THE SPRINGFIELDER January 1976 Volume 40, Number 1 Dr. William Beck's American Translation of the Old Testament D [.IRING THE LAS~ FORTY YEARS at least four- translatj.ons itle Bible have appeared lrlhich had RS part of their title the word "American." The University of C.hicago Press issued The Bible: All American Translalion, the effort of a group of Chicago scholars undcl- [he editorship of J. M. Powis Smith (who translated the Old Testament with the assistance of others) and Edgar J. Goodspeed (who did the New Testament). This trallslatio~~ reflects Jiberal in- Rucnce in many of its renderings. Between 1960 and 1 97 1 the Lock- mann Foundation of La Habra, California, published a Bible known as &'e%r Arnericnrz Slnndarn Bible (utilizing as ils basis the American Standard Vcrsioil oC 1901 ) . It appears 2.0 be conservative in its approach and rcflecis this stance in its translation cfiorts. Jn 1970 the Bisliop's Committee of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine of the I"\mericar~ Roman Catholic Church finally published 'The New Anieriicln Hihl(!, translated from the original languages with critical use of all ancient sources by members of tlie Catholic Biblical As- sociation of Arncrica. It has critical and liberal leanings. The last two months of 1975 \vitnessed thc publishing of the foul-tll ~ranslatio~~ of the Bible with "Arneri.can" in the title, namely Dr. Willi.arn Beck's The ffoly h'iblc. An American Trunslution. Dr. Beck devoted many years of his adult life to Biblical and exegetical studies and was con- versant with the pl-ethora of translations that have been procluced in the twentieth century. His New Testamerlt was published in i963 by Concordia Publishing House and has been sold in over 300,000 copies and is selling ai a rate of abot.lt a thousand a week. It has been 1-1ai1.d as an excellent rendering of the GI-eek into readable arid clear American English. The Old Testament was conlpletcd in 1966, shortly before the translator's death. In this article the remarks are being limited to the Old Testament portion of his American Bible. Professor Brighton of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, a former student of Heck, wrote about his teacher's qualifications as follows: One cannot help but make a comparison with Lut11e1-. Bo Luth- eran since hlartin Luther has made a translation from the original languages of thc Bibic into a language of the people. No Lutheran theologian took the time to do so. . . . Perhaps no Lutheran since Luther had the gifts and the calling from God to do so.! Many individuals in the Luiiieran Cl~urcl~~Missouri Synod, as well as Lutherans in other Synods, have argued and felt that there is no ncad for modern translations of ilre Bible, for in illei~ opinion we possess an aciequate English Bible in the King Jarnes (KJV), also known as the Authorized Ve,rsion. However, the English of the KJV is from the time of Shakespeare and there are close to a thousand words in it today that have undergone semantic change; sometimes the meaning of a word is nearly the opposite of the \vord's piesent meaning.? Tile need for a twentieth century Americall translation cannot be classified as a luxury or an ~lnnecessary undertaking. Furthermore, better manuscripts have been found and cetlain ad- vances have been made in the area of textual criticis~x enabl.ing the Biblical student to come closer to the autographic text of the Old Testament. Because of archaeological discoveries present-day Bibli- cal students know more about the geography, liistory, I-eligions of the Near East, and the customs and civilizations of Bibl~cal tim.es." Obscure place names and certain I?apax legonzenn ltave had light shed upon them through archaeology. The lexiocography and gram- mar of Biblical Aramaic have had light shed upon them by lingurstic materials which have become available bccausc of arcllaeological discoveries. Newly discovered languages, such as Accndian and Ugaritic, have effected a bctter understanding of certain words and verses in the Old Testament." Dr. Beck was able to utilize thern j11 his Bible. BECK'S COMPETENCE FOR TR~~NSLA'TION OF 'THE OL,D TES.I:AMENI Professor Brighton expressed the i'ollowjng opinion about Beck's qualifications for translating the Bible: That he was equipped for his task is evident to all who have sat at his feet or have received of his personality. His knowledge of the original languages of the Bible was astounding. Not just the Greek and Hebrew grammar and usage and meaning. but in addition and especially the theological sense and usage of these languages. We have met no man in Europe or America who had such a combination of the knowledge of and the theological usage of the Hebrew and the Greek languages of the Old and New Testaments . . . He had such patience that he was known. to spend weeks researching one word or phrase, and not being satisfied until he had exhausted every possible source that he could set his mind to. His files of exhaustive notes on lexicog- raphy, grammar, meaning and usage, linguistic co~nparisons in cognate languages, classical and theoloeical backgrounds would form an encyclopedia of many volumes? In the final analysis, all translations are, in a sense. interpreta- tions, even if they do not purport to be paraphrases like Tht Living Bible, which clearly states that it is such on the Ay-page.Translations reflect the theological views of their translators, even if those who make the BibIe available in a language diflerer~t from the original claim they arc neutral. A translator's theological convictions some- how affect his renderings from Aramaic and Hebrew into the ver- nacular. The translator's views about inspiration, revelation, the supernatural, the Christocentric character of the Old Testament do influence the translator's efforts. Today also his views on textual criticism enter the picture. Bcclt's Old Testan?ci~r 19 ------_l-_____l-- _- Beck was convinced that the Revised Startdard Version, the official Bible of the National Council of Churches, was not to be recommended because of serious deficiencies in its rendering of the Biblical text.' The weaknesses and deficiencies were due to the type of textual criticism embraced and practiced and to the theological position of the translators as reflected in a number of important passages, involving especially the area of Christology, a fact true of both Testaments. BECK AND THE MASSORETXC TEXT The major and vitally important question that each translator or group of translators faces is what kind of manuscript text is the best and most reliable one? Dr. Beck asked this question: "When is a translation good or bad?" He answered: "We can answer that question only by comparing the translation with God's Hebrew and Greek Bible. It may, however, take so much knowledge of Hebrew and Greek to answer that question that