Poetry of the Bible

34

SUGGESTIONS FOR TRANSLATORS,

the reader's mind the simplest elements of revealed truth. But when a Christian Church has been formed, and men have become habituated to the reading of the Scriptures, it is right to adopt all legitimate means to ensure the accurate reading of God's Word. A careful revision of the version is usually made at such a time, and the question arises whether any mode of marking the supplementary words should be adopted.

The original editions of the Authorised Version were printed in black letter, and the supplementary words were printed in small Roman letters ; but the italic or running character was substituted for these when the body of the book was printed in Roman letter. This course would have been a very good one were it not the fact that italics are used in almost all other books to denote the emphatic words in a sentence. Two other plans have been resorted to by translators into foreign languages: one is to put the accessory words in brackets ; the other. to print them in smaller type than the rest-as in the modern Greek Bibles printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

In any case a line of explanation ought to be given at the foot of the page in which the first supplementary word occurs, or (better still) beneath the Table of Contents, so that readers may understand the object of the peculiarity in the text.

Supposing that a translator has determined to adopt one or other of these modes for marking the accessory words in his version, it remains for him to consider what words ought to be so marked. It is often thought that the translators or editors of the

English Bible have been too scrupulous in this respect, and that our Bibles are overladen with italics. Many things are implied in the original which must from the necessities of language be exP'ressed in the translation. These need not be marked as accessory.

The only cases where supplementary words ought to be marked in order to guard the reader against a misapprehension, are. first, when there is some ambiguity in the original owing to its conciseness, so that the translator is obliged to exercise his discretion in completing the sentence ; secondly, when a word is absent from the.. original, not through the necessities of the language, but through the choice of the inspired writer. In these cases it is certainly desirable, at any rate for advanced readers, to distinguish between what is fixed by the sacred original and what is left open to the human interpreter.

The following instances, taken from the Authorised English

Version, will illustrate the use of italics, and can be applied, 1nutatis mutandis, to other versions. (i.) The copula, or auxiliary verb, is usually omitted in Hebrew, but expressed in English. There would be no need, however, to put it in italics were it not left to the discretion of the trans-

EDITORS, AND REVISERS OF THE BIBLE. 35

lator to use the present, future, or optative. He may say for example:-

Blessed is the man, Blessed be the man, Blessed shall be the man.

Thus it is open to him in many passages to turn a sentence into a statement, a wish, or a prophecy. Important passages are affected by the liberty thus imposed upon him. Where, however, the context absolutely fixes the meaning, italics need not be resorted to. (ii.) The change from, the oblique to the direct style of narrative is very common in Hebrew, especially in poetry, and is often puzzling to an English reader. The insertion of some such word as sayin,q would be a great help to him, and our translators have sometimes supplied it, though not so often as they might have done. The following are instances :-

Gen. iv. 25, 'God, said she, hath appointed me another seed.'

Deut. ii. 13, ' Rise up, said I, and get you over,' &c. 1 Chron. xxiii. 5, ' The instruments which I madet said David, to praise therewith.'

Ps. xii. 8, '.An evil disease, say they, cleaveth,' &c.

Nahum ii. 8, 'Stand, stand, shall they <;ry.' .Acts i. 4, 'Wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me.' (iii.) Prepositions, though often omitted in Hebrew, must be inserted in English. Fourteen instances are subjoined :-

Ps. ii. 12, 'Ye perish from the way.'

Ps. iii. 7, 'Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone.'

Ps. lxxx. 1, 'that dwellest between the cherubim.'

Ps. lxxxiii. 9, 'Do unto them as unto the l\fidianites/

Ps. xii. 2, ' witli flattering lips.'

Ps. ii. 8, 'I shall give thee the heathen/or thine inheritance.'

Is. x. 32, 'He shall shake his hand against the mount.'

Ex. xl 28, 29, 'He set up the hanging at the door; and he put the altar of burnt offering by the door.'

N um. xxv. 6, 'weeping before the door.1

N um. xxvi. 3, 'by Jordan near Jericho.'

N um. xxxiv. 6, 'and as for the western border.' 1 Sam. vi. 4, 'accordin,q to the number,' &c. 2 Kings xxii. 18, ' as touching the words,' &c. 1 Chron. xxiii. 14, 'now concerning Moses the man of God.' (iv.) Conjunctions and Adverbs are frequently omitted in Hebrew, but are added in English to save the version from being bald and unintelligible-sometimes, perhaps, needlessly :---

r, 2

36

SUGGESTIONS FOR TRANSLATORS,

Ps. x. 10, 'He croucheth, and humbleth himself.'

Ps. x. 15, 'Seek out his wickedness till thou find none.'

Ps. xi. 1, 'Flee as a bird.'

Ps. xvii. 5, 'Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.'

Ps. xlix, 5, 'in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels,' &c.

Ps. lxvi. 19, 'But verily God hath heard me.'

Ps. Ix.vii. 6, 'Then shall the earth yield her increase.'

Gen. xxxi. 30, 'Though thou wouldest needs be gone, yet wherefore,' &c.

Num. xxxii. 4, 'even the country,' &c.

Deut. iv. 43, 'namely, Bezer in the wilderness.'

Deut. iv. 10, 'specially the day that thou stoodest.' 1 Chron. xxii. 5, 'I will therefore now make preparation.' (v.) The introduction of Proper Names is sometimes necessary to save ambiguity, e.g.:-

Gen. xxi. 33, '.And Abraham planted a grove.'

Ex. xxxiii. 9, '.And the Lord talked with Moses.' 1 Sam. xvi. 7, 'For the Lord seetli not as man seeth.'

Mark v. 24, 'And Jesus went with him.'

Acts vii. 8, ' And so .Abraham begat Isaac.'

