REVISION A RECURRING NECESSITY.

On the title-page of the first edition of King James’s Bible there appeared as now the legend, “Appointed to be read in Churches.” Whence this originated is unknown; it is even uncertain what meaning is to be attached to the words. Some contend[61] that they mean nothing more than that the book contained the directions in accordance with which the Scriptures were “appointed” to be read in public worship, such as are now given in the Book of Common Prayer. But, however this may be, there is no evidence that this Bible was ever formally sanctioned, either by the king, or by Parliament, or by Convocation. The king, as we have seen, encouraged the making of the revision, but that the revision when made was, by any public act on his part, invested with any special authority, is a fancy altogether unsupported by fact. Its designation as the Authorized Version has been due simply to common parlance; the claim which that designation seems to assert is absolutely baseless.

It was not in virtue of any privileges conferred upon it by those in authority, but by its intrinsic excellence, that this version made its way into general use, and at length supplanted all previous versions. Its chief, if not only, competitor was the Genevan. So strong was the attachment of many to the latter that two editions of it, one a folio and the other a quarto, were published by the king’s printer in the very year in which the new version was issued, and during at least five years after that date[62] various other editions were issued from the same source. After 1616 the Genevan ceased to be printed in England, but the demand for it still continuing, various editions were printed on the Continent, and thence introduced into this country. A folio edition, printed at Amsterdam, bears so late a date as 1644. In 1649, in order to win the favour of those who still clung to their old favourite, an edition of the new version was issued with the Genevan notes. After this date the revision of 1611 may be said to have gained for itself universal recognition, and for more than 230 years it has been the accepted and cherished Bible of almost all English-speaking people.

We should, however, form a very erroneous opinion both of the spirit and of the learning of King James’s translators, if we were to suppose that they would have claimed finality for their work. They were too well acquainted with the state of the original texts not to know what need there was for further research after the most ancient and trustworthy authorities. They were too keenly sensitive to the difficulties of translation not to feel that they must often have failed to convey the exact meaning of the words they were attempting to render. They were too conscious of the merits of their predecessors, and of the extent to which they had profited by their labours, to hesitate to acknowledge that others might in like manner profit by what they themselves had done. And they were too loyal in their reverence for the Scriptures, and too devoutly anxious that every imperfection should be removed from the form in which they were given to their fellow-countrymen, to offer any discouragement to those who should seek to remove the blemishes that might still remain. They would strongly have deprecated any attempt to find in their labours a plea against further improvement; and they would have emphatically proclaimed that the best expression of thankfulness for their services, and of respect for themselves, was in the imitation of their example, and in the promotion of further efforts for the perfecting of the book they so profoundly loved.

In the case of such a book as the Bible, however perfect the translation which may at any time be made, the duty of revision is one of recurring obligation. The necessity for it is inevitable, and this from two causes in constant operation. (1) By the imperfection that attaches to all kinds of human labour various departures from the standard form became gradually introduced in the process of reproduction; and (2) by the natural growth of language, and the attendant changes in the meaning of terms, that which at one time was a faithful rendering becomes at another obscure or incorrect.

No long time elapsed before blemishes arose in the version of 1611 from the first of these causes, and, to use the language of the translators themselves, their translation needed “to be maturely considered and examined, that being rubbed and polished it might shine as gold more brightly.” The invention of printing, although it has largely diminished the liability to error in the multiplication of copies, has not, as everyone knows who has had occasion to minutely examine printed works, altogether removed them. Various typographical errors soon made their appearance in the printed copies of the Bible, and these became repeated and multiplied in successive editions, until at length no inconsiderable number of variations, sometimes amounting to several thousands, could be traced between different copies. Most of these it is true were unimportant variations, but some of them were of a more serious nature. The following instances will serve to illustrate this. The dates attached are the dates of the editions in which the errors may be found:

Exod. xx. 14. “Thou shalt commit adultery,” for “Thou shalt not.” 1631, Lond., 8vo.[63]

Numb. xxv. 18. “They vex you with their wives,” for “their wiles.” 1638, Lond., 12mo.

Numb. xxvi. 10. “The fire devoured two thousand and fifty men,” for “two hundred and fifty.” 1638, Lond., 12mo.

Deut. xxiv. 3. “If the latter husband ate her,” for “hate her.” 1682, Lond.

2 Sam. xxiii. 20. “He slew two lions like men,” for “two lion-like men.” 1638, Lond., 12mo.

Job xxix. 3. “By his light I shined through darkness,” for “I walked through.” 1613, Lond.

Isaiah xxix. 13. “Their fear toward me is taught by the people of men,” for “by the precept of men.” 1638, Lond., 12mo.

Jer. iv. 17. “Because she hath been religious against me,” for “hath been rebellious.” 1637, Edin., 8vo.

Jer. xviii. 21. “Deliver up their children to the swine,” for “to the famine.” 1682, Lond.

Ezek. xxiii. 7. “With all their idols she delighted herself,” for “she defiled herself.” 1613, Lond.

Matt. xxvi. 36. “Then cometh Judas with them unto a place called Gethsemane,” for “Then cometh Jesus.” 1611, Lond.Acts vi. 3. “Look ye out among you seven men of honest report ... whom ye may appoint,” for “whom we may appoint.” 1638, Camb. fo.[64]

1 Cor. v. 1. “And such fornication as is not so much as not among the Gentiles,” for “not so much as named.” 1629, Lond., fo.[65]

1 Cor. vi. 9. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God?” for “shall not inherit.” 1653, Lond., 32mo.

2 Tim. iv. 16. “I pray God that it may be laid to their charge,” for “may not be laid.” 1613, Lond.

Titus i. 14. “Now giving heed to Jewish fables,” for “not giving heed.” 1636 Edin., 8vo.

