The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-23
NEW VERSION OF TIE SCRIPTURES
Professor Haupt's English TransIa-
ton VII Be Published sonn

ton VIII Be Published Soon.
A new English version of the old
Testament from a text corrected by
for some years been in preparation by
the Johns Hopkins press under the su-
pervision of Professor Paul Haupt Of
Johns Hopkins university, and by the
end of the present year a number of
the books composing the Hebrew
Scriptures will have been published.
A feature Of the enterprise is that it
is not in the hands Of theologians. 1t
is purely a secular work and the only
aim has been to get, first, a correct
text, and then a correct translation,
without regard to its bearing upon any
creed or scheme of belief. Since the
time Of King James, when the received
version was made, many new helps to
the right rendering of the Hebrew text
have been discovered. Semitic schol-
arship has made great advances in
methods as well as the acquisition of
ampler materials for comparison, elu-
cidation and study. BY the co-opera-
ton of Semitic scholars of the whole
learned world Professor Haupt has Sc
cured Hebrew text which is being
printed at Leipzig. 1t is printed in.
colors, the same page having some
times as many as four colors, each
color denoting different element in
the construction of the text. A sin
gle line may contain several colors to
distinguish the undoubted original
from portions that are in doubt. The
fact that parts of the same books be-
long to different periods or authors
will also be indicated. For example.
in the book of Leviticus the "priestly
code" will be in black letters on a
white background. The parts added
later will have brown background,
and the claw of holiness" svill be in
yellow. Interpretations are indicated by
overlining. Where the original was
poetry this will be indicated in the
translation
After securing a perfected text the
various books are allotted to the most
learned orientalists of this and other
countries for translation, the book Of
Eccelesiastes being allotted to Pro-
fessor Haupt. In a recent issue of the
New York Journal an article by Ru-
dolph Block compares the new version
of chapter II of Ecclesiastes with the
old with some interesting results. The
chapter is chiefly an eXhortation to the
cheerful enjoyment of the good things
of life, with an allegorical conclusion
in which the decay Of several faculties
is ingeniously depicted. Everyone re-
calls the familiar passage, "Remem-
Der now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth, while the evil days come not"
etc, and the following passage: I'm
the days when the keepers of the
house shall tremble and the strong
men shall bow themselves, and the
darkened." IN the new version this
rEnS:
Remember thy wife in the days of thy
vigor, asS
Ere there come the days of evil,
And the years draw nigh
In which thou wilt say 1 have no pleas
Ere is darkened the sun and the light of
day,
And the moon, and the stars,
And the clouds return after the rain,
When the keepers of the house tremble
And the men of power bend themselves;
The grinding maids cease
And the ladies that look out through the
lattice are darkened.
The meaning is palmer in the new
version.
Ere is darkened the sum-" the pro-
fessor says, refers to the sunshine of
childhood, when all is bright. The
moon" suggests the tempered light
of boyhood, while the star indicates
fewer moments of happiness in ma
ture age. AS age advances there are
many days darkened with rain, land
the clouds return after the rahi,'' so
that there are few bright moments.
The keepers of the houses are the
hands. AS age proceeds erectness of
carriage is lost-"tlle men of power
bending themselves" Man loses his
teeth, which are "the grinding maids,
and his eyes grow dim-t'the ladies that
look out through the lattice are dark
ened." The old mans sleep is short
and '.he rises at the voice of the birds"
The Daughters of music are brought
low means that the sense of hearing
is lost. The septuagenarian dislikes
to go upstairs or elm a hill-he is
afraid of that which is high" His
hair becometh white-"the almond tree
blossometh." The pessimism of the
chapter is intensified in the concluding
line of the new version, "all is vanity
and all that is coming is vanity