Full Text for A Comparison of the King James and the Douay Version, part 1 (Text)

t I I ' A. V.: burnt offerings] and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord" (Vulgate: victimas pacijicas,' A. V.: peace-offerin2:s). In Ex. 8,17 we are told that Moses "struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs [A. V.: lice] on men and beasts." Ps. 120 is called "a gradual canticle" CA. V.: song of degrees). Note: The Douay number Psalms 9 and 10 as one psalm; hence after the 9th Psalm the numbering differs from the King James Version. Thus we might expect to find only 149 psalms in the Douay, but neverthe- less there are 150, since Ps. 147 is given as two psalms (1-11 and 12-20). The 23d Psalm will present a good example of the English employed by the Douay. It reads: - "The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment; he hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name'~ sake. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. Thou hast prepared a table before me, against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inehriateth me, bow goodly is it. And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto the length of days." (Ps. 22.) Matt. 5,29 we read: "If thy right eye scandalize [A. V.: offend] thee, pluck it out." So "scandalize" is used in Matt. 18, 6: "But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me," etc. In v.7 of the same chapter we read: "Woe to the world because of 22 A Comparison of the King James and the Douay Version. scandals." The daily bread in the Lord's Prayer is called the "super- substantial" bread. :M:att. 6, 22: "If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome. 23. But if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be darksome." When Elizabeth brought forth her son, "the neighbors and kinsfolk congratulated with her" (Vulgate: congratulabantur ei " A. V.: rejoiced with her), Luke 1, 58. According to the Douay Ver- sion, Paul exhorts 1 001'. 5, 7: "Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste." John 19,14: "And it was the parasceve of the pasch a, about the sixth hour" (Vulgate: parasceve Pa-schae; A. V.: preparation of the passover). Matt. 26, 17: "And on the first day of the Azymes [Vulgate: die azymorum " A. V.: unleavened bread] the disciples came to Jesus." Acts 20, 17: "And sending from :M:iletus to Ephesus, he [Paul] called the ancients [Vulgate: maiores " A. V. : elders] of the church." May this suffice on the literary side; after all, this is only of secondary importance. Every new translation of the Sacred Scriptures is of vital interest to the Ohurch, primarily in order that the Ohurch may know whether the thoughts and words of the original text are carefully, honestly, and correctly rendered. A translation, to be justified in laying claim to being a translation, must bring the exact meaning of the original, without interpolation, addition, or distortion. It must be unbiased in doctrine; it dare not have a pet doctrinal ax to grind. A trans- lation must be truthful; it must bow to the words and statements as penned by the holy writers. The relation of a translation to the original must be borne in mind. The Bible was not intended for the Greek and Hebrew nations alone. Nor are Greek and Hebrew scholars the only ones in whose possession the sacred treasures of Scripture are to remain. The Word of God is intended to be read by all nations and tongues. Holy Scripture is given to the world in a great variety of languages with a great variety of letters and sounds, so that the sacred truth approaches each one in his native tongue in an appropriate rela- tion to his understanding. On Pentecost the Holy Spirit caused the apostles to declare the heavenly truth to the people present in the languages understood by them, even as they said: "'-IVe do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God," Acts 2, 11. Thus every faithful translation of Scripture is a means of conveyance of the divine truth to those who hear or read it. In the words of Dr. Pieper: "Die U ebersetzungen haben nul' deshalb und insofern Autoritaet, als sie den Grundtext wiedergeben. AIle U ebersetzungen muessen es sich gefallen lassen, dass sie immer von neuem daraufhin geprueft werden, ob sie mit dem Grundtext uebereinstimmen. . . . Was in griechischer Sprache Gottes Wort ist, das ist auch in deutscher oder englischer Sprache Gottes Wort, insofern del' deutsche oder eng- lische Text eine wirkliche U ebersetzung des griechischen Taxtes ist." (Ohristliche Dogmatik, I, 417.418.420.) We see: This fact is so A Comparison of the King James and the Douay Version. 