Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-05-16
TIE OLD TESTAMENT.
TAEREr1SED vERSIoYRE
"i''n 10 the London Press las; NiEht->cme
larry Referring 10 the American Part

last night. All the papers this morn
ing contain copious extracts from the
work. A semi.official article appears
in the London Times, in which some
account Of the work Of revision, with
particular reference to the American
part Of it, is given. From this article
few extracts are given herewith:
Z" Finally. an international work Of
fourteen years has come to close. The
revised version of the New Testament
was issued in May, 1891. and now the
revised Old Testament will soon be pub
lished in all parts of the English-speak-
ing world. This revision is the most
important event in the history of the
English Bible since the publication of
King .Iames's translation in 1911. The
success of tine Old Testament may not
be as great as that Of the New. of
which more than a million co-ies were
sold on the day Of publication, and
more than three millions Of copies be-
fore the close of the year; but it will
probably be more favorably received
and less severely criticised, for it
involves no changes Of the Hebrew
text, no older manuscripts than Maso-
rctic having been discovered. and the
idiom of the authorized version is most
carefully preserved, out of regard for
the conservative feeling of the Church
in its attachment for the language of
the old version.
All errors of translation, however.
have been removed, and the revision
will be pronounced by every competent
Bible reader to be a very great i'm
proyement. ltpresentS the results Of the
combined labor Of large number of the
best IIcbraiSts and Biblical scholars of
England and the United States. most of
them professors of Hebrew in uniyer-
sites and seminares. 1t has. more
over, the advantages of the last fifty
years in Oriental philOlogy, Biblical
geography, history. and antiquities, all
of which were but imperfectly UNDER
stood by the fcrty-Seyen translatOrs of
King James; although it is freely al
mitted that they did the very best in
their way. The new version is not a
good version in the place of bad one,
but great improvement Of good YER
sion."
The history Of the movement for the
present revision is then presented, and
the article continues: The Bible APP
pears bound with the New Testament.
A preface opens with n statement Of
the general principles on which the re-
vision has been conducted. The
reyisers have borne in mind that
their duty was not to make a new
translation, but to revise that al
ready existing, and have departed from
it only where they disagreed with the
tranSlators Of lGll upon the meaning OF
a word or sentence. Terms Of natural
history are only changed where 1t Is
certain that the authorized YER
sion is incorrect. Where it is doubt
full or there is an alternative,
the rendering is given on the margin.
In some words Of frequent occurrence,
the authorized version being either mad
equate or inconsistent, changes have
been introduced with as much Uniform
ity as is practicable-tOr instance;
" Tabernacle of the Congregation " has
been everywhere changed to " Tent
of Meeting" In regard to the word
" Jehovah. " the usage of the authorized
version is followed. the reYiSerS not
thinking it advisable to insert it uni
formly in place Of " Lord or
God" which when printed in
small capitals represent the words
substituted by the Jewish custom
for an ineflable name. Of the techni-
cal terms from the Hebrew one in three
seems to have been generally intro
duced. The word Grove" Judges
vi, 2s) has been replaced by "Ashe-
ra." with its plurals, "ASherim -
and Ashcroft. In poetical books
"Shcol" replaces He'll" has been
changed in the prose chapters to
&" The Grave " and the " Pit. "
with " Sheol " in the margin.
"Of these renderingS, 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 it is so COM
monty understood as place Of tor
mcnt that to employ it fire.
qrontly would leave it to III
tyitablc misunderstanding" The term
"meat Offering" has been changed
into meal offering" the former term
having ceased to be generic name for
all food. 4 new plural" peoples -
has been introduced. although some
t'ues this becomes Gentl'eS " when
the contrast to the chosen people i.
marked.
All headings Of chapters have been
dropped as in the revised New Tesla
ment, ard the text has been divided
into paragraphs. but the old chapter
and verse-diyisionS have been retained
in the margin for convenience OF
reference. The several days OF
the creation are made more promi-
nent by breaks of the line between
the verses. This expedient has en-
abled the reyisers to make use OF
n dialogue form and to show the dra-
matte character Of the Song Of Songs,
the first chapter of which, for example
is divided into seven speeches. The
Psalms are definitely divided into five
books.
A striking improvement is the print
ing Of all poetical passages in poetical
form. This has been done in the
Psalms, Proverbs, Job, and Cantlcles
but the Prophets have been left in
prose, however passionate their ora
tory. The Songs of Lamech. Jacob,
Miriam. Moses. Deborah, and Hannah ;
the Psalms Of Jonah and lIabakkuk,
and Dayid's Lament I'm Second
Samuel, i.,) appear in yersiiied
ballad. The origin of Joshua miracle,
"Sun. stand thou still upon Gideon,
is indicated by its verse character so
also is the triumphal cry Of Samson
Judges xv.. 10y.
The examination Of more familiar
passages and phrases discloses the fact