St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-05-28

|
minutes. A horses wind will last. 1t
is not the wind that gives out, it is the
legs.-[W. w. Bair.
The Revised Old Testament.
The Old Testament revision was first
offered 10 the American public last
! Thursday. 1t appeared bound with
the New Testament. The preface
| opens with "a statement of the general
principles on which the revision has
been conducted In regard to the
word "Jehovah," the usage of the au-
! thOrized version is followed, the revis-
ers not thinking it advisable to insert
| it uniformly in place of Lord" or
| Good which, when printed in small
/ capitals, represent the words substi-
tuted 10y Jewish custom for The Inetf
able. The word grave" Judges
vi: 2S) has been replaced by "ashera,"
with its plurals, "asherim" and ''ashe-
roth In the pOetical books ''sheOl'
replaces "hell," which has been chang
ed in prose passages to ''the grave"
and ''the pitt with ''sheOl' in the mar
gin. "Of these renderings, hell" says
the preface, ''if it could be taken in its
original sense as used in the creeds,
would he fairly adequate equivalent for
the Hebrew word, but it is so common
! ly understood as the place of torment
that To employ it frequently would
lead to inevitable misunderstanding"
In Isaiah xiv, where ''hell" is used in
more of its original sense, the revisers
have left "hell" in the text. putting
"sheOl" in the margin.
All headings of chapters have been
dropped, as in the revised New Tcsta-
ment, and the text has been divided
into paragraphs, but the old chapter
and verse divisions have been re-
tanned in the margin for convenience
of reference. BY this means the revis
ers have been enabled to rejOin the
Tenth Psalm to the Ninth Psalm, and
the Thirteenth Psalm to the Twelfth
Psalm, and to begin the thirteenth
chapter of Isaiah at chapter lively e,
verse thirteen. The several days of
the creation are made more prominent
by breaks of Il line between the verses.
Examination of the more familiar
passages and phrases disclOses the fact
that care was taken in preserving in
tact household words of the Old les
lament. The old literary form has
been held sacred, and the reviSers
cannot be charged with any pedantic
straining after the original text; but
not all the familiar features of the
Scripture have escaped untouched.
The high priest no longer casts lots for
the scapegOat he does so for Azazel.
The summary of each days work at
the creation now runs according to the
formula: "And there was evening and
there was morning one day - ''there
thArn u
second day" Il third day, and ON,
giving suggestion of successive
stages, with long intervals. The zap
pies of gOld' of Proverbs XIV: II are
now encased in Figured work" of sill
yer, not in ''pictures." ''Nanity and
vexation of spirit (Ecclesiastes ii: ~
has become ''Nanity and ii striving at
ter wind" "Happy is the man that
hath his culver full of them" psalm
cXXVii: y has been changed into clap
py is the man that hath filled his quiv
er with them" Reuben's curse Gene
sis Xix: A. "'Unstable as water, thou
shalt not excel now reads, "Unstable
as water, have not thou the excel
lency."
The following changes also CRATE
against associations The authorized
Genesis, chapter six, verse four,
''There were giants in the earth in
those days. is revised: "The nephe
lion were i'll the earth in those days"
In the authorized edition (JOb XXI
3D. ooh, that one would hear me be
hold my desire is that the Almighty
would answer me, and that mine ad-
versary had written a book" is revis-
ed:
''Oh, that one would hear me Be
hold, my desire is, that the Almighty
would answer me, and that had the
indictment which my adversary hath
written" The authorized Eighth
Psalm, verse five, "FOr thou hast
made him little lower than the an
gels is revised:
''For thou hast made him little
lower than God" The authorized
Psalm cxvi, verse eleven. 81 said in
my haste, all men are liars is revised:
II said when / made haste to escape,
all men are lie" EcclesiaStes xii: l3,
Let us hear the conclusion of the
whole matter: fear God" etc, has been
revised to read "This is the end of
the matter, all hath been heard. Fear
| Cod" etc. Proverbs Xiv:9, "FoolS
make a mock at sin, but among the
! righteous there is favor revised,
reads: "The foolish scorn the guilt
offering, but among the right there is
good will" The above are nearly all
of the passages in which IA shock is
| given tn old associations.
The revised Old Testament was Civ
en- to the American public very early
last Thursday morning. The agents
/ in the United States for the Cam
bridge Press are the LippincOtts of
| Philadelphia, for the Oxford Press,
| Nelson n Son of New York. The Uni
versity Press of Oxford and Cam brid sc
bear jointly the entire expense Of max
ing the revision, more than Sl00,OOO,
and 1t is for the protection of their En-
glish copyright that the book is issued
III this country some days after its APP
pearance in gland, the English copy
| right law exacting the publication first
in Great Britain. In the case of the
revised New Testament, the publica
ton here occurred two days later than
ia England.