for many a person it may not be answered at all. And yet our Bible is the truth, and there should be no question mark written over it.77s Modern critical scholars have espoused the position that the transmitted Hebrew Massoretic text is corrupt. This was the stance of Moffatt, the American translation of Powis and Goodspeed, the Revised Standard Version,"he New English Bible, and the transla- tion known as Today's English Version. Moffatt claimed that the Biblical text was corrupted; in fact, he asserted that it "is oftcn desparately corrupt."1° Dr. Irwin declared about Job's text, "The text of Job is utterly bad."" Muilenberg, formerly a professor at Union Seminary, New York City, speaks of Isaiah's "magnificent strophes, disordered and mutilated as they now are in our text."'" Dr. Albright of Johns Hopkins fame declared: "The Hebrew text is often in such a hopeless state of preservation that nothing can be made of it without highly subjective emendation."':' Thesc men were members of the committee which translated the Old Testament of the RSV. The translators of the RSV and NEB (New English Bible) as- sumed that the transmitted Old Testament Aramaic (in parts of Daniel and Ezra) and Hebrew texts are corrupt and therefore have seen fit to change the text. Dr. Young, taking into consideration 997 pages of the Old Testament, counted more than a thousand changes (perhaps 1032).14 These alterations are guesses and highly ques- tionable. When the KSV, in a footnote, advises, "Heb. . . ," it bluntly announces that in that place the traditional Massoretic text has been rejected. When the reader comes across this statement, "Hcb lacks . . .," hc is informed that some words have been inserted by the translators. An analysis of these changes will reveal that thesc changes in the Hebrew text are based on the ancient translations into Greek, Aramaic, Syriac, and Latin. The tendency today is to consider tiie Hebrew Massoretic text, the only Hebrew text we possess, as merely onc of many different text types once extant and to place the Peshitta (Syriac) and the Vulgate (Latin) and the Septuagint (Greek) on a par with the Massoretic text. Beck has correctly pointed our that "when the translators of the ancient versions found a difficulty in the text, they sometimes guessed at its meaning, a:ld now the liSV guesses are built on their guesses. Often the Greek text of the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew, as Orlinsky has shown, because the Septua- gint, not the Hebrew, is corrupt. We should note that the RSV cites the versions when they support the RSV guess, but it regularly omits any reference to these versions whenever they are opposed to their guesses."'" There are some 334 instances of "Cn" found in the footnotes, which means "correction." Concerning this point Beck asserted: "A 'correction' is the elimination of an error on the basis of more exact information, but these RSV 'corrections' are changes which have no support in the text or in the versions; they are merely guesses without evidence." Conservative scholars have also noticed that the RSV translators have changed the Hebrew text without indicating the change in a footnote. (Consult Gen. 6:3; Num. 22:5; Ruth 3: 15; I Kings 10:19; Job 19:26; Ps. 28:8; 36:l; 49:20; 66:4; 73::l; 68:4; 73:l; 108:2; 137:5; Is. 49:s; Dan. 9:24.) Dr. Allis claimed that people are misled when they are led to believe that the changes made in the RSV are based on new evidence : Many, perhaps most, of the changes which it has made were known centuries ago, but were introduced into AV or ARV simply because AV and ARV were governed by a radi.cally dif- ferent conception of the trustworthiness of the Hebrew text and of the way in which it should be dealt with by the translator. The best Hebrew text available to scholars today differs very little from the text which was used by the scholars who prepared the version of 1611. The most important of the "ancient ver- sions" to. which RSV constantly refers, the Septuagint and the Vulgate, were known to the revisers of 1 901..16 An analysis of the Hebrew text used by the translators of thc New English Bible, as given by Brockington's The Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, reveals that over 3700 changes were made and incorporated in the eclectic text for the NEB's Old Testament trans- lation.'; This fact means that, when the NEB's translation is com- pared with the 161 1 and 1585 British versions, there are many thou- sands of differences to be found betweer, the latter's text and that of the KJV and the British Revised Version. When translators treat the text as untrustworthy and unreliable in over a thousand or in over 3700 places, this puts the Bible under a cloud and introduces the element of subjectivity into theology. It makes the message of God uncertain. If the criticai approach to textual criticism is correct, the concerned Christian must logically ask: "How can I really know what God has said and what the Holy Spirit caused His inspired penmen to re~ord?"~3uch a position is to the liking of modernists and liberal theologians who constantly Want a subjective and changing theology and who claim that every- thing in religion is in process, that truth is not static but dynamic in the sense that fhe church can constantly change its teachings to suit - 4,. . -. -.. - - --T - 5 -- - the Zeitgeist and accommodate its message to changing conditions. Retianslation should constantly be practiced. An example of the new \zie\v\ aho~it textual criticism has been \yell stated by Dr. Ralph Klein: Textual criticism is only one of the methods necessary for the message of the Bible. In addition, the student must learn the techniques of translation and lexicography, of for-11, tradition, and redaction criticism, of word study, and of histor-ical reconstruction. Most exegetes do textual criticism as only one of their interests; few have the leisure to devote full time to this cnterprise. No exegete, however, dare ignore it. As all the tools and techniques of biblical exegesis are ~itilized, tentative textual judgments may require modification. Knowledge of :he overall message of a writer, his style, and his other distinctive traits must be considered in any final textual decision.''' . . . Biblical exegetes must be in dialogue with philos- ophers, ancient and modern historians, sociologists, anthropolo- ~ists, systcmaticians-and with each othera20 :- A p'i~nal-y issue that most Bible readers are unaware of is this matter of whetl7en- or not an essentially reliable text has been transmitted or n~hether our Old Testament text has numerous corruptions. The translations of most critical scholars are made from a text different in thousands of places from the text used by the King James Version, the British Revised, and the American Standard Version of 1901. I'he Jewish scholar Orlinsky, a