THE REVISED NEW TESTAMENT.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3951, 27 August 1881, Page 2

THE REVISED NEW TESTAMENT.

The Rev 11. P. Mendes, of New York, in a recent sermon referred to the Revised New Testament. In the course of his remarks he said: " The committee in the preface say they have altered the authorised version in cases where it was ' inconsistent with itself in the rendering of two or more passages confessedly alike or parallel.' Why then did they not correct the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and change inexactness ? Thus Micah v. 2, is wrongly quoted in Matt. ii. 18; Jerem. xxxi. 15, is inexact in Matt. 18; Mai. iii. 1, is not correctly in Matt. xi. 10, nor Isa. xlii. 1, in Matt. xii. 18, —other instances can be added, for correctness is the exception, inexactness the rule. Note the glaring mistake in Luke ii. v. 26, perpetuated in tic new version, where it says David weut to the holy place in the days of Abiathar the High Priest. No need to wait for a Greek manuscript to correct that; look at Ist Samuel, xxf. eh , where the event is narrated, and we find the High Priest was Ahimelech, Abiathar's father, Why did they not alter also another glaring mistake in Matt,, eh. v., 43, when in the sermon on the mount the Nazareue exclaims, ' Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy.' The first part of the sentence is incomplete, ' as thyself should be added, which is an important amendment, and is so found in the original, which is iv Lev. xix. 18 ; and the second part is wholly wrong, it is nowhere commanded, and his audience could never hate ' heard ' that it was said ' Thou shalt hate thy enemy.' It is not in the Pentateuch, nor the Prophetic writings, nor in .Rabbinic teachings —on the contrary, Exod. xxii. 4 5, bids us aid our enemy, Prov. xxv., v. 21, command us to feed him when he is hungry, and give him drink when he is thirsty*. One more point and I have done. In Hebrews xi. 21 it says Jacob, leaning upon the top of his staff blessed the sons of Joseph. Now this book muat have beeu in Hebrew dialect, for observe it is the epistle to the Hebrews. Turn we to Genesis xlviii. 2, and wo find that Jacob, sitting on the bed, blessed the sons of Joseph. The Hebrew word for bed is mittah, and for staff it is viittek ; the consonants are the same, but the vowels are different. As we are not accustomed to use vowels in our manuscripts, we can easily understand how the mistake arose. But the editors of the New Testament have not altered the passage, though as that text of that book was originally Hebrew, they would have been fully justified in going to Hebrew sources, wherever practicable. Attention to this mistake, though not in connection with the new version, has been directed by Prof. Robertson Smith, lately suspended for his unorthodox sentiments."