The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1891-02-27
THE BIBLE.
History of the Tran.iatIons OF the Book
of Books.


History of the TransiatIons OF the Book
of Books.
In the year 285 b. G.. seventy of the
wise men of Alexandria engaged Them
selves in compiling and collating the
Hebrew scriptures into their present
united form, says the St. Louis Globe
Democrat. and further simplifying the
works by translating them into Greek
for the benefit of the Jews then in
Egypt. The results of their labors
have since been known collectiy ely as
the Septuagint. from the fact that il
was the work of the seventy translate
ors. About 400 years later, in the sec
ond century. A. D.. the books of the
new testament were added and the
whole translated into Latin. The
Italia, or Latin version. soon became
the standard of the primitive Chris
tians, aud was used to the exclusion of
both the Hebrew and Greek versions
for two centuries. until the ST. Jerome
revision of A. ID. 405. After st.
Jerome had finished his GROWING
work, great deal of which he per-
formed in the village of Bethlehem.
almost in sight of the birthplace of
Jesus. the Dalmatian aud Pannonian
lHOukS ulu away LUElT OlU versions OF
the bible and would use no other ex-
cept the one which had been given
them by their patron jerome himself.
The Jerome revision was as superior
TO the work of the seventy as their
work was to the old semi-barbaric
work which existed prior to the trans
lation of 285 B. C. The most carefully
written copies of the bible obtainable
xr anneftIfad hxf fHa
and. compared with the Arabic, He
brew and Syriac versions, in all of
which he made cancellations and cor
rections which have stood the test of
all subsequent time.
The herculean task undertaken bv
ST. Jerome will be better understood
when the reader has been informed
that over 200 versions of the egangel-
lists. each differing from the other in
many of its essential details, were pre-
sented for the consideration of the
sages at the council of Nice in 325 A.
ID. For hundreds of years copyists
have added to and taken from the
scriptures to such an extent as to
make it extremely difficult for even
the most learned to decide what should
remain for the edification of future
generations. or what would be elirni-
mated from the sacred pages as apo
cryphal. The word sbible,n meaning
book, or as applied by the early writers,
1.-The book. was first used by Chrysos-
tom as early as the fifth century, where
he speaks of the sacred writings ool-
lectively as the Biblia or 1.-THE books"
The infinite variations which occurred
in the manuscripts written by the
early Christian fathers have caused q
great deal of contention among church.
men. some admitting certain books as
eanonical, which are rejected by others
as apocryphal. This you can find
illustrated by comparing Douay and
King James bible of to-day. The
former admits several books which the
King James translators would not.
The books as arranged and accepted
at present are the results of wears of
labor and of countless councils and re-
vision assemblages. For /, 200 wears
after the savior of men ended his brief
career on the rugged heights of CAL
vary. the touching details of which are
known to over 700. 600. 600 of people
and in every land on the globe, each
book of the bible was one continued
story. undivided into chapters. para
graphs or verses Prior to the time of
the Spanish rabbi the Jews employed
a system of dividing the chapters into
verses in the old testament, a system
which had never been adopted by the
Christians, and was discarded for that
of the learned Spaniard by the Jews
themselves.
The new testament was not divided
into verses until after the invention of
the art of printing. and then first by
81 Tr<l.
1851.
OF the early translations of the bible
the most important. aside from the
SeptuagiHt and the ST. jerome ver-
sions. are the three-fold Egyptian
translatious of the fourth century (this
remarkable work of the copyist was in
three languages and was intended for
all parts of Egypt; the Yersio Figu-
rata. collected by Jacob of Edessa in
the eighth century; that of Paul, bishop
of Tela. in 6l7; and the eighth, ninth
and tenth century translations made
respectively by Bede. Alfred and
Elfric. During the dark ages and on
down to the time that Luther gave mis-
masterpiece to the world. several trans
lations were made, including that of
Notker-Labeo. $50 A. D.; that pre-
pared under the supervision of Petrus
Waldus. ITO; the important work of
Louis the Pious. 1927; that of Charles
the Wise, 1880; the Guyars version of
1886; the thirteenth century version in
Spanish during the reign of Alphonse
". and the two excellent works of
Wickliffe and Huss, the latter for the
Bohemians and the former for the
English-speaking people. With the
invention of printing every person
who had ever laid claim to literary
abilities seemed to think that he had
been specially commissioned from on
high to translate the word of God, as
one would naturally infer from the
fact that not less than seventeen Ger
man translations alone were given the
public between the time of Gutenberg
and Faust and that of Martin Luther.
The Wickliffe sometimes spelled
Wycliffe) version of 1884 was the first
English translation. John Wickliffe,
the translator. was condemned to be
burned for presuming to do such
thing without the consent of the cler-
gy, but was finally allowed to die a
natural death. His bible was never
printed; however. there are many
manuscript copies of it.
THE MONKEY AND THE MIRROR.