The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-05-28
THE NEW BOOK.
Presentation to Christendom Of
the Revised Version Of the
Old Testament.
Eminent Biblical Scholars and the
Best HebPaistS Finish q
Noble Work.
Great Care Taken TO Preserve the
Language OF King James
TranslatOrs.

TranSlatOrS.
The first copy of the complete new YER
Queen Victoria on Friday, the 18th of May.
and at midnight of Il ut day copies were
delivered TO the London press for COM
ment The Committee of Revision was APP
pointed by the Established Church Convo-
cation tho 9th of May, 1870 OF the six
teen members then appointed only six sur
vive. The revisers sat altogether 1902 days
of SIX hours. The whole work was gone
over in session three times. The first time
q bare majority carried an alteration. The
attentions were then printed and circulated
among the revisers who had the advantage
before the second revision began of sug
gestions by the American revisers. On the
second revision a two-thirds majority was
necessary to confirm the attentions. The
third revision was devoted to objections
and points reserved. As for the general
result-says a cable dispatch
When the whole work is examined IL will be
found that the revisers have on the whole been
very conservative. The alterations in the Old
Testament are much fewer In proportion than
those made la the New Testament. There have
been very few-merely verbal altera ions; The
revised Old Testament is almost exactly the
same length the old one. There are i'm
portant alterations In the arrangement OF chap
tiers, which are printed in paragraphs, so as to
keep the consecutive sense, but are not divided
into verses. Poetical passages are printed like
blank verse.
The first axiom of the revised translation
was: Icing TO the pure native significance OF
the words" This Is specimen OF the blank
verse
Create in me clean heart, q, God,
And renew right spirit within me;
Cast me not away from Thy presence,
And take not Thy holy spirit from me;
Restore unto me the joy OF Thy salvation,
And UNFOLD with a free spirit.
Adam and Eve only take their names after
the fall. Before, they are man or wife.
No changes in diction are made in the first
chapter of Genesis to aid or puzzle debaters on
faith andscience.
The old account of the deluge is left as it was
The Mosaic books are but little touched. The
Joshua miracle of the sun and the moon are left
intact.
Job is mainly printed In blank verse.
Il know that my Redeemer nveth" stands,
bat the marginal note destroys all its signih-
canoe in relation to the Messiah.
20, that mine adversary had written a book"
becomes: That | had the indictment mine
adversary had written"
Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?-
changes to with q quiverlng name.
injudiciously dismissed" and the Hebrew
"sheol' is substituted throughout.
The Globe says: Go TO sheol will now be-
come a more Pleasant phrase OF the angry ir-
The italics Of former editions yield to COM
mon type in the text.
The psalms are divided There are few i'm
portant changes made in them, and those with
piteousiy. scrupulous care The beautiful
Psalm xiii, The Lord is nv Shepherd, re-
ma ms untouched. as does the passage in Pisa IN
xiv. beginning: Lit up your heads, o We
gates;" but in Psalm xxxvii: THE wicked
man no longer spreadeth himself like green
bay tree" but "a green tree in its native
SOIL" nor In Psalm xiv is the kings daughter
said to be "all glorious within" but The
Kings daughter within the palace is all glori-
GUS"
A ell-known verse I'm Psalm xcii. now reads:
1.-The days OF our years are three score and ten,
or even by reason OF strength four-score years.
yet is their pride but labor and sorrow, for II is
gone and we nv away.
The Proverbs and Song of Solomon are ar
ranged as poetry and triningly interfered with.
celebrated passage in Isaiah now reads:
AS one from whom men hide their face He was
despised, and we esteemed Him not.
The London Times, in q lengthy review
of the new revision, says:
The work OF the New Testament Committee
continued until the autumn OF 1880; that OF the
Old Testament Committee until the close of
1884. The whole Bible after these twelve years
labor appears in its revised English version at
this time before the people Of Great Britain and
America. This revision Is now fact of history
Those who have labored in the preparation of it
have carefully and conscientiously re-examined
every verse, sentence, and word; they now com
mend IL to the English speaking world. That
il will meet unfavorable criticism-sometimes
severe, sometimes thoughtless, sometimes from
the conservative and sometimes from the pro-
gressive side-as part of IL has already met
such criticism, they do not doubt. But they in
trust it to the future, knowing that the book
will live while the critics will die, and wishing
only that their labors may contr butte in this
generation or the coming ones to make the
Scriptures clearer in their true meaning to all
men of the English race.
The Bible appears bound with the New Testa-
ment The preface opens with a statement of
general principles on which the revision has
been conducted The revisers have borne in
mind their duty not to make new translation,
but revise that already existing, and have de-
parted from 1t only where 1t disagreed with the
laf. of NM fha nna anin of oxA
or sentence The terms OF natural history are
only changed where it is certain that the au-
thorized version is incorrect Where It Is doubt
given in the margin. In some words OF
frequent occurrence, the authorized YER
sion being either inadequate or in
consistent, changes have been introduced
with as much uniformity as practicable; tor in
stance, Tabernacle OF the congregation has
everywhere been changed to "pent of meeting. "
In regard to the word Jehovah" the usage OF
the authorized version is followed, the revsers
not thinking 1t advisable to insert 1t uniformly
in place of Lord" or God" which, when print
ed in small capitals represent the words sub
stituted by Jewish custom for the ineffable
name. or technical terms from the Hebrew,
one In three seems to have been generally intro
duced. The word grove CJudees vi, 2s) has
been replaced by "ashera," with its plurals.
-asherini" and Ashcroft"
In the poeticai books " sheol' replaces hell, {"
which has been changed in the prose passages to
1.-THE grave" and the pit" with ''sheol" in the
margin. .Of these readings, hell" says the
preface, IF it could be taken in its original
sense as used in the creeds. would be fairly
adequate equivalent for the Hebrew word. but
IL is so commonly understood the place of
torment that to employ it frequently would lead
to inevitable Misunderstanding. In Isaiah, xiv,
where hell" is used In more OF it's original
sense, the revisers have left hell" in the text,
putt ng ''sheol' in the margin.
'Abaddon." which has hitherto been known
TO English readers Of the Bible only from the
New Testament Revelation TX, q, has been
introduced in three passages In Job and
twice in Proverbs.
The term -meat Offering has been changed
into meal Offering" the former term having
ceased to be the generic name for all food.
new plural-peopes-has been introduced,
although sometimes this becomes Gentiles
when the contrast to the chosen people is
marked
ALI headings OF chapters have been dropped,
~ In the revised New Testament, and the text
has been divided into paragraphs. but the chap
ter and verse divisions have been retained In
the margin for convenience Of reference. BY
this means the revisers have been enabled to
rejoin Psalm X. TO Psalm TX. and Psalm xiii. to
Psalm xiii. and to begin Isaiah lii at chapter
ILL.,, verse Is. The several days of the creation
are made more prominent by breaks OF a line
between the verses. This expedient has enabled
the revisers TO make use of the dialogue form
and to show the dramatic character OF the song
of songs, the first chapter of which. for exam
pie, IS divided into seven speeches.
The Psalms definitely divided into five
books. the last four beginning respectively at
-