Occasionally our translators have had to exercise their own judgment as to the best word to be introduced, and possibly they have not always been right. See Acts vii. 59; Col. i. 19; 1 John iii. 16. (vi.) Emphasis, which is often expressed in Hebrew and Greek by the order of the words, can frequently be expressed in English by a slight paraphrasis. Our translators have occasionally availed themselves of this plan, but by no means so often as they might have done. The following are instances :-

Ps. Ix.xiii. 25, 'There is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.'

Gen. xlv. 8, 'It was not you that sent me, but God.' (vii.) The condensed idioms of the original often need expanding.

This can well be done by means of italics. Thus :-

Gen. xxxiii. 8, 'what meanest thou by all this drove 1'

Ps. iii. 8, 'Salvation belongeth unto the Lord.' [Compare Rev. vii. 10, where unfortunately the supplementary word is not introduced.]

Ecc. viii. 2, 'I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment.'

Rom. xi. 21, 'Take heed, lest He also spare not thee.'

Ps. lxx. 1, 'Make haste, 0 God, to deliver me.'

Ps. cxviii. 2, &c., 'His mercy endureth for ever.'

Ps. xvi. 6, 'in pleasant places.' [Compare 'heavenly places,' Eph. i. 3.]

EDITORS, AND REVISERS OF THE BIBLE.

Gen. i. 16, 'He made the stars also.'

Gen. iv. 20, 'and of such as have cattle.'

Gen. vi. 15, 'This is the fashion which thou shalt make it of.'

Gen. xviii. 28, 'Wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five 1'

Gen. xxiv. 52, 'He worshipped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth.' (Compare Heb. xi. 21.]

Gen. xxiv. 60, ' Be thou the mother of thousands 1 '

Num. xiv. 27, 'How long shall I bear with this evil congregation 1' 2 Sam. vi. 5, 'all manner of instruments made of fir-wood.' 2 Kings xiii. 1, 'and reigned seventeen years.' 1 Chron. xxiv. 5, 'governors of the house of God.' 2 Chron. ii. 3, 'As thou didst deal with David, even so deal with me.'

Neh. xii. 31, 'two great companies of them that gave thanks.'

John vii 39, 'The Holy Ghost was not yet given.'

Rom. v. 18, 'By the offence of one judgment came . . • by the righteousness of one the free gift came.' 1 Cor. vi 7, 'Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded.' 1 Tim. iv. 3, 'Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats.' 1 John ii. 2, 'Also £or the sins of the whole world.'

(viii.) There are numerous other condensed idioms constantly reappearing in the sacred originals which need expansion when translated into such a language as English. Thus we often read of • the dry land,' ' the tenth month,' • the first day of the month,• • a thousand pieces of silver,' • to draw water,' • spare the guilty,' • the third generation,' • goat's hair,' • gathered unto his people,' 'a cup of cold water,' ' as thorns in your sides.' Occasionally our translators may have made a mistake in the words which they have supplied. as in 2 Sam. i. 18, where for • the use of the bow' ~e should probably read • the dirge of the bow.' The accuracy of the expression 'under the fifth rib,' has also been questioned. Foreign translators have often taken much greater licence in adding upplementary words, from the days of the Septuagint downwards, than those who prepared the Authorised Version felt justified in taking; but with all their caution our translators occasionally added considerably to the original. though doubtless they had good authority for so doing. The following are among the most striking instances :-

2 Sam. i 21, 'as though he had not been anointed with oil.'

Job iii. 23, 'whg is li,ght given to a man whose way is hid 1'

Job xix. 26, 'and though after my skin worms destroy this body.'

Job xx. 11, ' his bones are full of the sin of his youth.'

Job xxiii. 6, 'he· would put strength in me.' [Compare Rev. xi. 3.J

Job xxxv. 3, 'what profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin 1'

38

SUGGESTIONS FOR TRANSLATORS,

Ps. vii. 11, 'God is angry with the wicked every day.' 1 Cor. xiv. 2, &c., 'an unknown tongue.' 1 John iii. 16, 'hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for u~.'

§ 12.-SUMMARIES, PAGE HEADINGS, DATES, AND CHAPTER HEADINGS.

It was the custom in early Latin Bibles that each of the sacred books should have a few lines of preface to it, simply by way of historical introduction. The only Book in the Authorised Version which has anything like such a preface is the Book of Job ; many of the Epistles, however, have postscripts, which answer the same purpose, but which are not regarded as of high authority, and are not required to be translated any more than the ancient prefaces to Psalms.

The British and Foreign Bible Society Committee have never sanctioned anything like a Historical Introduction either to the Bible as a whole or to the individual books ; their one object is to circulate the sacred volume itself, leaving it to others to furnish information about its contents. The Society. however, prints chapter-headings in many languages, and also page-headings where they seem desirable.

To deal with the last first, it is the custom to print at the head of every page, first, its number, secondly. the book of which it represents part, and thirdly the number of the chapter or chapters of which parts are found on the page. Sometimes these practically take up all the space ; but if this is not the case, there may be introduced a word or two giving a brief idea of the gener~l contents of the page. It can only at best be some prominent event. some leading name, or some general topic which can be introduced ;-and that needs to be spread over the outside and inside corners of the page. so that the numbering of the page may have to be relegated to the bottom, either at the centre or at the outside corner. Where there are no chapter-headings, these pageheadings may be desirable ; otherwise they are needless.

Some editors introduce chronological notices at the top of the page, but it is impossible for the reader to tell to what event mentioned in the page the date at the head .refers. li dates ,are introduced at all they ought to be put in the margin with -a note of reference. The chronology of the Bible is not fully fixed, though modern Assyrian discoveries go far to determine the most uncertain of the dates. At present, editors may be content with the approximate dates given by Archbishop Ussher and printed iu. the Authorised Version,