The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-19

4
stroyed, yet from my flesh shall I see God;
| Whom l shall for myself. and mine eyes
shall behold. and not another; My reins are con
sumed within me-" The principal dispute is
concerning the words here rendered literally
| enough, but very ambiguously, from my flesh.
| "Out of my flesh would have been still more
literal, and more suitable, if ambiguity were the
| object of either of the rival interpretations,
| LOOKING out of my flesh. and without my flesh,
which most expositors prefer, and which alone
| seems to suit the context
| In the Psalms and prophets the same timid
| policy appears to have actuated the revisers.
| They have prudently refrained from marring the
| most familiar passages, such as the Psalm COM
| mencing ''The Lord is my shepherd, l shall not
want" which is not touched; and the Messianic
| chapter of Isaiah, who hath believed our re-
port" which is but lightly altered and they have
| corrected some obvious and we'll understood mis-
takes, such as All bis thoughts are, there is no
| God" for There is no God in all his thoughts"
| Psalm x, a., where the simpler form would have
| been, There is God such are all his
| thoughts but they have left multitudes of pas
| sages as obscure as ever which a moderate
change would have relieved and beautifed, e. e.,
| Psalm x, TO- He croucheth, he boweth down,
and the helpless fall by his strong ones, in place
| OF HE croucheth and humbleth himself, that
the poor may fall by his strong ones,'
where the sense seems to be, $50 will be
crushed, will sink and fall by his strong [passes
each of the wretched ones" 1t would require
more space than we have at command to detail
| all the changes of some Importance that the re-
| vlsers have effected in the Psalms. We note a
| few miscellaneousy where the improvement has
been by the simplest process generally the omis-
sion of superfuous words supplied in the author
lied version: viii g. ''And awake for me- thou
hast commanded Judgment instead of And
| awake for me to the Judgment that thou hast
| commanded" TX, s. Their very memorial is
| perished instead of 'Ther memorial is persisted
with them" TX, 16 ''The Lord hath made HIM
| self known; He hath executed judgment" iu-
| stead of 1.-THE Lord is known by the judgment
| which He executeth." But in some instances,
| we think, they have erred in contrary direc-
| ton, e., Psalm, x, 4. 1.-THE wicked, in the
pride of his countenance, saith he will not re-
| Quire," in place of 1.-THE wicked, through the
| pride of his countenance, will not seek after
God" to be rendered simply, twill not worship"
| In the Proverbs, Ecciesiastes and the Song of
| Solomon no very great improvement has been
| made, although many minor points have been
amended. The interlocutors in the last are not
| designated, and there is no cew given to the
place of the coloquy. We are glad to see an
| offensive mistake corrected by the rendering
| ii, l3), My beloved IS unto me as bundle of
| myrrh that lieth betwixt my breasts" and to
| find the apt word ''palanquin" introduced in iii,
8, instead of the vague chariot" but we are
sorry to see the unmeaning translation. ii, Z,
| viii 4, THAT we stir not up awaken love
until it please" instead of the obvious THAT we
| stir not up nor awaken my love till she please"
| The prophesies of Isaiah afforded magnif-
| cent field for the revisers skill, and they have
| greatly taxed their powers; but the fact of the
familiarity of these splendid utterances in the
| public memory has compelled great caution iii
| their emendation Very many minor corrections
have been made but the grandest chapters
| necessarily remain almost unaltered. 1t is
curious to see how the revisers have managed
| the well-known list of an ancient Hebrew lady's
wardrobe N iii, 1923. We give their version of
that passage: ''In that day the Lord will take
| away the bravery of their anklets and the caus,
and the crescents; the pendants and the brace
| let's, and the mufflers; the head tires, and the
| ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume
| boxes, and the amulets; the rings and the nose
| Jewels; the festival robes, and the matles, and
| the shaws and the satchels; the hand mirrors,
and the fine linen, and the turbans and the
wells" So, in the enumeration of musical in
sruments in verse II, compare lively little change
is made: "And the harp and the lutte, the tabret
and the pipe, and wine are in their feasts,' where
| the old version has: "And the harp and the
viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine are in their
feasts" The old rendering of vii, IA, is retained:
| Behold. a virgin shall conceive and bear son,
| and shall call his name Emmanuel" although
the original has 1.-The virgin" So, also, "basisk"
is kept in the text at XII 8, and satyrs" in xiii,
| II, though 'owls" is changed to 'ostriches,"
wild beasts of the islands" to wolves" and
| dragons" to ''jackals" in the context. In the
splendid description of Ethiopia. xviii, l, ETC.,
| some changes were necessary, and the opening
| of the passage now reads thus: "Ah, the land
| of the rustling of wings which is beyond the
| rivers of Ethiopia, that sendeth ambassadors
| by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus upon
| the waters, saying Go, ye swift messengers,
| to a nation tall and smooth, to a people
| terrible from their beginning onward; a nation
| that meteth out and treadeth down, whose land
| the rivers divided" The graphic passage pre-
] dieting the capture OF Babylon by the troops of
| Cyrus and other events, xxi, xxi, has but few
emendations 1.-THE burden of the wilderness of
| the sea. AS whirlwinds in the south sweep
| through, it cometh from the wilderness, from
| terrible land" Xxi ~ II am panied tthat 1
| cannot hear; am dismayed so that cahnot see
| My heart panteth; horror hath affrighted me;
the twilight that desired hath been turned into
trembling unto They prepare the table
they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up
we princes, anoint the shield. For thus hath the
Lord said unto me, Go, set Waterman, let
him declare what he seeth; and when he seeth
troop, horsemen in pairs troop of asses, a
troop Of cames, he shall hearken diligently
with much heed. And he cried lion, o
| Lord, stand continually upon the watch tower
| in the day time, and am set in my ward whole
| nights; and, behold. here cometh troop of men,
horsemen in pairs" etc. Xxi, 39) The careful
exposition will see how far this falls short of the
! dramatic power OF the original. Further on: 20
thou that art full of shouting, a tumultuous
city, joyous town; thy slain net slain with
the sword, neither are they dead in battle. All
thy rulers fled away together. they were bound
| by the archers the meaning is they were made
| captives without bowshot'l all that were
| found in thee were bound together, they fed
afar off" Ell. (xxii, I-3l is little better
notable Improvement has been made in xl, L,
/ by simple Representation conformable to the
| Hebrew law of parallelism: 1.-THE voice of one
that crieth, prepare we in the wilderness the
| way Of the Lord"
| The writings of jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel
| furnish much less opportunity for change, but
some chapters of the minor prophets are quite
| susceptible of improvement. We cite few of
the more familiar passages, as they appear in the
revision: Hosea vi, A, Your goodness is as
4 morning cloud. and as the dew that goeth early
away" vi 6, For desire mercy and not sacri- 4
| fee" instead of ''For desired mercy and not
sacri6ce;" vi, 7, But they, like Adam, have
| transgressed the covenant" instead of But
| they. like men, have transgressed the covenant"
viii II, Though l write for him my law in ten
thousand precepts instead of Il have written
| to him the great things of my law, butt" and so
| on.
| The question is continually asked, Will the
| revised version supersede the old one2 So far