Morris tribune., 1885-05-20
THE OLD TESTAMENT.
QUEEN VICTORIA PRESENTED WITH
THE FIRST REVISED COPY.
Completion of Work That Has Occupied
Fourteen Years-Hell Abolished and
Sheol Inaugurated-Specim
of the Changes.

very first copy issued of the complete new
version of the Bible was presented to the
queen, separated into five gorgeous volumes
royal edition. At midnight copies in ex
pensive form were delivered to the
press for comment. The public herr
and in America will be given al
opportunity to purchase it next Tuesday
which, by remarkable coincidence, will be
| the Feast Of PentecoSt, which commemor
ates, according to tradition, the revelation
Oh Mount Sinai Of the Decalog. The com
mittee of revision was appointed by the Es
tablished Church convocation the 9th of May
| 1870. or the sixteen members then appointed
! only six survive. The revisers sat alto
| gether 993 days Of six hours. The whole
work was gone over in session three times
The first time bare majority carried an
alteration. The alterations were then
printed and circulated among the reyisers,
who had the advantage before the second
revision began of suggestions by the Ameri-
can revisers. On the second revision two
thirds majority was necessary to confirm
the alterations The third revision was de-
voted to objections and points reserved.
AS for the general result, when the whole
work is examined it will be found that the
revisers have on the whole been very con-
servative. The alterations in the Old TeSta-
ment are much fewer in proportion than
those made in the New Testament. There
have been very few-merely verbal
alterations. The revised Old Testament
is almost exactly the same length
as the old one There are important
alterations in the arrangement Of chapters,
which are printed in paragraphs, SO as to
keep the consecutive sense, but are not di-
vided into verses. Poetical passages are
printed like blank verse. This isl specimen
Of the blank verse:
Create in me clean heart, 0 GOd,
And renew high 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 uphold me with free spirit
The first axiom of the revised translation
was: "Cling to the pure native significance
Of the words"
Adam and Eve only take their names after
the fall. Before, they are man and wife.
No changes in diction are made in the first
chapter of Genesis to aid or puzzle debaters
On faith and science The old account of
the deluge is left as it was.
The Mosaic books ara but little touched.
The Joshua miracle of tie sun and the moon
are LETT intact Job is mainly printed in
blank verse;
"I know that my Redeemer liveth,"
stands, but the marginal note destroys all
its significance in relation to the Messiah.
30, that mine adversary had written
book" becomes: THAT had the indictment
mine adversary had written"
"Hast thou clothed his neck with thunders"
changes to "with quivering mane?"
"Hell," comments The Daily Telegraph,
"is injudiciously dismissed" and the Hebrew
"sheoW is substituted throughout The Globe
says: go to Sheop will now become more
pleasant prase Of the angry irreverent man.
The italics of former editions yield to COM
mon type in the text
The psalms are divided. There are few
important changes made in them, and those
with piteously scrupulous care. The beau
tiful Psalm xiii, THE Lord is my Shep-
Eerd," remains untouched, as does the pass
age in Psalm xiv. beginning: "Lift up your
heads, o ye gates; but in Psalm xxxvii.
"The wicked man no longer spreadeth him
self like green bay tree" but as "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 glorious"
A well-known verso in Psalm xcii now
reads: "The days of our years are three
four score years, yet is their pride but labor
and sorrow, for it is gone and we fly away"
The Proverbs and Song of Solomon are
arranged as poetry and trih;ngly interfered
with.
A celebrated passage in Isaiah now reads:
Gas one from whom men hide their face he
was despised, and we esteemed him not"
The Christology Of the Old Testament is
almost entirely unaffected by the revisers
The crucial passage, Isaiah vii, IA: Be-
hold, virgin shall conceive and bear a
son." remains unchanged except that the
margin suggests "the virgin is with child
and beareth."
In the fifth commandment, Honor thy
father and thy mother, that thy days may
be long in the land which the Lord thy God |
giveth thee" is rendered; "Honor thy father
and thy mother, that thy days may be long
upon the land which the lord thy God |
giveth thee"
VI oil tho morning papers-and each de-
votes columns to the verSion-The Daily |
Telegraph seems to be the most tender and |
loving commentator on the great English |
classic. "In conclusion The Telegraph says:
"Let US at once state that the Old Te sta-
ment has been more fortunate than the New
in its re evision. The reviserS not only laid down
correct principles but, generally speaking,
kept to them, and the result is that we now
possess version which rotains the beauties
of the book so long familiar and that are
stored in million memories Our first i'm
preston of their work is to the effect that
learning and taste, under the control of rev.
erence, have achieved great success The
grand old music rings out strong and true,
and many an obscure passage has been made
clear. Such results are we'll worth the four
teen years of labor that produced them"