Page:Webster's Revision Bible.djvu/20

xv or to command him. Hence we never use such language to superiors. No person says to his father, or to a ruler, you shall do this or that. Such language is used only to inferiors or persons subject to authority. Hence the extreme impropriety of such phrases as the following, GeigHL 16, God shall give Pha raoh an answeflv* peace. Neh. 4. 20, " Our God shall fight for us." When Christ said to Peter, " Before the cockcrow, thou shall deny me thrice," he did not command him, nor promise, nor determine; he simply foretold the fact, and therefore the word will should be used. But the translators, evidently, were guided by no rule; for they often vary the phrase, Uiing shall in one clause of a sentence and viii in another. See Deut. 7. 12. 13 ; Luke 5. 37; and 21. 7; Ps. 37. 4, 5, 6, compared with Ps. 41. 1, 2, 3; See Ps. 16. 10; and Acts 13. 35, in which will is used in the former and shall in the latter. A great number of similar dis crepancies occur in the version, and it is prob able that in my attempts to correct them, some have been overlooked. In Ps. 17. 15, will is used for shall, " I will behold." Equally faulty is the use of should (or would in many passages; but this fault is less fre quent than the use of shall for will. Heb. 8. 4. " For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest;" verse 7, "For if that first covenant Lad been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." John 13. 11, "For he knew who should betray him." Such use of should is not good English, nor does it ex press the true sense, as should implies duty, equivalent to ought. See Job 13. 5; John 6. 64, 71 ; Acts 23. 27 ; 28. 6. Shuuld is used for would, Ezra 10. 5. This improper use of the auxiliaries renders the translation inaccurate in hundreds of in stances. Plunder for spoil. The verb to spoil is sus ceptible of different senses. In our version, it generally signifies to plunder, pillage or lay waste ; but in our popular use, it signifies to in jure so as to render useless, by any means. To " spoil a tent," would not always suggest to an unlettered reader the sense of plundering. I have therefore, in some passages, substituted seize, plunder or lay waste. Isa. 13. 16; 33. 1 ; and others. Edom for Jdumea. In two passages, our version has Idumea for Edom, the Greek for the Hebrew. I have retained the Hebrew word, as this will prevent the unlearned reader from supposing Edom and Idumea to be differ ent countries. Isa. 34. 5, 6. Lord of the whole earth. la Micah 4. 13, there is a misprint in the present version ; the word Lord in the last line being tc capitals, as if the original were Jehovah.' This is a mis take. I have inserted Jehovah in the former part of the verse, according to the Hebrew, and Lord, in small letters, in the latter part. Meeting. 1 Sam. 9. 14. The importance of avoiding the use of words and phrases of equivocal signification must be obvious. When I was examining the proof sheets of this work, my grand daughter, fourteen years of age -was reading the passage above referred to; at the words " Samuel came out against them," she remarked that it was strange "Samuel

should come out against Saul," when they were friends. Her first impression was, that the words express enmity, as that is the most obvious signification of the phrase. I availed myself of the suggestion, and inserted the word meeting before them. Menjaminitc. Benjamin, son of the right hand. What could have induced the transla tors to reject a part of the last syllable, a com ponent part of the word, and write Benjamile? I have reinstated the rejected letters, and added the usual termination. In 2 Chron. 13. 19, there a is mistake in the English, French and Italian versions, Ephraim for the Hebrew Ephron, which I have cor rected. The Septuagint is correct. In our version of the scriptures, as in most British books, a very common error is to use intransitive verbs in the passive form, as he is perished ; they were escaped ; he is fled ; the year was expired ; they wen departed. There is no error in British writers so com mon and so prominent as this, borrowed prob ably from the French, in which it is the estab lished usage. Dr. Lowth noticed this fault sixty or seventy years ago, but the practice continues. The passive form of the verb always im plies the action of an agent. When a word is spoken or written, the implication is, that some person has spoken or written it. But when we say " The day was expired," the question oc curs, who expired itl When it is said " coun sel ii perished," the question is, whoperished ill Escape and return are sometimes transitive and sometimes intransitive. Return, when transitive, admits of the passive form. " The letter was returned." But the passive form of the verb when intransitive, is improper; as, " If she is returned to her father's house." Escape, though sometimes transitive, never I believe, admits the passive form. It is remarkable that the people of this coun try, at least in the northern states, in which my observations have been most extensive, rarely fall into this error. Even our common people uniformly say, he has perished, he has return ed, the time has expired, the man has fled. I have corrected this error in the present edition of the Bible; with the exception in some instances of the passive form of come and gone, and occasionally of one or two oth ers, which seems to be too generally used and well established, to be wholly rejected. It has been justly observed by Dr. Campbell, that the words kingdom of heaven and of God, have different significations in the New Tes tament, which ought to be distinguished. I have not altered the text, but have, in some instances, inserted an explanatory note in the margin, corresponding with his ideas. In the language of our version, joany small words are used, which, in my opinion, are su perfluous. In such a phrase as " go forth out of," forth and out of, are synonymous, or so nearly so as to render the use of both unneces sary. I have in some cases retrenched a word in such phrases; and further retrenchments may be made with advantage. The employ ment of many small words in this manner, when not necessary to convey the meaning, serves to impair the force of expression. There axe some passages in which the eon-

.-"