Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-05-19
TAe Revised Old Testament.

We shall witness among students Of the
Bible lively discussion of the merits Of the
revised version of the Old Testament, pub
hshed in London on Friday, when the whole
OF the modified translation Is laid before the
American public, which, we are told, viii
be done on Tuesday next. But while we
await with keen interest the full text Of q
work that embodies the best Hebrew and
Greek scholarship possessed by English and
American theologians, it may be well to
call to mind the aims and principles by
which the revisers have been guided.
The international task now, after four
teen years, concluded, was projected on the
assumption that the authorized English YER
sion ofthe Bible is not treasuredby English
readers as fetch, but priced Just IN pro.
portion as il Is believed to faithfully repeat
the actual words uttered or written by the
Savior and His deciples and by the Hebrew
lSWgiyers, prophets, ehroniclers and bards.
1t WIS also taken for granted that more
trustworthy Hebrew and Greek texts of the
sacred writings, and ripper powers of analysis
and Interpretation, were available at the
close of the nineteenth than at the begin
ming of the seventeenth century. To
these fundamental postulates no sound
objection can be raised. If any reader
of the authorized version made in the
reign of James |. care more for the English
dress in which its teachings are conveyed
than for the absolute fidelity of the inguis-
tic medium to the inspired original, then to
Just that extent they are not Christians. but
idolators. Again, if any Of the dogmas pro.
pounded by any church or sect can be
shown by a more accurate exegesis to be
reared on mistaken rendering of some
Greek or Hebrew phrase, 30 much the more
need of o revised translation, and so much
the worse for the dogmas thus diseredited.
But if the purpose was to reach the most
perfect Greek and Hebrew texts attaiuable,
and the most searching and exact English
reproduction Of their contents. why, it may
be asked, were not nou-Christian critics,
some Of whom are world famed for their
range and precision Of their scholarship, in
vited to participate in the work Of recon
struction2 Because to Christian readers
who alone are deeply interested in the i'm
proyement of vehicle by which, as they
believe, the voice of God is borne to them
the object of vital moment is to learn, not
what inGdels allege, but what believers, who
are also men of learning, acknowledge.
They wish to see detected and cor
reeted in their English counterpart
OF the sacred volumes not every
shor coming and d. ction whose existence
rests on the assertion of skeptical ssSail-
ant, but those errors and imperfections pro-
noureed such by the concurrent verdict of
Christian thcologians technically competent
to discharge the exegeticsl function and
representing most Of the important shades
Of Protestant sectarisn opinion.
1t was Just because laudable and for the
age felicitious attempt to meet the several
conditions above enumerated was made
by the editors Of the so-cslled King
James's Bible (which itself was revesiou)
that that version very slowly bat in the
erd completely eelpsed its predecessors
al 1 acquiEed p firm bold upon the cor
f6enee ard affections Of English
speaking Christians. In ike manner, 1t the
lew revision shall appear upon mature ex'
animation 10 be marked Improvement on
the old in the essential feature Of scrupuIous
fidelity to the Hebrew and Greek originals
"a result vet INSTRUMENTATION no con
servatiye force of habit nor well aimed 90
lection on the score Of rhetoric will perhaps
prevent its gradual acceptance.