In a great many passages of our present version, the original Hebrew is given, instead of being translated into English, which cannot fail to obscure the sense. The following extracts will show the light thrown upon these passages by comparison, or rather the darkness by the present version. Gen. xvi. 14, "Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai roi." To those unacquainted with the Hebrew, certainly the editions of 1572 and 1575 are better-"Wherefore the well was called the well of him that liveth and seeth me." Chap. xxiii. 9, "That he may give me the cave of Mach-pelah." Edit. 1537, "And let him give me the double cave," &c. 2d Samuel viii. 1, " And David took Metheg-Ammah out of the hands of the Philistines." The other versions, "And David took the bridle of bondage out of the hands of the Philistines." Gen. xxxiii. 20, "And he erected there an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel. Rogers' translation, 1537, " And he made there an altar, and there called upon the mighty God of Israel." Chap. xxxv. 8, "And the name of it was called Allon Bachuth." Edit. 1537, "And the name of it was called the oak of lamentation." Exod. xvi. 15, "And when the children of Israel saw it they said one to another, It is manna, for they wist not what it was." Edit. 1537, “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is this? for they wist not what it was." Chap. xvii. 15, "And Moses built an altar, and called it Jehovah-Nissi." Edits. 1575 and 1572, "And Moses made an altar and called the name of it, The Lord is he that worketh miracles for me." Numbers xxii. 5, "He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam, the son of Beor, to Pethor," &c. Edit. 1537, "And he sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor the interpreter," &c.

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But it is not in these places alone of untranslated words that we find a difference. In Gen. iv. 13, Cain is made to say, "My punishment is greater than I can bear." At same place, in Editions 1537, 1572, 1575, it is rendered, "My sin is greater than it may be forgiven." Chap. xxii. 1, “ After these things, that God did tempt Abraham." Edit. 1616, "After these things, God did prove Abraham." Chap. xxxi. 53, "And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac." Edit. 1537, "And Jacob sware by him that his father Isaac feared.” Exod. xxii. 28, "Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people." Geneva version, "Thou shalt not rail upon the judges, neither speak evil of the ruler of thy people." Numbers xxix. 7, "And ye shall afflict your souls." 1537, "And ye shall humble your souls." Deut. vi. 4, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." All the other versions, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is Lord only." Chap. xx. 19, "For the tree of the field is man's life, to employ them in the siege." 1537, "For the trees of the field are not men that they might come against thee to besiege thee."

Gen. xxxiii. 19, might stagger an antiquary, when he is informed that Jacob bought a parcel of a fleld, "for an hundred pieces of money." The version of 1537 is more likely to be correct, when it gives him "an hundred lambs." Exod. xxviii. 13, present version, "Thou shalt make ouches of gold." 1537, "Thou shalt make hooks of gold." Chap. xxxii. 14, "And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people." Editions 1537, 1572, and 1575, "The Lord refrained himself from the evil which he said he would do unto his people." Exod. xxxviii. 8, "And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Edit. 1537, " And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it also of brass, in the sight of them that did watch before the door of the tabernacle of witness." Lev. xx. 6, "And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards," &c. Edit. 1537, “If any soul turn him to enchanters, or expounders of tokens," &c.

Our present version, Num. xxiv. 16, makes Balaam fall into a trance "with his eyes

Num.

open. The other versions, "That falling into a trance, had his eyes opened.' xxxiii. 5, "And he was king of Jeshuran," &c. 1537, " And he was in Israel king." Joshua v. 2, present version, "Make thee sharp knives." 1537, "Make thee knives of stone.' Chap. xi. 13, present version, "But as for the cities that stood still in their strength, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only; that did Joshua burn." Rogers' version, "But Israell burnt none of the cyties that stode upon hills, save Hazor only that Joshua burnt." If Hazor had still stood in its strength, Joshua could not have burned even it. Judges xviii. 7, " And there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing." All the other versions are nearly the same as the Genevan, "Because no man made any trouble in the land, or usurped any dominion." 1 Samuel xiii. 1, "Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years over Israel," &c. 1537, "Saul was as a child of a year old when he began to reign, and when he had reigned two years over Israel." Chap. xvii. 22, " And David left his carriage in the hands of the keeper of the carriage and ran," &c. Edit. 1537, "And David put the panyers (or baskets) from him into the hands of the keeper of the vessels and ran," &c. It is more likely the young shepherd would bring baskets to hold his presents, than come riding in his carriage.