member of the RSV Old Testa- ment conlmittee, asserted about the text found in the Hebrew Bible: The so-called Massoretic text, which we have in our printed Bibles, represents a textus receytus which was established by Jewish Biblical scholars of the carly Christian centuries and since then has been transmitted with almost incredible accuracy by copyists down to the present day. This explains why the hundreds of Hebrew manuscripts in existence today show prac- tically no variantse21 Not only does Dr. Beck regard the Massoretic text as essentially reliable and trustworthy but when translating the Old Testament he also folIows the Biblical principle that Scripture is interpreted by Scripture. That Christ was foretold in many passages in the Old Testament, in ali three major divisions of the Hebrew Bible, is acccpteci by 13eck because Jesus Christ during His state of exaltation clearly taught this fact on Easter afternoon and Easter evening (Luke 24 : 24,45). The fact that Beck translates certain Old Testament passages as Messianic, especially when so defined in the New Testa- ment, alone would make his translation valuable for Christians who really want to know what the Holy Spirit has recorded on the pages of the Old Testaillent regarding the Messiah's person and work. A conlparison of Beck's translation of Old Testament Messianic pas- sages with those in the RSV, NEB, Chicago's American translation, and the Moffatt Bible will reveal that Beck is faithful to the New Testament's understanding of Old Testament Messianic passages. In Genesis 3:15, for instance, Beck has: "And I will put en~nity between you and the woman and between your descendants and her Descendant. He will crush your head, and you will bruise His Theophile Meek in An American Translation (Chicago) rendered this verse: I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your posterity and hers; They shall attack you in the head, And you shall attack them in the heel.?S Here the RSV translation is true to the Hebrew text, but the NEB is not, as may be seen from its rendering : I will put enmi.ty between you and the woman, Between your brood and hers. They shall strike at your head, And you shall strike at thei.r heels."-' In Genesis 4:l Beck has correctly rendered the verse: "She said, I have gotten a man, the The RSV, the NEB, the Jerusalem Bible, the KJV, and other translations (but not Luther) render: "I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah," a translation that was influenced by the Septuagint.' The simplest rendering repre- sents the use of the double accusative in the second clause: "And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said I have gotten a man, (even) the LORD (Yahweh)." The double accusative is found in the sentence which immediately follows: "And again she bore his brother, (even) Abel." If so understood in one sentence, why not in the other? The words "with the help of" are not in the Hebrew text.?' In Genesis 9:26 Beck again brings out the correct meaning when he translates this verse: "And he added: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem. Canaan will be his The RSV renders the same passage: "Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave (footnote has, "or blessed be the LORD," etc.)"?The blessing of Shem here takes on the form of religious eminence in the earth. As Professor Mack wrote: "The line of his descendants will hold as their special privilege the preservation and final realization of the Pron~ise.""~ His part in the blessing of his father would seem odd and inadequate, but for its meaning in Messianic value. Noah does not say, "the blessing be upon Shem," but "blessed be the God of Shem." His pre-eminence is to be the channcl through which the Messianic hope will pass to its fulfillment." The RSV, the NEB, Chicago's American Translation all interpret awa.y the distinctive Messianic character of this promise to Abraham. In Genesis 22: 18 the RSV renders: "By your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves."" Beck gives: "In your Descendant all the people on earth will be blessed."" This is CGr- rectly translated because Paul in Galatians 3 : 16 writes: "Be doesn't say: 'and by the descendants,' in the ~lural, but in the singular: and 'and by your Descendant,' which is Christ."" This is the meaning Beck's Old Testanzeltt - ---- 23 -- also in the other passages, 12:3; 18: 18; 26:4; 28: 14, all rendered in the RSV, Chicago's Anzerican, and the Jerusalem Bible as reflexive and not passive. The difference between the two renderings is that in one Christ does the saving, in the other man blesses himself. In 3 :25 the RSV mistranslates in a paragraph where Peter is using Old Testament passages to show that Christ was predicted. where thc apostle quotes Gen. 22:18, the RSV reads: "saying to ~b~~hanl, 'And in your posterity shall all families be blessed.' ""' Beck has: "And in your Descendant all the people on earth will be blessed." : ' Because of its rejection of Messianic predictive prophecy the RSV {,as created artificial contradictions between Old Testament passages and their cited equivalents in the New Testament, as may be see11 by consulting Psalm 45:6 and Hebrews 1:8, Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1 : 7; Zechariah 1 1 : 1 3 and Matthew 27: 10. It is as Beck has kvritten, "If you start with the Biblical fact that both Old and New '~'estament come from God, you will discover a fine harmony in these J)a~~agc~."" The last major Messianic passage in Genesis is found in 49: 10. In the RSV this statement of Jacob is rendered: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.":- The Jer.usalern Bible translates similarly: "The xepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the mace from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, to whom the people shall render obedience." 'The University of Chicago Press' American Translation gives something similar: "The scepter shall not depart fro111 Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until his ruler comes, to whom the peoples shall be ~bedient."~"Until he comes to whom it belongs," as the RSV footnote states, is taken from the Syriac in preference to the Hebrew text. Beck renders the Hebrew text faith- fully; "The scepter will not pass from Judah or a ruler's staff from between his feet til! the Man of Peace comes, whom the people will obcy."'"'Shilo" means "One who is peace" (Is. 9:6; Micah 5:5; Ep11. 2: 14). To this Prince of Peace universal dominion is ascribed in the latter part of verse 10. Modern versions have generally removed the Messianic content from Numbers 24: 17. Chicago's American Translation has given the folIowing rendition of the Hebrew text: "I see them, but not as they are now, I behold them, but not as they axe at present; a star sllall come forth from Jacob, a comet has arisen from I~rael."