Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-05-23

| Inc feature tuat arrests attentlOn mere Is
the printing of the poetica portions in the form,
| OF verse. We have instances in the blessing OF
Jacob teen. xlix.), the song OF triumph at the
| Red Sea Tx. XVI, the rapt utterances OF Balaam
| Mum. xiii, XIV, and the song and the bless
ing OF Moses at the end of his life (Deut xxxii..
xxxiii.l Ais, as in shorter texts. as the song OF
/ Lamech Cen w., the prophecy of Noah (Gen.
| ix-l. the Lords answer To Rebecca Gen. XIV,
| the blessings by Isaac Gen. XVII, the song OF
| the well Mum. xii, and the abrupt ode on the
| downfall of Moab (Itid) The form of these pas.
sa@eS shows that they belong to that poetical
| feeling and habit which pervaded the entire life
| and history of the Hebrews. Whatever moved
| the heart was expressed in song. whether 1T was
| the discovery OF a 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
| The foIIowin e" selection % OF nassages Which
| have been changed in the revision is intended
| As specimen of the work done, and of the prin-
ciple upon which it has been carried out.
| Genesis.-In the first chapter the putting Of
| each days work in separate paragraph aids
| the common reader. In iv:23 the song of Lamech
| is made more Ineligible by making the second
couplet read,
For 1 have slain a man for wounding me,
And young man for brusing me-
| In xiii. abraham went up out of Egypt
into the South" the printing of the last
word with capital letter shows that it refers
to definite region tthe Negebl, and thus avoids
the incongruity of the A.V in leading one to
think that the patriarch reached Palestine by
%heh 5G ii EHkgs In i, ne plain
oaks OF Mamre which are III Hebron" because
this is the meaning Of the Hebrew, and there is
and xviii. H. In xviii. 49, "For I know him
that he will command his children and his
household after him. is changed to '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, ".Abra-
ham said to his servant the elder of his house.
which is what the Hebrew means. In XXxiii.
is. And Jacob came TO Shalem Il city of Shec-
hem, the revision reads ''came in peace to the
tif hnp oft
Shalcm Is known, and the true rendering shows
how God fulfilled Jacobs request (xxvii. 21).
In the prophecy of Jacob Gen. xliX.) are sew
eral manifest improvements. Reuben is charged
with being not unstable" but. as the original
word means boiling over"-that is, impulsive
or eXcitabe, which exactly describes his char
acter, rs shown by his conduct on various occa-
sionS. In the nth verse, instruments of
cruelty are in their habitations,r the margin
swords is inserted in the text, as being both
more literal aud more expressive. In the ninth
verse, instead of saying that Judah couched "as
an Old lion, the revision returns to Tyndale's
more accurate rendering, ''as a lioness."
Land is rendered "a soini1rger IN IN strase
land. In the song of triumph after passing
the Red Sea (Ex: XVI the vivdness and poetical
grandeur the lyric are shown in the revision
by the change OF the past tense into the present
in w. 81, and of the future into the past in W.
14-16. Il change required by the original In
tains the rendering of the A.N. while the mar
gin gives the more literal sense of the Hebrew
lex against the throne of the Lord thereforel
the. Lord Will have war with Amalcl1 frOEa gen.
Grafton .pan4 to generation: In the second com
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children upon the third and upon the fourth
generation of them that hate me- (the exact
sense of the original The sixth command ".
10 is after the pattern of the Prayer Book and
the \; V. in Matt. xix; Is. given Thou
L.. The advantage of this rendering is that it
needs no limitation or explanation. To XIII is
often lawful, and sometimes q duty, but to do
murder is wrong always and everywhere. Tab
ernacie of the Congregation is changed to
Tent of meeting In the word Jehovah"
the A.N. is followed, the revisers not thinking
ii advisable to insert it uniformly in place of
Lord or God, which when printed in small
capitals represent the words substituted by
Jewish custom tor the ineffable name OF tech
nicll terms from the Hebrew. one in three seems
to have been generally introduced. The word
ashcroft
THE HISTORICAL BOOKS.