There are other words in the present version translated which might with more propriety have been left untranslated, as in the two following examples :-Ezra iv. 10, "And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest that are on this side the river, and at such a time." Genevan version, "And the rest of the people whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over and set in the cities of Samaria, and others that are beyond the river Cheenoth." 2 Chron. ii. 13, “And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding of Huram my fathers." Edit. 1537, "And now I have sent a wise man, and a man of understanding, called Hiram Abi.”

But there certainly are some passages which neither of the versions explain so clearly as might be wished. In Job xxxvii. 22, of the present version, we read, "Fair weather cometh out of the north, with God is terrible majesty." Now it is not easy to see the connection between fair weather, and the terrible majesty of God! The other versions, although better, do not give the meaning of the original. Elihu is making his elegant speech, when, looking up, he exclaims, "Behold the Shechinah (or brightness) comes out of the north, he approaches wrapped in a whirlwind; with God is terrible majesty." Job answers in the Genevan version, "It is the Almighty," &c. Then follows as in the present version, "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge," &c. As a farther corroboration of this explanation, see Ezekiel's vision, Chap. i, 4 of his prophesies, where this symbol of the Divine presence is also seen approaching from the north. "I looked and behold a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it," &c.

Another place where neither of the versions are clear, is in Hosea x. 5, "The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-Aven." This passage, there can be no doubt, refers to the calves set up at Bethel, but as Beth signifies a house, and El, the mighty God, the prophet changes the name to Beth-aven; and speaking of the people of Samaria, he says, they have feared or worshipped the calves, of the house of iniquity.

There is a third place in the 15th chapter of Judges, that none of the versions given in this collation render so clear as might be wished. After Samson has slain the Philistines with the ass's jaw-bone, the translators in the 19th verse make a well spring out of the jaw, out of which he satisfied his thirst, although they tell us in the 17th verse that he had thrown it

away before, and gave the valley a new name, RAMATH-LEHI, or the lifting up of the jaw, to commemorate this extraordinary victory which the God of Israel had enabled him to perform by so unlikely a weapon. Keeping the new name of the valley in view, it is clear the 19th verse ought to have been rendered, But GoD clave an hollow place in Lehi, out of which came water, and when he had drank his spirit revived and he called the name thereof EN-HAKKORE (or the fountain of him that prayed), which remains in Lehi unto this day.

It may be objected to by some, that Lehi could not be a new name given to that valley by Samson, as in the 9th verse, before he came from the rock ETAM, the Philistines encamped in the valley of Lehi ! But these critics forget that the Book of Judges was written long after the days of Samson, when the old name of the valley was not generally known, as the historian states that the fountain remains in Lehi "unto this day." This quotation from the 19th verse also shows that the water could not have issued from the jaw-bone, or it could not have merited the name EN-HAKKORE, or the fountain of him that prayed, nor could the bone have remained for any length of time in the valley.

But there are few passages of Scripture that, by comparing the different versions, will not be clearly understood.

As a whole, there is no book in existence that can be compared with this Sacred Gem in sublimity, simplicity, and vigour; nor can this opinion be better expressed than in the words of a late author, (Sir Daniel K. Sandford, Professor of Greek, Glasgow University,)—“ That "any one who has studied the poetry, history, and philosophy of the HEBREWS, even merely "as specimens of composition, should lightly esteem them, is impossible. In lyric flow and fire, in crushing force, in majesty that seems still to echo the awful sounds once heard beneath "the thunder clouds of Sinai, the poetry of the ancient Scriptures is the most superb that "ever burned within the breast of man."