~' But Beck has given the true meaning: "I see Him who is not here now; I behold Him who will come later. A Star will come from Jacob, a Scepter will rise from Psrael."l? In the famous Davidic covenant (I1 Sam. 7: 12-1 7) the modern - versiolls have not been faithful to the Hebrew, thereby removing its true Messianic message. The RSV reads: "When your days are ful- filled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall comc forth from your body." Then in verse 14: "I will be his father, and he shall be my Beck renders "When Your time is up, and with your ancestors, I will give you 4 a Descendant, who will come from YOU."" The word "seed" is in the singular (cf. Gen. 3:15; 22:18; 26:4; 38: 14) and in God's an- nouncement refers to a descendant in the future. When David and Solomon are dead and their kingdom brought to an end in 587 B.C., David's kingdom will go on as a spiritual kingdom forever (v. 13, 16). That God has His Son in mind can be seen from Luke 1 : 32-33 and from Hebrews 1.5, where the words of I1 Samuel 7: 14 are said to speak about Jesus. Since Nathan's prophecy speaks of Jesus Christ and His kingdom, verse 14 most likely refers to the vicarious atone- ment to be effected by Jesus Christ." "If He sins, I will punish Him with the rod of men and with blows inflicted by men."'"' The RSV rendering, "When he commits iniquity," is too strong for the Hebrew. In King David's response to God's message through Nathan, the Jerusalem king says, according to the RSV translation: "And hast shown me and future generations, 0 Lord GO^."'^ In the parallel account in I Chronicles 17:17 the RSV does the same. However, since Nathan's oracle to David speaks about Jesus Christ, the RSV and other translations are inadequate. Beck has correctly rendered I1 Samuel 7: 19: "And this is what you teach me about the Man, Lord God."I7' Portions of Psalm 2 are quoted several times in the New Testa- ment as Messianic. Yet critical scholars do not consider the psalm to be Messianic, contending that it was used at the coronation of a Judean or Israelite king. Some have even held that it was used yearly at the New Year Festivai (enkitu, in Babylonian), a festival borrowed from the Babylonians. The RSV translates the Hebrew of verse 11 : "Serve the LORD with fear, with trembling kiss his feet,"Is while Beck gives: "Kiss the Son or He'll get angry and you'll perish on your ~ay."~" In the New Testament Psalm 8 is interpreted as a Messianic psalm. Modern critical scholarship considers it non-Messianic, as a psalm speaking about the dignity of man. According to the RSV, man has been made a little less than God. "Thou hast made him a little less than God" (8:s ) ."O In the Jerusalem Bible Psalm 8: 5 reads: "Yet you have made him little less than a god.""' J. M. Powis Smith in the Chicago translation has: "Yet thou hast made him but little lower than God." Beck, who accepts the New Testament's interpretation of Psalm 8 has rendered verse 5: "You made Him do without God for a little while."j2 In Psalm 45:6, the verse is used in the New Testament as a prophecy about Jesus Christ. The RSV translates this verse: "Your divine throne endures fore~er."~Vn the New Testament 111e RSV renders the passage correctly: "Thy throne, 0 God, is forever and ever." In Psalm 45:6 Beck translates: "Your throne, Gcd, is forever and ever,"" as do other critical versions against the RSV. According to Matthew 1 : 24 the virginal conception' and virgin birth of Mary's son, called Jesus, happened in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isa~ah 7:14. Matthew cites the Septuagifit text to the effect that a parthenos should conceive and give birth to a son.55 The RSV has: "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel."" Yet in tile Book of Isaiah from this text is cited the RSV, the Chicago's Anzerican trans la lion^ ~j~c Nepv Eriglish Bible, and Moffatt translate the Hebrew almah as a young woman who may or may not be married."' Critical lexicog- raphers cannot and do not accept the fact that such a birth was pre- dicted over seven hundred years before the time when it occ~lrred, nor will they accept the possibility and feasibility of its having occurred. Beck has rendered Isaiah 7: 14: "Therefore the ~ord Him- self will give you a sign: 'Look, the virqin will conceive and have a Son, and His name will be Immanuel.' ''5s The LXX, which Orlinsky has called "an authorized translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, the work of Jewish scholars," has the wordparthenos (virgin) as the translation of Hebrew almah. About A.D. 128, when the separation between the Christian church and the synagogue was final, Aquila, a Jew, substituted neanis (young woman) for pclrthel-tos. As Beck has pointed out in his essay on almnh, the latter word always implies a virgin and never in Old Testament usage means a ~narried woman." The con text of Isaiah 7 : 10-1 3 speaks about something miraculous that is to occur. God Hi~nself offered ahaz "a sign," which in the Old Testament often means a miracle, such as the fire consuming a sacxi- fice (Judges 6: 3 7-21 ) . Isaiah, as God's spokesman, tells Ahaz that he may choose a sign "from the depths below or from .the heights above," which points to an act beyond the laws of nature. God became impatient with ,4haz, when he does not accept the Lord's offer- and claims he does not want to tempt God. So God gives him the prophecy oi a remarkable future event to happen: "'Tl~ereforc the Lord Hi~nself will give you a sign: "Bellold" (here is preparation for something of great ~n~portance to be announced) "the virgin shall co1.1ce-ive." The RSV has the indefinite "a" in the text, in the footnote, and in Matthew 3.:23. The Hebrew and the Greek have ''tile'' virgin, an article which is like the demonstrati.ve "this" and points to the future mother of Immanuel, "God-with-us." She is the mother of Him whom the prophet Isaiah calls "T5'0nderfu1, Counselor, Mighty God, ~verlasting Fatiler, Prince of Peace." (Is. 9: 6). Another Messianic passage is fotlnd j.n Jeremiah 23: 5-6, which reads as follows in the 17.SV: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he sh.al1 reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteous- ness in the land. In his days Sudah wiil be saved, arld Israel wiiI dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: "The Lord is our 1-i~hteou~ne~s."" Beck believes that the latter part of verse 6 should be translated, "This is the name that He will be called, The t0R.D-our-righleousness. "c ' Another ]veil-known Messianic passage of the prophetic litera- ture is the prophecy of Micah relative to the birth place. The Sanhedrin at Christ's time believed that tlle Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of Judaea (Matt. 2:s). The RSV translates Micah 5 :2; "But you, 0 Bethlehem Ephrafhah, who are little to be among the