Rust.
Shameful spewing, Hab ii: 16, Ignominy.
Spider, Prov. xxxviii, 81, Lizard.
Sweet influences Job xxxviii
81, Cluster, or chain.
Thick clay, Hab ii: s, Pledges.
Table Is. Xxx: s, Tablet.
Tablet, Is. Ill: 20, Perfume box.
Torches, Nah. IL 8, Steel
Troop, Amos TX: G., Vault.
Valley Josh. xi: 16, Lowland.
Veil, Ruth iii: To- Mantle.
Unicorn, Mum. xiii: %, Wild OK.
Wounds, Prov. xviii: s, Dainty morsels
Changes in the Pentateuch.
The first feature that arrests attention
here is the printing Of the poetical por-
tons in the form of verse. We have in
stances in the blessing of Jacob (Gen.
xlix.), the song of triumph at the Red
Sea lex. XVI, the rapt utterances OF
BALKAN (Num. xiii, XIV, and the
song and the blessing of Moses at the
end of his life (Deut. xxi, xxxiii y
Also as in shorter texts, as the song OF
Lamech (Gen. iv. }, the prophecy of Noah
Gen. ix.), the Lords answer to Rebecca
(Gen. iv.) the blessings by Isaac (Gen.
xvii, the song Of the well Mum. xxi. },
and the abrupt ode on the downfall of
Moab (56id). The form of these pas
sages shows that they belong to that
poetical feeling and habit which per-
vaded the entire life and history of the
Hebrews. Whatever moved the heart
was expressed in song, whether it was
the discovery of the fountain in the
desert or JOY over some great victory.
The revision has wisely given the verse
form only to those passages which by
their origin and structure compel one to
see IN them an outburst of poetical feel
ing.
The following selection of passages
which have been changed in the revision
Is intended as specimen of the work
done, and OF the principles upon which
it has been carried out.
Genesis.-In the first chapter the
putting of each day g work in separate
paragraph aids the common reader. In
": % the song of Lamech is made more
ineligible by making the second couplet
read,
For have slain man for wounding me,
And young man for bruising me.
In xiii. l abraham went up out of
Egypt =. into the South" the
printing of the last word with capital
letter shows that it refers to a definite
region (the Negeb), and thus avoids the
incongruity of the A. V. in leading one
to think that the patriarch reached
Palestine by going south from Egypt.
In v. Is "the plain of Mamre which as
in Hebron" is changed to 1.-The oaks Of
Mamre which are in Hebron" because
this is the meaning of Hebrew, and there
is no plain in Hebron or its vicinity. $50
xiv. Ii and xviii. ~ In xviii 10, " For
| know him that he will command his
children and his household after him, "
is changed by For have known him,
to the end that he may command" etc.
In xiv. 2, abraham said to his eldest
servant Of his house, is made to read,
abraham said to his servant, the elder
Of his house" which is what the Hebrew
means. In xxxiii. Is, "And Jacob came
to Shalem, city of Shechem,' the re-
vision reads, " came in peace to the city
of Shechem,' because no such city as
Shalem Is known, and the true rendering
shows how God fulfilled Jacobs request
(xxxiii. 2D. In the prophecy of Jacob
(Gen. xlix.) are several manifest i'm
provements. Reuben is charged with
being not unstable" but, as the origi-
nal word means, boiling over'-that is,
impulsive or excitable, which exactly de-
scribes his character, as shown by his
conduct on various occasions. In the
fifth verse, instruments Of cruelty are
in their habitations," the margin Of the
a. v, weapons Of. violence are their
words, is inserted in the text, as being
both more literal and more expressive.
In the ninth verse, instead of saying that
Judah couohed "as an old lion" the
revision returns to Tyndals's more ac-
curate rendering, as lioness."
Exodus Iii. 22) "a stranger in a
strange land" is rendered 8" q sojourne1
in STANCE land" In the song of tri
umph after passing the Red Sea (Ex
XVI the vividness and poetical grandeur
Of the lyric are shown in the revision by
the change of the past tense into the pre-,
sent in w. ST, and of the future into
the past in w. 14-16, change required
by the original. In the obscure passage
| (Ex. xvii. 16) the text retains the rem
/ derino If the " vubile tbe rcarc,;y