The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-05-22
THE NEW VERSION.
Publication of the Revised Edition of the
Old Testament-Some Samples Showing
the Character of the Changes Made.

publication OF the REVISED Eu1t3On OF baS
Old Testament-Some Samples Showing
the Character of the Changes Made.
LONDON, May 16.-Yesterday afternoon
the 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 expensive form were delivered to the
press for comment. The public here and
in America will be given an opportunity
to purchase it next Tuesday, which, by
a remarkable coincidence, will be the
Feast of Pentecost which commentaries
according to tradition, the revelation on
Mount Sinai of the Decalogue. The Com
mittee on Revision was appointed by the
Established Church Convocation the 9th OF
May, 1870. Of the sixteen members then
appointed onlysx survive. The revisers sat
altogether 1872 days of six hours. The whole
work was gone over in session three times.
The first time bare majority carried an al
teratior The alterations were then print
ed and circulated among the reYisers, who
had the advantage before the second revis-
ion began of suggestions by the American
reviserS. On the second revision two.
thirds majority was necessary to confirm the
alterations. The third revision was de
voted to objections and points reversed.
AS for the general result, when the
whole work is examined it will be found
that the revisers have on the whole been
very conservative. The alterations in the
Old Testament are much fewer in proper
ton 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; a
The first axiom of the revised translation
was: ''Cling to the pure native significance
of the words" This is a specimen of the
blank verse:
Create in me a clean heart, 0 God,
And renew right spirit within met
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 a free spirit
Adam and Eve only take their names aft
er the fall. Before, they are man or wife.
The old account of the deluge is left as it
was. The Mosaic books are but little
touched.
The italics of former editions yield to
common type i'll the text.
The Psalms are divided. There are few
important changes made in them, and those
with piOusly scrupulouS care. The beau
tiful Psalm xiii, 1.-THE Lord is my Shep-
herd, remains untouched, as does the pass
age in Psalm xiv. beginning: "Lift up
your heads, 0 We gates" @
A Well-knoWn verse in 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 it is gone and we fly away"
The Proverbs and Song of Solomon are
arranged as poetry and trifingly interfered
with.
The new Bible appears with both of the
Testaments bound together. The preface
opens with statement of the general prin-
clples on which the revision has been con-
Quoted The revisers have borne in mind
their duty not to make new translation,
but to revise that already existing except
where they disagreed with the translators
OF 1911 upon meaning. In words of FREE
quent occurrence the changes have been in
troduced with as much uniformity as
practicable. For instance: Tabernacle of
the congregation has been everywhere
changed to ''tent of meeting" In regard
to Jehovah" the authorized version is fol-
lowed, the reyisers not thinking it advisable
to insert it uniformly in place of Lord"
or 'God.' In the poetical
books ''sheol" replaces ''hell"
which has been changed in prose passages
to 1.-THE grave" and ''the pit" with
''sheoP' i'll the margin. The preface says
"0f these renderings hell, if it could be
taken in its original sense as used in the
creeds, would be fairly adequate equiva-
lent for the Hebrew word, but it is so COM
monty understood as the place of torment
that to employ it frequently would lead to
Inevitable misunderstanding"
''Meat offering" has been changed into
''meal Offering" the former having ceased
to be the generic name for all food A
striking improvement is the printing of all
poetical passages in poetical form. JOshua's
miracle, SUM- stand thou still upon Glib
con-" is rendered in verse. Care was taken
in preserving household words. The sum
mary of each days work at the crea-
tion now runs: 'And there was evening
and there was morning one day." there was
evening and there was morning second
day." and so on, giving suggestion of long
intervals. Vanity and vexation of spirit''
(Eccl. IL, ~ has become VANITY and a
striving after wind" Gen vi, 4, "There
were giants in the earth in those DAYS" is
revised ''The Nephelim were in the earth
in those days."
Job XXI, IS: "Oh, that one would hear
me! Behold, my desire is that the Al
mighty would answer me- and that mine
adversary had written book" is revised
to: ''Oh, that one would hear me! Behold,
my desire is that the Almighty would
answer me, and that had the Indictment
which my adversary hath written" Psalms
viii, 5: For thou hast made him a lit.
tie lower than the angels" is revised,
For thou hast made him little lower
than Cod" The authorized Psalm cxvi.,
IL, Il said in my haste all men are liars"
is revised, II said in my haste to escape, all
men are lie.''
Proverbs xiv, 9: "Fools make 3 mock
at sin, but among the righteous there is
favor" Revised reads: ''The foolish
scorn the guilt offering, but among the up
right there is good will" The above are
nearly all the passages in which shock is
given to old associations.
+ LONDON, May 16.-The Times of this
morning has the following: 1a 10
9 The revision involves no changes of
the Hebrew text-no older manuscripts than
the MaSoretic 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 to 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 great
improvement. 1t presents the results OF the
combined labor of a large number of the
best Hebraists and Biblical scholars of En-
gland and the United States most of them
Professors of Hebrew in universities and
Summaries; it has, moreover, the advantage
OIL the vast advances of the last fifty years in
oriental philology, and in Biblical geography
history and antiquities, all of which were inn
perfectly understood by the forty-seven
translators of King James. The new version
Is not a good version in the place of a bad
one, but q great improvement of a good
version"
The Telegraph says:
Let US at once state that the Old Testament
has been moro fortunate than the New in its
revision. The revisers not only laid down
correct principles, but, generally speaking,
kept to them, and the result is that we now
possess version which retains the beauties
of the book so long familiar and that are
stored in million memories. The grand old
music rings out strong and true, and many an
obscure passage has been made clear. Such
results are well worth the fourteen years of
labor that DrOduead them -