cIans of JucIah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be der in Israel, whose ordn is from of old, from ancient days."G' ~~d in verse 5: "And thk shall be peace, ctc." This rendbn~ dms not bring out the eternity of the Messiah whose birth is predi.cted here. The American Translation of Chicago also removes t11e truth of the eternity of the Messiah in its rendition: "And you 0 Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you, one shall come forth for me, who shall rule over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient days."G" Beck: correctIy rendered the last part of verse 2: "One Who is to Rule Israel but Ige really comes from the eternal past." The beginning of verse 5 reads: "He cvill be a rllan of peace.""] The Berkeley Version of 1959 agrees with Beck, because it also translates the latter part of verse S : "His goings forth are from of old, from days of eternity."" Psalm 1 10 is the most frequently quoted Messianic psalm in the New Testament. Critical scholarship has questioned the New Testa- ment interpretation, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that David was speaking about Jesus Christ and His Melchi.zedekean priesthood. 'Fhe RSV renders verse 1 of Psalm 110 as follows: "The LORD says to my lord, "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enelnies your foot- stool."" Beck indicates his view by the way he capi.talizes the word used of the Messiah, namely the Hebrew word adon, "Lord." Thus in Beck's Bible Psalm 110: 1 reads: "The LORD said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right till I make Your enemies Your foot~tool.?'~ The N~H: Anzel-ican Standard Bible by its capitalization also indicates that it accepts the Messianic character of the psalm. In this version the text reads: "The LORD said to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet.' "Gs I The New Tsstament quotes from Zechariah 9:9; 11 : 12; 12 : 10; 13:6-7; and states that these prophecies were fulfilled in conrlection with the suffering and death of Jesus." Critical New Testament scholarship does not accept this manner of understanding of the Evangelist Zechariah, who has been called "The Prophet of Holy Week." In view of the passages appearing in the latter part of Zechariah, conservative scholars have also regarded 3 : 5-9; 6: 12; and 6: 13 as prophetic of the Messiah's ininistry. Relative to Zech- ariah 6: 13 where there is a prediction of a future mali who will be both priest and king, a prophecy fulfilled in the person of Christ, the RSV reads, beginning with verse 12: '"ll'hus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, the man whose name is the Brancl~ : for he shall grow up jn his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the tcmple of the LORD, and shall bear royal honor, arid shall sit and rule upon his throne. And there shall be a priest by his throne, and peaceful understanding shall be between them both.' "70 Beck renders the same verses: "'Tell him: The LORD of armies says, 'There will be a man whose name is Descendant- He will sprout up from where He is planted, and will build the LORD'S ten~ple and have royal majesty. He will sit and rule on His throne and be a priest on His throne. Both will be planning peace. 9 ,171 Beck brings out clearly that the Messiah would be king and priest simul- taneously. Zechariah 9:9, which, according to the four Evangelists, pre- dicted the royal entry of Christ into jerusalern, the RSV translates; "Your king comes to you triumphant and victori~us."~~ Chicago's A mericnn rr~fl,yln[io~ rerlders 9 : 9 : "L.0, your kin~ collies to you; vindicated and victorious is he."-"he Hebrew has the word Tszndik, which means "dghteous." Beck therefore has rendered this verse: (( k r our King \\:ill come to you righte~lls and vjct~riou~."'' Zectlar-jah 12: 10 predicts the fact that the enemies of Christ \vould look upon Ilirn whorii they have pierced This is the interpre- tation given by the Evangelist John in 19:37 of his gospel. The HebreiV lext, follo\ved by Beck, ,.cads: "They byill look at Me whom they have pierced.":" In the RSV Zechariah 11: 10-12 reads: "And 1 will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Serusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication? SO that, when they 1.ook on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn fox him, as one - .. ~no~~rns lor an only child," etc. '" 11-1 one of tlie last h4essianic passages i11 the Old Testament, the RSV il: hfalacl~i 3: 1 say: "The Lord \vhonl you \.\..ill seek will sud- denly cnme to His ternble; the messenger of tlie covenant in whom you deli~ht, behold. he is coming.'"' Beck makes clear the Messianic ernphasi'; in his rendering, which is as follonls: "And the LORD whom you are look.ing for \\..ill suddenl.y come 'Lo His tcmple, yes, the Angel of the covenarlt whom you delight in-Ide will colne."'" In the Book of' Proverbs chapter 8:21-32 is one of the three passages in whicll "Wisdom" is personifi.ed. In the ancient church and j11 the Refo~.n,~ation and post-Refoniiation periods "wisdonz" as here praised by Solomon was consider-ed to be Jesus Christ. According to the RSV, NEB, Moff att, Chicaco's A rner.i;.n)? Tr-cli7.slatior~, and The Jer~rsulcnz Bible, S :22 is translaGd : "'T'he Lord creatcd me at the beginning." These versions ha\:e adopt.ec'i a rendering \vliich in the. early days of Christianity was employed as a standard argument against the pl-e-existence of the Son of God by the Arians.;!' 'The word elnployed in the l-Iebre\v, cpnnh, is not the same as the bnrnlz used in Gen. 1 : I. Qnnah, as Beck has pointed out, occurs thirteen tirnes in Provcrbs in such phrases as "get ~visdorn" and the RSV translated it as "get" eight tin~cs, with "acquire" twice, and with "gain" once. Eve used the same wold whcn shc asserted: "1 have gotten by birth" (Gen. 4: 1). The words in verse 8:22 do not mean "The Lox-d created me," but "The Lord has begotten. Me,'' and thus express the eternal Sonship of the hfes~iali.~~ If one were to adopt tlie rendering that God created "Wisdom," it would raise the diificulty that God creatcd his own wisdom \vi th which he stjpposedly created the un.i- verse. God did not create His own wisdom. The KJV and Beck translations agree with what Paul. said that in Jesus "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" ((Col. 2:2-3), and Pa111 calls Jesus "the wisdom of God." ']:'he compariso~l of Proverbs 8:22-31 with .John 1: 1.