The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1885-07-02
hsttsrs from Tie People
Revised Bible.
No.

Correspondence OF the Democrat
The demand for thorough revis
ion OF the whole Bible, arose from
several sources. The book has been
attacked by all sorts OF foes, and
upon all sorts Of grounds. and has
been frequently contemptuously
shelved as if its claims were futile,
and bad been utterly exploded. To
bring out the true meaning. and set
perspicuously before the reader, the
teaching OF the Holy Spirit in the
original languages of the Bible,
and to furnish book that should
inculcate the mellow spirit Of the
languages OF antiquity, and the force
of the linguistic Announcements of
the present scientific century, no less
than seven countries in Europe have
made serious endeayors to amend
the popular versions of the Scrip
lures.
the progress of our language, has
for more than fifty years been de-
handing q revision OF the Bible.
Dead languages do not change, and
II seems from this fact that it was
the purpose of the Advise 70 give to
the world the Bible in languages
that were destine to die, that the
thoughts expressed would forever be
incapable of change or variation.
Living languages are always subject
to change with the changes in the
numbers, manners, laws, institutions,
and social development of the peoples
who speak them" In the Bible,
and especially in the Old Testament,
there are some grammatical forms
that have become wholly antiquated.
ana there is a considerable number
of words which are now obsolete and
therefore unintelligible to the great
body of readers. Other words have
undergone an entire change of mean
ing and will always mislead the com
mon reader. The revision displaced
these antiqusted grammatical forms
with improved ones, and substituted
for these obsolete words, modern,
familiar words that express the orig
inal thought Following are some
of the verbal changes made: In
Isaiah Xvii, 6, the word aged
is substituted for the word ancient"
This is evidently proper as elder
or Jagged" conveys the correct idea.
lst Sam. xxi. 40, missile weapons
takes the place OF artillery This
is certainly correct because there
was no artillery at that time In
Isaiah xiv, 80, we haye '.broom" in
stead of .sbesom." And ia Isaiah
xvi, 3, we have "betray" instead Of
"bewray." No common Bible reader
without q commentary would ever
know what -bewray" means, but the
most illitera.e reader understands
"beIray.- In Elk. xxyiii, 40, the Re-
vision gives US "headtire" instead OF
"bonnet." This is better as there
are no historical traces OF the sons
Of Aaron wearing bonnets- In Job
XIV, 26, we find "knob" substituted
for "boss." Every body understands
what knob means, and the word boss
now signifies overseer. In Is xxx, 9,
we have s'humps" for "bunches,
meaning the humps on camels backs.
Psalm ", ,, gives US "lying" for
sleasing Every one knows what
"lying' means, and comparatively
few understand the word ~leasing"
/ have counted one hundred words
Of this class the reyisiors have offer
ed sub.itutions Tor, either in the
body OF the Bible or in the American
Appendix, bat lest my readers weary
of these monotonous notices and
comments, will make no further
comparisons j would advise every
one TO buy the Revision and read 1t
carefully, IL Is much clearer on many
points than the old, and il does not
detracf anything from the forcefnl
style and pure English OF the Au-
thoFized Version. The King James
Translation that has been in use
more than 200 years, that We revere
so much, is aot any more authorized.
except by common consent than the
late Revision. And although the
King James Translation is unani-
mously and universally denominated
the authorized Version" there is
no trace OF such authorization. We
speak oft writs u II "a xhiak of|