EDITORS, AND REVISERS OF THE BIBLE.
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for example, in some minds, to translate Gen. 4, ' I have begotten a man that is Jehovah' (see Luther's and Almeida's versions), and to render John viii. 25, 'The beginning as I have said to you;' but fanciful renderings like these should be well sifted by grammar, by the context, by the general analogy of Scripture, and by the opinion of sound scholars, before they are introduced. We should therefore say to a translator, Where a traditional rendering cannot manifestly be improved, accept it, and put any rendering in the margin which commends itself to yout own judgment very strongly, but which is not sanctioned by the majority of standard versions and authorities. 1 Jerome to a remarkable degree forbore to press his own views, though they were formed on a critical study of the text. Hence his notes and his version do not always agree. Another rule which is important to be borne in mind, is this : Do not determine a sense where the original seems to have been purposely left ambiguous ; in other words, Do not let your translation be more definite than the original was intended to be. Our Authorised Version is a very good instance of conformity to this rule, the English language being capable of very considerable ambiguity from its want of genders. In many languages, however, the case is far different. Thus in the French language a great deal depends upon definiteness of expression. The manifest danger in such a case is lest a translator should put too much into a version, not too little, • He dare not sacrifice the idiomatic necessities of the language to a bald literal rendering; and hence his work is in danger of degenerating into a paraphrase. De Sacy's version, for example, is excellent French, but is decidedly too paraphrastic, introducing into the text many words which savour of comment. The Icelandic version is the same. Diodati, Luther, and other most eminent translators have found it impossible to avoid this evil altogether. A distinction was drawn by Rhenius in his interesting little work on Bible translation, between verbal, idiomatic, and paraphrastic translations. He himself in his Tamil version decidedly erred in the last-named direction. How far we may legitimately supplement the sense conveyed in the original by the use of italics will be discussed further on in this paper. It would be beyond the scope of this paper to give critiques on the existing standard versions, but a few may be mentioned as especially useful to the translator. Of old standard versions the first place must naturally be given to the Septuagint, which, though 1 It is part of the business of the head of the Translating Department of the British and Foreign Bible Society to give advice on all such points. He has access to books and to living scholars, who are always ready to help ; and translators are freely invited to get aid through him in the matter of difficult texts, and also, if needful, to apply for a loan or grant of critical books.