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I have great pleasure in acknowledging the kindness of Dr MURRAY, author of the Literary History of Galloway, in furnishing me with the materials of the Memoir of J. M'RAY; and also of the Rev. Dr JOHN BROWN, Edinburgh, who allowed me to take a copy of the title of the original version of the New Testament in his possession, published at Rhemes, in 1582, by JOHN FOGNY. But if I were to mention all I have received kindness and attention from, I would have to recapitulate the names of the greater part of my subscribers. And I beg to express my gratitude to the whole of them, as without their patronage I could not have attempted to publish so expensive a work.

I have endeavoured as far as possible, in my extracts from the different versions, to copy word and letter, yet it is quite possible errors may be found, although I trust they will be few in number. Having done every thing my limited abilities admitted, to do justice to the Work; I hope my readers will keep in mind the lines of Pope:

"Whoever thinks a faultless work to see,

Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be."

DUNDEE, June 1847.

ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH VERSIONS

OF THE

SACRED SCRIPTURES,

ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM WHICH THE FOLLOWING COLLATION IS EXTRACTED;

ALSO, SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

More Ancient Manuscripts and Editions of the Sacred Writings.

HE first portion of the SACRED BOOK which we read of committed to writing is that of the Decalogue, written on tables of stone by the finger of GOD.1 This has been considered by many learned men as the origin of Alphabetical characters. But had no alphabetical characters existed before, the Commandments would have been of no use, as none could have read them. But whether we adopt the one opinion or the other, it is generally allowed that most of the Alphabets now in use may be traced to the ancient Hebrew or Samaritan. The Decalogue was followed by the Ceremonial Law, written about 1490 years before the Christian era. These were succeeded by the writings of the other inspired Authors who flourished at different periods from 1490 to the time of Malachi, the last of the Prophets, who wrote about 415, or, according to others, 480 years before the birth of Christ. Contemporary with Malachi was Ezra the Scribe,3 who is considered to be the collector and publisher of the Canon of the Old Testament, which before was in separate parcels, and had suffered much from careless transcribers.

A manuscript copy of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, was lately, if not now, in the Library of the Dominicans at Bologna in Italy, with the following inscription in Hebrew: "This is the roll of the Law, written by Ezra the Scribe, with his own hand, when the Captivity returned under King Cyrus to Jerusalem and built the second Temple, which was completed in 42 years, and lasted 420 years." This MS. has been in the possession of the Christians since the beginning of the fourteenth century. Dr Kennicott, who doubts the fact of its being the autograph of Ezra, considers it as very ancient, at least not less than 900 years old.*

Ezra having collected together all the books of which the Sacred Scriptures then consisted, disposed them in proper order, and divided them into three parts, THE LAW, THE PROPHETS, AND THE CETUBIM, or HAGIOGRAPHA, i.e., the Holy Writings. This division our Saviour himself notices," when he says, “These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things might be fulfilled which are written in the Law, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me." By the Psalms is meant the whole third part or Hagiographa, which, beginning with the Psalms, was generally called by that name. ONKELOS made a very pure translation of the five books of Moses into the Chaldee; it was probably written

6

1 Exod. chap. xxxi. 18, and chap. xxxii. 15-16. 3 Ezra, chap. vii. 6.

Goguet de l'origine des Loix, &c., tom. i. liv. 2, p. 382; Walton in Bib. Polyg. Proleg. 2. Kennicott's Dissert. on 1 Chron. xi. &c., p. 309; Yeates's Collation of an Indian Luke xxiv. 44. 6 Townley's Biblical Anecdotes, p. 4. copy of Hebrew Pentateuch, p. 23; Prideaux' Connex. vol. ii. p. 431.

