THE REVISED TESTAMENT.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3131, 11 July 1881, Page 4

THE REVISED TESTAMENT.

The consequences of tho revision of the New Testament «irs so many that it will be Homo considerable time before they are even discovered. One of the minor effects is the confusion it introduces into current modes of speech and common similes and metaphors. The Testament, with all it- , peculiarities of phraee, and even with wlmt we suppose we must call its mistakes, has b?en so intimately interwoven with our every day speech, that we are hardly conscious how frequently ye use i>. It will be awkward to be alwaya correcting oneself, and probably even if the Kevised Version were to como into immediate xiae, most of the pre-

s?nt generation would to the end of their clr>- u?p the phrases of tlie Authorised Version. For instance, in I. Cor. xiii. 1, w« ! :ave in "■> old ver-ion, ' Though I speak with the tongues of men and of nngels, and mm. . ' -jtv. i !1!H hfi'OltH' ma n , n 111- , . - f-i.-.- - '.:"-. ■ i colonies For tin uw ot tm» simile to certiin bi uant orators; but wo ought now all to change, for the new version has it, 'If I speak witli tho tongues of men and of angels, but hare not lore, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. . No doubt clanging is a more accurate translation of the original, and the word certainly improves the metaphor — for cymbals clan», while it is only little bells l:.-■.* 'tinkle.' Tt may be that Hie effect .-■;" "iii-i c'>arn*o will h- x to hn.vh crip- !>■ ••aopfl-'in- f"-:m t!w> ciivtvnt lunuir' <yd litiT'itim , . If thesf common ri'f's nr>* ber-tuise not connnt wilh propi-iety, or with the v ■ 1 tpxt, possibly nr« one-< will not oe iiti j 'l. The old plnvises became common > f>v»>Tvholy vnad the Ri'ile. when that Book had not so many others to compete vith ac it has now, and when it was a «-hool lesson-hook. It has also become a common simile that ' No man putteth a oiece of new cloth unto an old garment,' but we must now say 'a piece of undressed •loth. . Wo have become familiar too with lie folly of putting " new wine into old lotrles, else the bottles break, and the wine •Linneth out, and the bottles perish.' With>ut much learning it could be seen that this 'xmld not apply to our glass bottles of norlern times ; but the phrase was used, and was quite understood. Wow, however, we shall have to correct ourselves thus: — ' Neither do men put new wine into old .vine skins : else the skins burst,' &c. In speaking of those possessed of devils, the new version has a side-note informing us that thn word in Greek means ' demon. , and that will have to he kept in mind. The phrase, 'wisdom is justified of her children,' which was in common use, but always a little obsenre, is now changed to ' wisdom is justified by her works.' '' Ye generation of vipers ' becomes, 'Ye offspring of vipers.' When in Matthew it is said that ' Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale,' we have a note that the Greek word used means simply ' sea monster. . It is not, 'they be blind leaders of the blind,' but simply, ' They are blind guides ; and if the blind guide the blind,' &c. One of our most familiar phrases is, ' borne the burden and heat of the day, , which is changed to ' borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' In this case, wo daresay the old form will for a long time be the readiest to the lips. The ' alabaster box of ointment becomes m 'alabaster cruse ?f ointment.' At the 1 ord's Supper, in Luke's G-ospel, we have Christ saying, ' Take, eat; this is by body. . It is now changed to, ' Take ye ; this is my body.' Che words so familiar to us all, from being included in the burial service, ' the last Adam w«s mnde a quickening spirit,' are changed to ' the last Adam became a lifegiving Spirit.' In printing new editions of the Book of Common Prayer, will tbe old style be adhered to ? ' Crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts,' is made 'crucified the flesh with the passione and the lusts.' ' Change our vile body ' becomes 1 fashion anew the body of our humiliation.' There is one passage on which consider- : ile chiin. c has been marie, and which bus ■ hvtivs been recognised as one of the most iifliciilt ami obscure in the whole of Scripture —we mean those verses in the Bth chap. of Romans beginning ' For the earnest expectaiion of tbe creature,' &c. These are now rendered as follows :—' For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation iselt also shall be delivered from tbe bondage Oi corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.' So far as we can judge from the examination we have been able to make, the words ' eternal' and ' everlasting ' are not in the smallest degree affected by tbe new version, so that tbe controversy which prevails respecting them stands where it did.