23 compelling that the knowledge of the ancient languages has never been made a condition in the Ohristian Ohurch for entry into the ministry. Dr. A. T. Robertson, who at the time of his recent death was probably the greatest authority on New Testament Greek grammar, says: "It ought to be taken for granted that the preacher has his Greek Testament. This statement will be challenged by many who. excuse themselves for making no effort to know the Greek New Testa- ment. I do not say that every preacher should become an expert in his knowledge of the New Testament Greek. That cannot be ex- pected. I do not affirm that no preacher should be allowed to preach who does not possess some knowledge of the original New Testament. I am opposed to such a restriction. But a little is a big percentage on nothing, as John Broadus used to say. This is preeminently true of the Greek New Testament." (The Minister and His Greelc New Testament, p. 15.) Dr. Robertson is far from advocating that ministers should make no. effort in the direction of learning to read the Bible in the original languages; in fact, he uses some rather hard expressions against those who do not keep up their knowledge, or make no effort in gain- ing a knowledge, of these languages. He does say, however, that with the aid of reliable translations one may be able to preach the Gospel of Ohrist. How this is possible Dr. Pieper explains when he says: "Wir stehen Val' del' Tatsache, dass unter den allgemein bekannten Bibeluebersetzungen keine einzige sich findet, in der nicht die christ- liche Lehre in allen Teilen zum Ausdruck kaeme und die ihr entgegen- stehenden Irrtuemer verworfen waeren. Das triHt auch zu in bezug auf die Vulgata del' roemischen Kirche. Das ipsa conteret caput tuum del' Vulgata, 1 Mos. 3, 15, wird abgewiesen durch die richtige IT ebersetzung der vielen Stellen, in denen Ohristus als del' einzige En'etter von Suendenschuld und Tod gelehrt ist. . . . Auch die Recht- fertigung allein durch den Glauben, ohne des Gesetzes Werke bringt die Vulgata klar zum Ausdruck Roem. 3, 28 .... Wer in einer Dispu- tation mit Papisten disputandi causa sich auf den Vertrag einlaesst .. dass die Vulgata zugrunde gelegt werden solI, behaelt damit noch immer eine WaHe in del' Hand, womit er den Gegner siegreich ueber- winden kann." (Ohr. Dogm., I, 419.) A translation is a commentary. A translator does not merely transliterate the letters and syllables, transmute sounds, or give word for word foreign words and idioms. No one would say that we no longer possess the authentic Word of God in the Old Testament because the present text is written in the square Aramaic characters and not in the ancient Hebrew script, a variety of the Phenician such as that used in the Siloam inscription or the Maccabean coins. On the contrary, the translator ascertains the sense, the idea, and then gives expression to that idea, the sense, in the most precise and appropriate way possible. It is admitted that close literal translations 24 A Comparison of the King James and the Douay Version. are sometimes misleading and worse than loose paraphrasing. 1.{uch of the beauty of Luthel"s version is to be found in his happy way of putting the thoughts of the original into idiomatic German in a manner as though the original writers had spoken German. The 23d Psalm is a good example. Thus Luther translates the answer that the apostles gave Jesus when He had asked them, Luke 22, 35 : "\Vhen I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes, lacked ye any- thing?" "Nie keinen." In the German: "Habt ihr je Mangel ge- habH Sie sprachen: Nie keinen." It was a compelling question, and it demanded a forceful answer, and Luther knows how to put it into German. The original uses the word oudenos, none, not one. A double negative has its place in German (Thomas's Pmctical Ger- man Grammar, p. 371 b; also Grimm' 8 Dictionwry, sub 7cein); but a double negative is not in the original, neither would it do in English. No one, hovvever, would accuse Luther of taking liberties with the sacred text by the way he translated the apostles' answer. It is a valuable asset in any pastor's library to hilVA V:1l'iOU8 ver- sions and translations. I would call attention to the translations of the British and American revisers of 1881. No doubt the Revised Version is a better translation than the Authorized Version from the standpoint of literal rendition; yet it, too, has some objectional features, and it lacks the quaint charm and grace of the King James Version. "Jehovah is my Shepherd" in the R. V. will not easily dis- place "The Lord is my Shepherd" in the A. V. It is a sad error when the R. V., for instance, makes Job say: "Then without (min) my flesh shall I see God," Job 19, 26, in the preferred reading. Other translations of more or less merit are those by Young, Rotherham, Moulton, Moffatt, Montgomery, Weymouth, the Twentieth Oentury New Testament, the American Translation by J. M. P. Smith and Goodspeed. Scholarly as they are, they are full of many strange and objectional features. Even the Jewish Publication Society issued a new translation of the Old Testament in 1917. It is interesting to read in its preface "that the Jew cannot afford to have his Bible translation prepared for him by others" and then to note its bias in translation. It translates Is. 9, 5 (6): "For a child is born unto us, a son is given unto us; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom." In a footnote the enlightening comment is made: "That is, Wonderful in counsel is God the },flighty, the Everlasting Father, the Ruler of Peace." A translation is a commentary; if it comes from the pen of a Jew, a Modernist like Smith and Moffatt, or a Oatholic, we may make up our minds to find support therein for their own peculiar beliefs. If the text is too compelling, we may be prepared to find footnotes that are to set the reader right. It is a precious quality III a translator to treat the text objectively. Des Moines, Iowa. (To be concluded.) GEO. A. W. VOGEL.