C

1

prior to the Christian era. JONATHAN also translated all the Prophets into Chaldee, but not so elegantly as the former. These translations were called Targums, which signifies the translation of a book from one language into another; and is applied by the Jewish Rabbins to the Sacred Translations. For the better understanding some passages of Scripture, it may not be amiss to mention the materials upon which the ancient MSS. were written. We have already noticed the tablets of stone upon which the Decalogue was written. Pliny tells us that the most ancient writing was upon leaves of the palm tree, and afterwards on the inner bark of trees. This mode of writing is still common in the East. Dr FRANCIS BUCHANAN, in his valuable essay "On the Religion and Literature of the Burmas," informs us that in their more elegant books the Burmas write on sheets of ivory, or on very fine white Palmira leaves. The ivory is stained black, and the margins are ornamented with gilding, while the characters are enamelled, or gold. On the Palmira leaves the characters are in general of black enamel, and the ends of the leaves and margins are painted with flowers in various bright colours. In their more common books, the Burmas engrave their writings with an iron style on Palmira leaves, and join them together by passing two strings through holes at each end of the leaf, and also through two wooden boards, which serve to connect the whole into a volume. The more elegant books are in general wrapped up in silk cloth, and bound round with a garter, in which the Burmas have the art to weave the title of the book. Father Simon, and Dr Adam Clarke, suppose the first Scriptures to have been written in this manner on the bark of trees, and that transpositions have occurred by portions of the bark being displaced; but Dr Kennicott conjectures some of the first manuscripts were upon skins sowed together, and that the transpositions were occasioned by the separation of the skins from each other.

4

Mr Yeates thinks it exceedingly probable that the very autograph of the Law, written by the hand of Moses, was upon prepared skins. We read3 that rams' skins dyed red made part of the covering for the tabernacle; and it is a singular circumstance, that in the year 1806, Dr CLAUDIUS BUCHANAN obtained from one of the Synagogues of the black Jews, in the interior of Malayala in India, a very ancient manuscript roll, containing the major part of the Hebrew Scriptures, written upon goats' skins, mostly dyed red; and the Cabul Jews, who travel annnally into the interior of China, remarked that in some synagogues the law is still found written on a roll of leather, made of soft flexible goats' skins dyed red. DIODORUS SICULUS affirms, that the Persians of old wrote all their records on skins; and HERODOTUS, who flourished 550 years before the Christian era, informs us that sheep and goats' skins were used in writing by the ancient Ionians. In the days of JOB, it would appear lead was used, as he wishes anxiously that his words were written, "that they were graven with an iron pen in lead or in stone for ever." MOUNTFAUCON, in his Antiquities' assures us he bought in Rome a book entirely of lead, about four inches long and three broad. It contained Egyptian Gnostic figures, and unintelligible writing. The original manner of writing among the ancient Britons was by cutting the letters on a stick, which was generally squared, although sometimes triangular.* In Ezekiel, this sort of writing is also referred to." They were put together in a sort of frame called PEITHYNEN, and was so constructed as to be easily turned round for reading.

Isaiah and Habakkuk 10 both mention tables used in writing, which were probably of wood; and in the Gospel of Luke, Zacharias calls for a writing-table.11

It would appear the ancient Egyptians wrote on linen from specimens found in their mummies; a piece of this kind of writing is to be seen in the British Museum. The use of papyrus was afterwards introduced by the Egyptians. It is a sort of flag or bulrush growing in the marshes of Egypt near the river Nile. It is prepared by taking off the outer skin and moistening the inner with the glutinous water of the Nile. Many of the manuscripts found in the ruins of Herculaneum are on this kind of Egyptian paper.12 Eumenes, king of Pergamus

xxvi. 14.

8 Exod.

Dr Clarke's Biblio. Dict., vol. vi.; and Succession of Sacred Literature, vol. 1. p. 48. 2 Pliny, lib. xiii. chap. 11. 4 Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii. p. 84. 5 Herodotus, lib. v. & Job xix, 24 (Genevan version). 7 Mountfaucon's Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 378; Fraginent of Calmet's Dict. by Taylor, No. 74. Davics' Celtic Researches, p. 271; Fry's Pantographia, p. 301. 9 Ezekiel xxxvii. 16. 10 Isaiah, xxx. 8; Habak, ii. 2. 11 Luke i. €3. 12 Herculaneum was destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in the 79th year of the Christian era.