Judges. (ch. W The song of Deborah is
amended according to the demands Of modern
scholarship. Verses 10 and 1 are rendered:
Tel Of il. We ti.a, ride on white asses.
And We that walk by the way.
Far from the noise of archers. in the places of
There shall they rehearse the righteous of the
teach the children of Israel the use Of the tor''
the revision puts it ''so,,g of the bow. In ii: %
"Abner smoie him under the fifth rib" changed
In agreement with modern lexicons to sin the
belly. In v: 10 we read David went on and
grew great: the revision resolves this Hebrew
idiom David waXed greater and greater In
vi: 10. instead of Hagen of wine, the revision
properly reads "a cake of Taisins.''
= Kings. The interrogation in /: 3 as to
Ahazlahs folly in consulting the god of EkrOn
when he was sick. gains much in force and
vividne>s by being put, as the Hebrew demands,
In a positive forln-'ls it because there is no
God In Israel that We go ~ enquire of Baal-
Zebuo?' The addition of the margin to III:
Iorblds lie common mistake of suppOsing that
Elijah had. He asked a first -born's portion
in his masters spirit In viii; IL the addition
OF the words in italics ',!pon him" to the state
lastly, removes an ambiguity by showing that
1T was the steady gaze of Elisha that put Hazael
to shame In tx: $. and everywhere, the term
away with Gisagreeablc form of speech. "a
similar euphcmism is introduced in xvii: 30
In xii: 4 the phrase current money" which
exactly renders the Hebrew. displaccs the OBJ
scure statement, "eyca the money of every one
that pa>seth the account. Many readers have
stumbled AT the statement xxi: Ia that HUI
daE dwelt AT Jerusalem, sin the college," but
the word means. as the revision has it, 1.-The
second quarter of the city, probably an addi-
ton recently made to its Enclosure.
In Chron. in A. V. we read of oxen that
coinpassed the molten sea "ten in a cubit.''
which is impossible. The revision has it .'for
correct. and is therefore rendered literally abe
goats. The last words of this chapter, And he
II.
repeat what has been already said, are mad in
the revision 10 have a sense which is legitimate
and in harmony with the connection. "And he
Sought for them the sons just mentiOned) many
wiveS.''
THE POLITICAL BOOKS
''Sheol replaces ''hell,' which has been changed
i'll prose passages to 1.-The grave and '.the pitt
with "'sneoi III the margin. 'Of these render
lnsS hell says the preface, lift could be taken
in It's original sense used in the creeds would
be "a fairly adequate equivalent Tor the Hebrew
word, bat 1t as So commonly understood as the
would lead to inevitable misunderstanding" In
Isaiah xiv. where "heil' is used in more of its
original sense, the revisers have left s'hel'' in
the text, putting ''sheol' in the margin.
Job /. . talso / 1 and IL, ), 81, "cursed God"
Is rendered renowned God" In iii. s. the
marginal reading; OF A. V. is demanded by fideI-
Ityl In V. ., . the reasoning of EliphaZ is sadly
rcrpieXCd in the \. V. by making him saw: "a j.
though afhiction cometh not etc, yet man is
born 10 trouble, ETC. whereas what he says is
really as the revision gives it:
For atction cometh not forth of the dust,
Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
But man Is born unto trouble
a. the sparks fly UPWARD.
Sorrow does not come from natural causes
but rom man sinful nature. In viii. IS. as in
seNc5 other places, "hypocrite" is changed to
the word. In tx. 20 ~ be wicked" is Justly.
and with great advantage to the sense, made
10 read, Il shall be condemned. In the very
diftcult verse Ai. H. the revision renders
But vain man would be WISE
Though IMAM Is born o wild ASS colt,
and puts in the margin one of the most prOba-
BILE of the many other renderings, some of
is not true of the race, it is of some Inem-
berS OF it. In xii. ) the obscure com p: rfsOn of a