Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1911-05-05
The King James Version of the
Scriptures.

This year we celebrate the tercent-
enary of the so-called authorized
Version of the Bible. This wonder
full book, by the bond of a common
heritage, unites practically the whole
English-speaking race throughout the
world and has for $40 years exercised
on English character an influence not
merely religious (that goes without
saying) but even social and political,
an influence that can hardly be over
estimated. In spite of its defects, to
which we shall refer later on, we do
not hesitate to say that. compared
with all other books, compared even
with all other Bibles. it is the most
noble, beautiful, and wonderful book
which the world holds to-day.
The German Bible is the work of
one man, Luther. The English Bible
is the work of many generations of
Englishmen. Caedman and Alfred,
Bede and Wycliffe, Tyndale and Cover
dale handed on the torch from one
generation to another and, from
Wycliffe's day at least, handed on the
words and phrases and form of express
sion which have largely influenced the
making of the English language. The
history of the Book for many cent
uries is interviewer with the national
history of freedom and independence
and personal religion. Therefore it
is to US of the English race not only
the Word of God, but also and essenti-
ally our National Book"
The old version holds the ground
not only by the familiarity of its
phrases but by its wonderful charm.
1t is universally accepted as literary
masterpiece, as the noblest and most
beautiful book in the world. The new
version is more valuable, more accur-
ate, smore scholarly. But it avails not.
1t lacks the literary charm. The YER
dict of the people is "The old is
better.'' Yet it is only fair to say
that much of the changes objected to.
and much of what is called defective
style, comes form the scholarly desire
to be very accurate. The Revised
Version places the reader, as far as
an English version can do, on a level
with the reader of the languages. A
scrupulous attention to the force of
the Greek article, the different lenses
of verbs and the delicate shades Of
meaning in particles and propositions,
accounts for many of the minor
changes. Then the revisers determined
that the same Greek word must always
be represented by the same English
word, which is loss in smoothness
and beauty of diction, but great
gain in accuracy. For example, We
have in the Authorized Version "com-
forter'' and "advocate' ''eternal'
and everlasting count and
''impute" and "reckon''-as respec-
lively renderings of the same Greek
word while on the other hand, to take
only one example, the word "ordain'
is made to stand for ten different
words in the original Greek. This
makes smoother reading, but it is
certainly not accurate scholarship.
On the whole we may assume that
far into the twentieth century the
| Authorized Version will still remain
the popular Bible. The version that
is to supersede it will come some day,
but when it does it will have more
than accurate scholarship. 1t will
have in some degree at least the liter
airy charm and beauty which has for
300 years brought the whole Eng
lish world under the spell of the old
Bible. -From "Three Centuries of
the English Bible" by J. Paterson
Smyth, in the American Review OF
Reviews for Nav.