-1.8 shows a nurnber of imporlafit simiJ.arjties. God js distinguished from Wisdom and the Logos respectively. Yet both Wisdom and the Logos existed before the world's beginning, both created the world (Prov. 8: 22-26; Jolln, 1 : 3, lo), both JJTisdom and the Logos love people (:Prov. 5:31; ~01~~ 3 :4-5, 9, 1.1-12, 14, 16). In distirlction from The Xcw L'rzglish Bible and ,the Psalms in Today's English Version Beck does not omit the superscriptions that are found over many of the psalms. They have been omitted in cer- tain modern translations because they are supposedly nol a part of the original text but are allegedly the first attempt of pte-Christian Jewish scholars to date the Psalms and indicate authorship. In the Hebrew manuscripts the superscriptions whenever found are treated as the first verse of the psalm. The reason the superscriptions have been rejected as inauthentic is the ascription to David o[ psalrns that contain theological concepts which, according to the critics' recon- struction of the evolution of religious ideas in Old Testament times, are later developments. For example, the belie1 in an after-life sup- posedly could not have been known in David's time, and consequen tiy a psalm referring to it would need to be laie.*' BECK AND ARJIERI('AN ENGLISI-I Beck has denominated his translation An American Traizslation, stressing that it is meant for the American pnblic; American readers were to have a translation that would reproduce the Bible in an idiom that the man on the street and in the home spoke. Beck's aim was io make available a translation that would corn~nunicate the thoughts and teachings of God's Word. In his early pastoral years at Clayton, Illinois, Dr. Beck wanted his confirmation class students to havc their memory-work Bible passages in up-to-date English that was simple and yet faithful to the original languages. The translation which he undertook for the children of his parish saw him embark on a life- long project of making the Bible available in simple and clear Ameri- can English. Beck spent years jn studying what kind of English Ianguage would be suitable for the American reader. Professor Brighton claims that Beck knew the English language and knew into what kind of Englisl~ the Bible should be translated. He spent years in researching on the street with people, in the university with books so as to know what kind of English people mostly used in every day language both in speech and written form. He studied the language of the popular magazines and newspapers. He re- searched the various dialects spoken in North America so as lo discover the idiom which was common to all. Me tested at length the results of his research and sttldies in giving out samples of his translations. Not so much to professional theo- logians, for he knew that they did not know of or use that English which was common to broad America. But to the average layman with an average education he turned for testing of his grasp of the Lingua franca Arnericanaes2 It was Beck's conviction that the RSV was not a new translation in the language of the people, that most modern versions did not fill the bill of having made the Word of God understandable in the common language of the American people. Many people have expressed their appreciation of Beck's New Testament which by December 1975 had sold over 100,000 copies and is selling at the rate of one thousand per week. Before its publi- - ** ,-I.- . L;&& -." - cation the Old 'Testament \\.as car.cil;lly read through by Dr. Schmick of Gordon-Conxeil Divinity Scllool and Dr. Erich Kiehl of Con- cordia Scnlinar):, St. ~~uis. The 01d Tcslament trarlslaiion was examined ;t;,d appro\.ed b~y the L,CMS's Commission on Churcl~ Litcrat~ire. -TIlc C)lcl ~I'cstanleni of 13eck.s 7!'1c Holy Dil~lr occupies 1/06 pages out of the tot21 of 1433 pages (the Ne\\: Testament occupies 327 pages). Bcck rcquirod many years, of caul-se? to i-cnder tile Hebrew Old Tesianlen t ir~ to modern English. It ~vas completed shortly bcfore his dearil. ?(I makc a tho~.~~sh eva!uation of Beck's Bible woulcl req11;re reading t11c ivhole transl:itior)* and cornparin? ~t assiduously n.ith the Hcbrc~v 2nd Aramaic c>ririnal tests. Such a thol-oush cc.,mpar~son \voujd take rn;tny n1onti-i~. Ohvious!y, there is 110 such tiling as a perfect iransiation. As .i!firr?r lias ~SSCI-ted abo~it Beck's translatioi;: *Thcrc \vili cll\\,avs bo honcsl clil'f'e~cnccs among scholars as to \vhiclt English \y.ortf or plliasc best I-cflecls Ll~e intent of the Grcck and Hc,bre\\.. Ho\vcver. all translations into modern English, thougi-1 var\.ing in accuracy, scrvc thc good purpose of conve),ing the LVord of ti, 2(.)th ccti1ti11-s leaclci-s. Beck's Bible is a \.aiunble iiddirion Lo tljai sro\vinS list of modern Englisl~ rrn!~slations.'~: Many \\;ill apprcciatc and value Beck's Old Testarnent tr-ansla- tion because t~e was a Chr-istian arxci I,ut!~erar~ scholar. He endeavored to be schola1.1y and at r hi: same timc iaithful to thc test. He was well versed in the area of Old Testament and Semitic studies (including Ugaritic and Dead Sea SCI-011s) ant1 er-ideavol-cd to give English- speaking Clli.istians a translation. tha~ avoided and rcjectcd rhc anti- supcrtiaturalist~c bias that has 11ccn rcflectcd in somc of the modern translations. Orlc of thc criticisins that may be made against Beck's Old rreslanlcnt trarlsialion is that it js not always literal but seerns to be pal-apilrasc. It might be pl-ofifablc for 1.1:~ users of the Beck Old Testament to r-cad and digcst his articles e.ntitled: "A L..iteral Trans- lation"" and "The Translati~n of' Meaning."" ReIaIaiive .to thic matter Beck wrote, "Some men with. a fine loyalty to Gocl's Word insist that we must translate literally, substituting English words and structures for the Hebre\i, and Greck originals.)' There are passages where the nurnber of ivords in [he Hebrew can be rendered ~lith less in English. Tn Ezekiel 519 t11er.e are ten words irl Hebrew that. can be i-cndcrcd with tw:, .English words, "something unique." In Ezekiel 8:5 there are five Hebrew words wl~iclj the RSV translates with clever1 English words, "Lift you: eyes now in the direction of the north," which can be r-enciered, "Look north," and nollling wjil be lost by such a trans- lation. Accordkg to Beck a translation has been stlccessful only when it produces the thought the author wjshed to convcv. A word for word rendering sometimes is meaningless. For exampie, in Genesis 21 5, if the verse were rendered literally, it ~~0Llld j-ca(I, a son of a hundred years." Beck translated, "And Abraham a hundred when his son Isaac was born." In translation from one language to another there is sonletinles a loss of meaning because there are 110 absolute eqilivalen[j Jn any two languages. "Many words have a great variety of meanings, and some of them pass from one shade of meaning fo another in a baffling way." For example, the Hebrew word shalom can meal1 L ( peace," "friendship." A good Hebrew dictionary gives long columns of different meanings depending on the context. T1lose who insist on literal translation are guilty of two faults acco~-ding. lo Beck. While it may look accurate. it often fails to give the meaxllng and it may give even a wrong meaning. A nlcre substitution