The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1885-07-23
READING MADE EASY.

| READING MADE EASY.
explanations OF Changes and the Arrange
ment Of the New Version of the Old
Testament.
The following extracts from an early
copy of this work will enable thu
reader to form a correct opinion O.
leading changes made in the new YER
sion OF the bible.
Changes In the Pentateuch.
The first feature that arrests atten
ton here is the printing of the poetica
portions in the form of verse. We
have instances in the blessing of Jacot
(Gen. xlix.), the song of triumph al
the Red sea, (xxv. &; the rapt utterances
OF Balaam Mum. xiii. and xiv. },
and the song an the blessing of Moses
at the end of his life Deut. xxi.
and xxxiii.). Also as in shorter texts,
as the song of Lamech (Gen. IVY, the
prophecy OF Noah (Gen. ix), the
Lords answer to Rebecca Gen. XIV },
the blessing Of Isaac Gen. XVII }, the
song Of the we'll (Num. xxi), and the
abrupt ode on the downfall of Moab
Gbid).
The form of these passages shows
that they belong to that poetical feel
Ing and habit which pervades the en-
tire life and history of the Hebrews.
Whatever moved the heart was set in
song, whether it 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 to see in
them an outburst of poetical feeling.
Inc following selection of passages
which have been changed in the re-
vision is intended as a specimen of the
work done, and of the principles upon
which it has been carried out:
GENESIS.
In the first chapter the putting Of
each days work III a separate para5
graph aids Tie common reader. In
w., 70, the song of Lamech is made
more ineligible by making the Sec
ond couplet read: ''For 1 have slain
a man for wounding me, And young
man for bruising me-
In xiii, l: ''Abraham went up out
OF Egypt. into the South.'' The
printing of the last word with a capt.
tai letter shows that it refers to a
definite region (the Negeb), and thus
avoids the incongruity of the authori-
zed version IN leading one to think
that the patriarch reached Palestine
by going south from Egypt.
In ", Is, "The plain of Mamre which
Is in Hebron is changed TO ''The
oaks OF Mamre which are IN Hebron, -
because this is the meaning of the
Hebrew, land there is no PLAIN in Heb
ron or vicinity. $50 xiv, Is, and
xviii, ~
In xviii, 10: ''For know 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, "Abral,am said to his servant.
the elder OF his house," which is what
the Hebrew means.
In xxxiii., Is: "And Jacob came to
Sholem, a city of Shechem." The re-
vision reads: ''Came in peace to the
city of Sheche1n,' because no such
city as Sholem is known, and the true
rendering shows how God fulfilled
Jacobs request (xxviii., Ply
In the prophecy of Jacob (Gen.
xlix.) are several manifest improve
ments. Reuben is charged with be-
ing not ''unstablc,'' but, us the origi-
nal word means ''boiling ovcr,' that
IS. impulsive or excitable, which ex-
actly describes his character, as shown
by his conduct on various occasions,
In the fifth verse instruments of cru.
city are in their habitations,' the
marg in OF the authorized version,
"weapons of violence are then
swords is inserted in the text as be-
ing both more literal and more ex-
press'vc. In the ninth verse, instead
of saying that Judah couched 'as an
old lion, the revision returns to Tyn-
dale 8 more accurate rendering cas- q
lioness,'
In ii:22' "a stranger in a strange
land' is rendered "a sojourncr in a
: strange land.'
In the song of triumph after pass.
ing the Red sea Exodus KY the viz.
illness and poetical grandeur of the
lyric are shown in the revision by tho
change of the past tense into The
present in Xv., ST, and of the future
into the past in XIV. 14-1G--a change
required by the original,
In the obscure passage EXODUS xvii.
lG) the text retains the rendering Of
the authorized version while tho mar.
pm gives the more literal sense of the
Hebrew, "Because there is hand
Il. e., tho hand of Amalek) against
the throne of the Lord Therefore tho
Lord will have war with Amalek from
generation to gcneration.'
In the. second commandment Xxx,
81 we have a slight change, "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 oriei-
naD.
The sixth commandment w., 1877 is,
after the pattern of the prayer book
and the authorized version in Matt.
xix: Is, given as "Thou shalt do no
murder," and the same at Deut. ",
II. The advantage of this rendering
IS that it needs no limitation or cx-
PLANTATION. 10 kill is often lawful, and
sometimes duty, but to olo mu1'tler is
wrong always and everywhere.
''Tabernaclc of the congregation
is changed to ''tent of meeting"
In The WORD 'Jehoyah" the author
lied version is followed, the revisers
not thinking it advisable to insert it
uniformly in place of "Lord' OF
"God,' which when printed in small
capitals represent the words substitu-
ted by Jewish custom for the ineflable
name.
Of technical terms from the Hebrew,
one in three seems to have been gener.
ally introduced. The word "grave''
lJudges vi, 3 has been replaced by
''ashera," with it's plurals ''asherim'
and ':asherith.''
The Historical Books.
JUDGES.