Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-05-16

Few Important Alterations I'm the Sense.
But Many Familiar Passages Changed.

Few Important Alterations I'm the Sense.
Bat Many Familiar Passages Changed.
Copies OF the revised version OF the Old Testa-
ment were given TO the London newspapers a:
midnight last night. All the papers this morn
Ing contain copious extracts from the work. In
the following is presented the substance OF a
semi-officiai article prepared for the London
Tunes In which some account OF the work OF
revision is given: This revision is the most
important event in the history of the English
Bible since the publication OF King James
translation in 1911. The success OF the old
testament may not be as great as that OF the
ceived and less severely criticised for il in
wolves no changes OF the Hebrew text-no older
discOvered~and the idiom of the authorized
version Is most carefully preserved. out OF re-
gard tor the conservative feeling OF the church
version. All errors Of translation however,
have, been removed. and tho revision will he
pronounced by every competent Bible reader u
be q very great Improvement. IL presents the
results OF the combined labor OF a large number
OF the best Hebraists and biblical scholars OF
England and the United States. IL has. more
over. the advantage OF the vast advances of the
last nifty years in Oriental philoiogy, biblical
geography, history and antiquities. all of which
wefe but imperfectly understood by the forty.
seven translators Of King James although il is
freely admitted that they did the very best IN
their day. The new vei sion is not good YER
sion In the place of bad one. but a great Inn
provement of a good version
The Bible appears bound with the New Testa-
ment. The preface opens with a statement of
the general principles on which the revision has
been conducted. The revisers have borne i'm
mind their duty not TO make a new translation.
but to revise that already existing. and have de-
parted from il only where they disagreed with
the translators of 1911 upon the meaning Of a
WORD or sentence. The terms OF natural history
are only changed where IL Is certain that the
authorized version is incorrect Where IL il
aouotiul. or there Is an alternative. the render
Ing Is given In the margin. In some words Of
frequent occurrence, the authorized version
being either inadequate or inconsistent, changes
have been introduced with as much uniformity
as practicable; for instance, Tabernacle OF the
congregation" has been everywhere changed TO
"tent-meeting.4 In regard TO the word .Jeho-
yah" the usage Of the authorized version Is fol-
lowed, the revisers not thinking it advisable To
insert II uniformly in place of Lord" or God.
sent the words substituted by Jewish custom
for the Inetfable name> OF technical terms
been enc ONE h Ths wSzd 10 n2se
Judges vi. 2sl, has been replaced 10y
"..Ashera."" with its plurals., "Asherim' and
replaces "HelI." which has been changed
"the pitt with "sheor, in the margin.
'Of these renderings, hell" says the preface "if
II could be taken Ia its original sense used in
the creeds, would lie a fairly adequate equiva-
lent ior the Hebrew word but II is SO com
70 employ IT frequently would lead to ineNita-
BILE Misunderstanding" The term '.meat Offer
ing" has been changed into meal Offering
the former term having ceased 10 be the generic
name for all food. All headings of chapters
have been dropped, as in the revised New Tcs-
lament, and the text has been divided into par
agraphS, but the old chapter and verse divisions
have been retained in the margin for cnnvcn-
fence of reference. The several days vi the
creation are made more prominent by breaks
OF a line between the verses. The eNpedient has
enabled the revisers 10 make u>e OF the dia-
logue form, and to show the dramatic charac-
ter OF the Song of Songs, the first chapter of
which, for example. is divided into seven
speeches The Psalms are definitely divided
hooks ~ ltaFl IA np
spectively as Psalms Kill. kill. and evil.
striking improvement is the printing OF all
poetic passages in poetical form. This has been
done in the Psalms, Proverbs, Job and the Can
ticles, but the Prophets have been left in prose,
however passionate their oratory. The songs OF
Lamech, Jacob, Miriam, Moses. Deborah and
Hannah: the psalms of Jonah and Habakkuk.
and David's Lament ln Second Samuel appear
i'm versified ballad. The origin of Joshua : mir
acle-"Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon''-is
indicated by its verse character; SO also il the
triumphal cry of Sampson Judges XIV, l6l
and phrases discloSes the fact that care was
taken In preserving intact household words of
the Old Testament. The summary of each
days work at the Creation now runs according
to the formula: "ADd there was evening and
there was morning one day "there was even
ing and there was morning a second day"
third day and SO on, giving suggestion sue
and vexatiSn Of spirit Eceesiastes H., IL T has
The following changes CRATE against associa-
tions: The authorized Genesis, chapter vi.
verse I, There were giants 1's in the earth in
in the earth in those days" The authorized
Psalm vii, verse 5, "For thou hast made hsiif d
little lower than the angels" is revisisd iasi.r
thou hast made him little lower than God
The authorized Psalm cNvi., Verse IL, IL said
In my haste, all men are liars, is revised Il
said when made haste TO escape, all men are
a lfe."
The Chrstology the Old Testament is al
most entirely unaffected by she revision. The
gin shah concelvesand bear a son, remains un-
changed, except that the margin suggests "A re-
turn to the style now in the Book OF Common
In the fifth commandment, Honour thy
father and thy mother, that thy days may be
thee" becomes "Ionour thy father aud thy
mother that thy days may be long upon the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee"
The first verse In both the authorized and re-
vised version is the same. The first alteration
occurs in the second verse, where, instead of
" aud the earth Was without form and void" We
read, land the earth was waste and void
The text of the story Of the creation is without
other striking variations The same may be
In the ten commandments are some verbal al
the most striking being that of the
sixth, Thy shalt not kill Exodus NA., 49, be-
comes "Thou shalt do no murder
AS for the general result, when the whole work
is examined il will-rbe found that the revsers
have on the Whole been very conservative The
alterations in the Old Testament are much
fewer In proportion than those made in the
New Testament. There have been very few
merely NeTDdl Inc revised Osu
Testament Is almost exactly the same length Is
the old one. There are important alteration
in the arrangements of chapters which are
printed In paragraph SO as to keep the consec-
0tiye sense, but are not divided into Verses.
Poetical passages are printed like blank Scrsc.
The first axiom OF the revised translation was
"clIng TO the pure native significance OF the
words" This is specimen OF the blank
verse:
Create in a clean heart. o God,
Aud renew a right spirit within me-
Cast ne not away from Thy presence,
And take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto lle the JOY OF Ihv SalN a,on,
And uphold me with q free spirit.
Adam and Eve only take their names after
the fall. Before, they are man or wife. No
changes In dictiDn are made i'm the first chapter
of Genesis to aid or puzzle debaters on faith and
science. The old account of Tie deluge is left as
il was. The mosaic books are but little touched
The Joshua miracle OF the sun and the moon is
verse. 81 know that my Redeemer livc;h"
stands, but the marginal note destroys all its
Significance in relation to the Messiah. "Dh
that mine adversary had written a book be-
comes "Oh that had the indictment mine adj
versary had written Hast thou clothed HIS
ing NAME
"Hell," comments the London Daily Telo-
graph, ais injudiciously dismissed" and the
Hebrew word 'shcol" is substituted through
out The London Globe says. "tio To sheol.'
will now become q more pleasant phrase Of the
argry irreverent man. The italics of former
editions yield to common type in the text.
The beautiful Psalm XIII, "The Lord is my
shepherd remains untouched, does the pas
sage in Psalm xiv, beginning, Lit up Your
wicked man no longer spreadeth himself like "A
green bay tree" but as "a green tree i'm its
native soil 4" nor in Psalm XIV. is the kings
daughter said to be ''all glorious Within" but