Page:Sefer ha-Yashar or the book of Jasher (1840).djvu/10

 names Adam and Eve,” but in the very words of the Hebrew bible, v. 2, “called their name Adam.” In chap. xx, v. 4, the version reads thus; “and the servants of Abimelech went to Abimelech, saying,” in the original it is “and the servants of Abimelech came and praised Sarah to the king, saying, &c.” In v. 19, the name of Pharaoh is omitted, and occasionally the word “subjects,” is substituted for “servants.”

It is possible that the translator made use of a copy of some other edition which may have varied in a few words from that examined by me. The points referred to, are, on the whole, unimportant, and do not detract from the general accuracy of the translation.

Your obt. serv’t.

To Messrs. Noah & Gould SAMUEL H. TURNER

The following letter is from Professor Bush of New York.

New York, April 30, 1840.

,

I have examined portions of several chapters of the “Book of Jasher” in the original, carefully comparing with it the translation put into my hands by the publishers. The work itself is evidently composed in the purest Rabbinical Hebrew, with a large intermixture of the Biblical idiom, and I consider the translation as a whole, not only as decidedly faithful, but as peculiarly happy in retaining the air of antique simplicity which distinguishes the original, and which constitutes the matchless excellence of our English version of the Hebrew Scriptures. In a few instances I have noticed slight verbal variations from the original, similar to those adverted to by Prof. Turner, as in one case “choice of our sepulchres” for “choice of our land” but they are of too little moment to detract from the character of general fidelity which I do not hesitate to assign to the translation.

Yours, &c., To Messrs. Noah & Gould GEO. BUSH.