James v. 4. “The Lord of Sabbath,” for “Sabaoth.” 1640, Lond., 8vo.

1 John i. 4. “That our joy may be full,” for “that your joy.” 1769, Oxf.

These facts will serve to show how soon some kind of revision became needful, and that a true reverence for Scripture is shown, not by opposition to revision, but by a desire, and even demand, that it should be undertaken. This necessity became all the more imperative in the case of the revision of 1611, because there existed no standard copy to which appeal could in all cases be made as evidence of the conclusions reached by the translators. It is a curious and remarkable fact, that two editions, differing in several respects, were issued by the king’s printer, Robert Barker, in 1611, and competent judges are not agreed as to which of these two priority in time belongs. Nor even if this point were satisfactorily settled, would it suffice to reproduce that one of the two texts which might be proved to be the earlier. For excellent as was the main work done by the translators, the final revision and the oversight of the sheets as they passed through the press were not so thorough as was to be desired. In the most carefully prepared edition of this revision that has ever been issued, viz., the Cambridge Paragraph Bible, edited by Dr. Scrivener, the learned and laborious editor has seen it right to depart from the printed text of 1611 in more than nine hundred places.[66] It will be manifest that such corrections, whenever called for, ought not to be made in any haphazard way, and that it is in the interest of all that careful revisions of the printed texts should from time to time be made, and that they should be made by men thoroughly competent for the task.

The second cause to which reference has been made is, of course, much slower in its operation, but though slow it is certain; and sooner or later every version, whensoever and by whomsoever made, must call for revision, because of the changes to which all language is subject. Words which were once in common use pass altogether out of currency, and are utterly unintelligible save to a learned few. Other words change their meaning, and give to the sentences in which they occur a different and sometimes an alien sense to that which they formerly conveyed. Others again, while retaining fundamentally their original sense, become limited in their range of application, and when used in other connections than those to which they are thus confined by custom, become grotesque and disturb the mind of the reader by the strange associations which they suggest.

How many words found in our Bibles have, since 1611, passed out of general use the following list will show. Most of these are wholly without meaning, even to an educated reader; a few survive as local provincialisms, and a few also are still employed in the technical vocabulary of certain arts or professions. All are out of place in a book intended for universal use.

Assay. Deut. iv. 34; Job iv. 2; Acts ix. 26, &c.

Attent. 2 Chron. vi. 40.

Bestead. Isa. viii. 21.

Blain. Exod. ix. 9, 10.

Bolled. Exod. ix. 31.

[Brickle. Wisd. xv. 13.]

Brigandine. Jer. xlvi. 4; li. 3.

Bruit. Jer. x. 22; Nah. iii. 19.

Calamus. Exod. xxx. 23; Cant. iv. 14; Exek. xxvii. 19.

Camphire. Cant. i. 14; iv. 13.

Causey. 1 Chron. xxvi. 18.

Chanel-bone. Job xxxi. 22, marg.

Chapiter. Exod. xxxvi. 38, &c.

Chapman. 2 Chron. ix. 14.

Chaws. Ezek. xxix. 4.

[Cithern. 1 Macc. iv. 54.]

Cockatrice. Isa. xi. 8, &c.

Collops. Job xv. 27.

Confection. Exod. xxx. 35.

Coney. Lev. xi. 5, &c.

To Convent. Jer. xlix. 19, marg.

Cotes. 2 Chron. xxxii. 28.

To Couch. Dent, xxxiii. 13.

Countervail. Esth. vii. 4.

Daysman. Job ix. 33.

[Dehort. 1 Macc. ix. 9.]

Delicates. Jer. li. 34.

Dredge. Job xxiv. 6, marg.

Dure. Matt. xiii. 21.

Earing. Gen. xlv. 6.

Endirons. Ezek. xl. 43, marg.

Flue-net. Hab. i. 15, marg.

Gier eagle. Lev. xi. 18.

Gorget. 1 Sam. xvii. 6, marg.

Habergeon. Exod. xxviii. 32; xxxix. 23, &c.

Helve. Deut. xix. 5.

Hough. Josh. xi. 6, 9.

Implead. Acts xix. 38.

Jewry. Dan. v. 13; John vii. 1.

Knop. Exod. xxv. 31, &c.

Leasing. Ps. iv. 2; v. 6.

Makebate. 2 Tim. iii. 3, marg.

Muffler. Isa. iii. 19.

Neesing. Job xli. 18.

Ossifrage. Lev. xi. 13.

Ouches. Exod. xxviii. 11, &c.

Pilled. Gen. xxx. 37.Prelation. 1 Cor. xiii., heading.

Purtenance. Exod. xii. 9.

Ravin. Gen. xlix. 27.

Rereward. Num. x. 25, &c.

Scall. Lev. xiii. 30.

Scrabble. 1 Sam. xxi. 13.

A Settle. Ezek. xliii. 14, &c.

Silverling. Isa. vii. 23.

Sith. Ezek. xxxv. 6.

Tabering. Nah. ii. 7.

Tache. Exod. xxvi. 6.

Throughaired. Jer. xxii. 14, marg.

Thrum. Isa. xxxviii. 12, marg.

Viol. Isa. v. 12.

Wimple. Isa. iii. 22.