of words produces less than the Word of God and even falsifies it. Tt betrays meaning. A literal rendering of Gen. 6: 13 would be: "?'he cntl ol all flesh is come up before me." This is the way I'he Xeu. Amel-icmz Standard Bible has it."' Just what does that mean? Beck rendered: "I have decided th2.t everybody must die." Or take another exa~nple from Genesis; a phrase in 35:7 is rendered as "the God of Betllel" by the KJV and RSV. But the true meanin3 is: "the God who ap- peared at Bethel." The ordinary reader, when he comes across the expression "water of impurity," a literal rendering of the Hebr-ew text, would think Moses was describing muddy or dirtv water. But the context shows it means "water used to cleansc ihpurity." In Ezekiel 3:7 the KJV describes the house of Israel as "impudent and hard-hearted." In today's English hard-hearted is tile equivalent of being cruel, but the Hebrew describes the Jews as stubborn and Beck appropriately translates "All people of Israel are very determined and stubborn." In Hosea 14:2 the KJV states: "Receive us graciously and we will render the calves of our lips." For the modern reader that is a strange rendering to encounter. ''We wjll rendel- the calves of our lips!" What does it mean? What it means is, "wc will praise him with our lips." BECK'S PR~NCII'LES OF ?'RAXSLA.I-ION In setting forth the principles that must he follo\i;ed by a transla- tor Beck correctly claims that "the function of words is mcaniilg. When a literal interpreter fails to convey the meaning, he robs the text of function." To the extent that a translator fails to give the true meaning, to that degree 11e has irot given the meariing of God's Word.s7 It was Beck's contention that a study of Luther as translator reveals that in edition after edition the Reforiner moved away from the literal reproduction to the production of the meaning. He was posed to a slavish literalism. Structure cannot be transferred. Only e function of Iiebrew and Greek words can be transferred. He serted: ''We mEst melt down the original structure in order to get e total meaning and reproduce that in the English str~lcture."~"Scck xpiained this process by this analogy; We can have no honey without wax cells, but to transfer the honey we must melt the wax, separate the wax from the Iloney, and lea\-e the n.ax bellind. Or 10 use another picture, the 0ng- inal texl is the cup into lyllicll God has poured His truth. God does no1 c.xpect 11s to drink rtlc cup. but only the wine in the cup. For English az cannot use liic cup of ihe or-iginal test, but we 111ust ooilr [!re :rut], fro", illc $old crlp of the . origi~ial .,, test into thc sji'vcr cup held bt. ttl~ 11a11js of our pe~,pIe.'~ Beck claims tilat t~c is inl, [riling Lutller.s methodology, who ckclal-ed that v,-licn translatins the Old Tcstalnent he cndeavol:ed to make it so German that the German rcadcr lvoufd not believe a J'ew was speak- ing to him. So ;in ;\mcrica~l transI;,tt~~- must make the Old 7-entanlent so American that the .Anlcrican r-eader ~vould not SUS~~CL that is reading a translation. Rut wbal is ihc j . ;r freer translation and vcl-ha1 inspiration'? U.t,ilc [hi: Bible 1c;lclli.s vc.rba1. inspiration. it jlnplies at tile siinie time ;In inspiralion of cnsc and meaning. Beck contends; ''Vcrhnl inipira~ioii nlcnni il~c ii~spiration of the words PIUS the con- textual r.ciatiorls c;t. ~~ICSL\ OIIC to ariothe!:. The whole COIIICX~ is as inspired ;IS tilt ~\.ords rll:li carry it. And a violntion of this con- textual meaning is ah [II~~CI~ ;\ \.iol;ltiol~ of verbal inspirai;ion as the rnisrcpr-csentatibn of \t.orc!,"!"' In F:zckicl 1 8 : 7 the KJV translates the Hebre\v litcrally: '.-I'fia! ]lath !rtkon ofT his hand from the poor . . ." In rnodcrn Englis!~ ..ro take thc t~and oH the poor'' would mean refusc Eurt1lc.1. l~clp. But Beck has, "kceps his hand from hurting the i~oor," 2,iviny thc inttndcd rr-icai;ing (,I[ ~llc vcrse. In llle sarnc chaj>ler ~zekicl~spcak ;~bc,ut Isrncliles. accord in_^ to the KJV, as not ''eatin? on the llills" (t,~.. 6. ! 1. i j. "1i;it;np L on the hills'. does not refer to what the \\.orcis scenl lo su). ~LIL rllciinh ~~jTci.ing up sacrifices at: the shriiles oi' thc pagan iclols Iocatcci on he hills. Beck, ther.efor-e, trans- lated: "It ;I rnan is rigf~tcotls hc \%-ill do what is right. he will not feast at thc hill-shrines and honor Isracl's idols" (1S:5). In Ezekiel 3,:s the j'hrasc "J raiscd rnv ha:~d" r;>c:ln.; "1 s\vore.'' It \{,as I..ur!~tlr \v!io OIXL' sttiil : "The meaning does not serve the worcis, but I~C words ';C~VC I tlr: ~mcilnj~~o," (IVaIch, XXIb :2212- 22 13 1. 'I'ransllition docs IIOL nrcrcly involv-i thc substitulion oi Eng- lish wol-ds for thc Hebrciv. Aran~aic, (->I- Greek of the Bible. By ]jot proclucing a slavish litcrttl translation of the original, the tl-anslator is not guilty of p~iraphrasing tlic Bible as 7'he Living Bible does. In. a good translation the true meaning is reproduced; nothing is added to the intendcd mcaning of thc tcxt. But in a paraphrase irllerpretatio~~ is addccf to ihc intended n~caning. Beck clain~s there is a difference betwccn a free translation :hat accurately reproduces what thc author inte~ded to convey and the amplificatio~~ of the translation. 'I'o illustrate, u iitcral trarlsiation i~iiglli be: "Tile love of Gocl is iipon you." A faithful 2nd good translation wou!d be: ';God loves you." To render the sarne as "The Holy God loves you" would he a para- phrase, because "holy" is not in the original. assertion. Many readers and users of Dr. Beck's New Testament transla- tion were displeased with it because he departed from the classical style of the KJV, which for many seems to be a necessity for a Bible in English. This criticism was answered by Dr. Beck in his article, -- ..-- -#. *w "The Living Word."" 'The. power of God's ?irord is not fourld in its outward form. but in its meaning. That is why we can change its form from Hebrew and Greek into English; as long as we have the exact meaning, we have its living power. "If we don't get that meaning, the p0we.r is Iost. If the Word of God comes in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin to pcople who talk English, it loses its power."" When children, young people, and adults read a version of Scripture that does not adequately communicate, they cannot experience the power ol God's Word. In his first Corinthian epistIe Paul declares: "When 1 came to you fellow Christians, I didn't come to tell you God's truth with any extra-fine speech or wisdorn. While I was with you, T was determined to know only Jesus Christ and Him nailed on the cross . . . When 1 spoke and preached, I didn't use clever talk to persuade you, but I let the Spirit and His power prove the truth to you, so that your faith will not depend on men's wisdom but on Cod's p~wer."