The Nevada picayune., 1885-05-28
THE OLD TESTAMENT.
NOre of the Changes Made in the
 New VeriSOn.
-t,azctte.

Nv YoRK, May es.-Messrs. Funk X Wagnalls have published, in connection with the revised Old Testament, "A Companion' to it froi. the pen of pr. T, w. Cham eers, one of the American revisers, who is fanailiar with the work from the beginning. The progress of the language rendered many chan ges necessary of words and phras es now obsolete, hence urintelli. gible. There are many renderings declared to be incorrect by all lex icons and commentaries of a crit- cal character. For example, the word hypocrite is found eight times in the book nf Job, yet not in orc of them does the original term have that meaning; also one of the oblations mentioned often in the Pcntate1ch snd elsewhere is called meat Off'cring,' which leads the reader 70 suppose st is in an animal sacrifice, whereas the Hebrew meaes an unbloody obIa- ton, and correctly rendered is meal cffcring."
 The following selection of passa. ges, which have been changed {n the revisisE. IS intended as d spec imen of the work done and o{ the principles upon which it has been carried out.
 Genesis, in the first chapter, the putting of each day's work i'll a separate paragrpE aids tho com mon reader. In iv. J3 the song of Lamccl is made more intclligible by making the second co1plct read: For have slain d man for sOund- ing me, and Il young mm fot bruisinS me.
 In xiii. Abraham went mp out of Egypt into the South.' The printing of the last word with ;l capital shows that it refers to q definite region (thc Noseb.) and thus avoids the incOugrnity of the old version in leading one to think that the patriarch reached Palistin" by golr.S south from Egypt. ln V. IS. the plain of Memrc, which is in Hebron. is changed to "The Oaks of Mamrc "which aye in Hebron because this is the meaning of the Hebrew. and there is no plain in Hebron or it's vicinity. S) xiv l3. and xvii. iX.
 {n xvii. l9: "ior 1 know Him that Kc will commend His child. rcn and His household after him. v Is changed to, For have known Him to the end that Hc may com. mand," etc.
 Ia Xxiv. ?: "Ahraham said to hi, eldest servant of his honsc.' i> made to read: "Abraham said to his servant. the eldest of kis house." which is what the Hebrew means.
 In XXxiii.. IS, and Jacob came to Shalrm; city of Shcchem,' " the revision reads: "CaiRe in rcacc to the city of Shehcm.' because no such city as Shalem is known and the truo rcndings shows how Gcd fulfilled Jacobs request.
 IN the prophecy of Jacob Gen. Xii, lO) are several manifest i'm provcments. Ruebcn is charged with bein9 an ''unstable,' but as the original word means, boiling ovcr." That is, impulsiye or excit' able which exactly describes his character, as shown by his con- Guct on various Occasions.
 In the 5th verse. ''instrament' of cruelty are in their habiiments, the margin of the old version, "weapons of violence are thell swords" is inserted in the text a! boing both more literal and more expressive.
 : In the 9th verse, instead of say ing that Judcth ''couched as al old lion," the revision returns t The Tyndal and more accurate rep , dering, 'as lioness.'
 Exodus Ii. 22. "A stranger in s strange land,', is rendered "a so journer in $ stange land"
 Iu the song of triumph, afte passing the Red Sea, the vividness and poetical grandeur of the lyric are shown in the revision by the change of the past tense in the presentin W., }, ?, and of the tu- ture into the past in w., II, Is, f change required by the original, In the obscure passage (Xxvil.