~' The Bi.ble speaks of tile Word as a hammer breaking a rock in pieces (Jer-. 23:29), or as "the Spirit's sword" (Eph. 6: 17). The author of Hebrews asserts: "God's Word lives and is active. It cuts better than any two-edged sword. It pierces till it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow. And it can judge thoughts and purposes of the heart."".' Beck claims that God's Word has no need to 'be dec- orated arid quotes Augustine to this effect: "Tt is one of the distinctive features of good intellects r?ot to love words but the truth in words." One is incli.ned to agree with this judgment of Beck: Now the scabbard may be decorated with gold and glittering with jewels but it is the drawn sword that is In the hands of the Spjrit. When we lay aside artificialities, we may think wc'rc los- ing something, but we gain by letting the truth act, not in any borrowed form, but by itself. We don't want people to say, "How lovely!" but to feel the sharp edge and then be healed."" In the tl~ree-year lectionary prepared by the Inter-Lutheran Cor~~mission on worship, these is usually a selection for each Sunday and holy day from theold Testament. The selections are from the RSV. Before reading them the pastor ought: to compare them with such conservative traxlslations as The Holy Bible: The New Berkeley Version, The New Americctn S1andaj.d Bible, and .Beck's An Ameri- can Ti-arzslatr'on. With the appearance of a number of recent transla- tions of the :Bible which all translate the Bible from the original languages, a pr-obIem arises. To choose between the various render- ings when they differ ilecessitates that pastors use the 3ibl.e jn the original langt~ages. All seminary graduates have heen rcquired to take Greek. Unfortunately, not all pastors have been rcquired to take Hebrew. Those who Elad the opportunity ought to consult the original and those who could not or chose not to take Hebrew will possibly be inspired to study fiebrew so that they also can go to the fontes. While one may disagree with Beck on some of his renderings, it would be regrcttablc not to avail oneself of this translation, which Pastor Otten is making available in two editions, a paperback and a Bcck's Oicl Testament 3 3 -- -- . .- hardbound edition at practically cost price. May the Beck translation help many people to experience the power of God's inspired Word! We must agree with the conclusion of the report of the Bible Version Committee entitled Comparative Strrdy oj: Bible Translations and Paraphrases: "I. No version is perfect. 2. No version is inade- quate in evcry passage. 3. Some versions need to be used with greater caution than others. 4. Competence in the Biblical languages is in- dispensable in judging a ver~ion,"~~ FOOTNOTES Louis Brighton, "A Prince in Israel Has Fallen,.. I;rrtlre~.alz Novs, No- vcmber 28, 1966. CF. Ronald Bridges and Luther Weigie, TIZC Bible Wo1.d Book. Co1zcer.11- in!: OOsoZete or Archnic Wortis iri tlre King Janzes Vel-siorz of rlze Bible (New Yosk: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1960), 422 pages. Melvin E. Elliott, Tire Langrtage oj rile King Jn?nc.s Bible. A Glossau Explaining Its Words and Expt.essiotls (Garden City, N. Y., 1967), 225 pages. Luther A. Weigie, Bible Words That Have Changed in Meaning (New York: Thomas Nelson 6: Sons, 1955), 36 pages. Luther A. Weigle, and Mernbe1.s of the Revision Committee, Atz 1rlfr.o- ductiorl fo !It(! Rc~.,isccl Sranda,zl Versiorz of the Old Testanzent (New Yolk: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1952), pp. 41-55. J. Philip Hyatt, "Archaeology and Translation in the Old Testament," Ibid., pp. 41-48. Brighton, "A Prince Has Fallen," op. cit., I-eprinted in 'The C111.isticrrz Arcl~!s, Dec. I, 1975, p. 13. The Living Bible. Paraphrased (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Pub- lishers, 1971 ), 1020 pp. William F. Beck. "We Need a Good Bible. A Critiaue of the RSV." L11thet.c;~ /\'c~kv.s, March 6, 1967; reprinted in The! ~ltrisfian Ncws, Dec. 1, 1975, p. 13. William Beck, [bid. Weigle, An Intr~oiirictiorz to the Xevisc~tl Stnndard Ver.siorz, op. cit., p. 27. J. Moffatt, A !\!en) Tt.cltzslatiotz oj tile Bible (New York and London: Har- per and Brothers Publishers, 1922), p. xix. W. A. Irwin, "An Examination of the Progress of Thought in the Dialogue of Job," Tire Jounzal of Religion, Xlll (193 l), pp. 150-160. J. Muilcnberg, "The History of the ReIigion of Israel," The Intcrper~ter's Bible (Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1952), p. 322. W. E. Albsight, From fhe Stone Age ro Chrisliutlity (Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1940), pp. 210, 282-286. G. D. Young, "The Revised Standar-d Version of the Old Testament, "Tlze Surzday Scl7ool Times, October 25, 1952. Reck, "We Need a Good Bible," op. cir. Oswald T. Allis, Reviscad Vci.siotz 01. Revised Bible.? (Philadelphia: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1955), p. 6. L. H. Brockington, The Hebrew Tcxr of the Olrl Tcstan:ent (London: The Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, 1973), 269 pages. Beck, "We Need a Good Bible," op. cit. Ralph W. Klcin, Textual Criticisrtz of the Old l'estarnenr. Fro111 ~JZC Septu-. rrgint to Qunzrali (Philadelphia: 'The Fortress Press, 1974), p. 83. Ibid. p. 83. M. Orlinsky, "The Use of the Versions in Translating the Holy Scriptures," Religiorts Education, July-Au y st 1952, pp. 257-258. 22. Willianl F. Beck, Tlrc Holy Biblc, AIL Amer-icnlz Tt.alzslatio!l. (New Haven: Leader Publishing Company, 1975), p. 4. 23. Tllc Ilil>le: Air A~nericun Tt~ctrzslaiio~z, The 0I.d Tcsral?~ent (Chicago: 'The University of Chicago Press, 193 I), p. 7. 24. Tllc New Eilglislr Bible will1 tile Apocrypha (Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970), p. 4. 25. Beck, Tile Holy Bible, p. 4. 26. Alfred Rahlfs, ed., Septuagiirttr (Stuttgart: Wiirtembergische Ribelanstalt, 1950, Editio Quarta), 1, p. 5. 27. Edwarcl Mack, The Clrr-ist of the Old Testamenr (Richmond, Virginia: PI-esbyterian Committee of Publication, 1926), pp. 42-43. 28. Neck, l'hc Holy IIiDle, p. 9. 39. I'l~e Holy Biblc. Cotztnini~lg Old und New Testczrncr-rr.~. Rcr'iseci Stalrr(ar.tl Vet.siolz (New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1952), p. 7. 29a. Mack, op cit. p. 48. 30. Ibitl., pp. 48-49. 3 1. Tlre Revisecl Srarrdu!zl Ver.siorr, op. cit., p. 15. 32. Heck, The Holy Bible, p. 23. 33. Ihitl., New 7'csln1?reizt, p. 237. 34. Tlle Kcviscd Statlduid Versio~l, p. 860. 35. Beck, The Holy Bible, p. 23. 3 6. Beck, "We Need A Gooci Bible," op. cit., p. 14. 37. 1'11e Kc\>i.~cd Stundurd Version, p. 39. , E 38, l'llc Jct.usulem Bible (New York: Doubleday & Company, Tnc., Garden ) City, New York, 1966), p. 74. 39. Smith and Goodspeed, An Amcl-ican T~.anslatiow, p. 87. 40. Beck, Tllc Holy Bible, p. 40. i 41. Smith and Goodspeed, An Arneticut~ Tmnslatioll, p. 255. 42. Beck, The Holy Bible, p. 183. 43. I