their secret parts. Nor does any variation of the word ever convey such a meaning; neither is it applied to the women, as it is in the common translation. Will the Reviewer favor his readers with the true translation and application of this passage, so as to obviate the objectionable reading; or will he contend that modesty is still to be put to the blush by such passages, the sense of which, in the common version, is not contained in the original Hebrew? This critic talks about the Talmud, and says that I "refer to it when it suits my purpose." I do not know that I have any other "purpose," except truth; but why did not this gentleman, who pretends to be conversant with things which (as will be seen) he does not understand, refer to the Targum for the ancient meaning of the sacred writer on this subject? He has indeed copied the Latin translation of the Chaldee of Onkelos in the Targum, and this he passes off for an accurate translation and knowledge of the Chaldee; and here ends his Targum learning. In exposing the presumption and ignorance of this Reviewer, I have also another object in view; which is to show, that the following passage, Gen. ii. 21. is in the new translation rendered agreably to the Hebrew, and to the Chaldee translation of Onkelos in the Targum. Consequently all the translations, which stand opposed to these undeniable authorities, are literally copied from the translation of the Latin version as it stands in the Targum, by the improper application to "the flesh" of the man; and which has induced this critic to lay it before his readers as the true translation of the Chaldee of Onkelos. I shall now proceed to show that he, who has quoted the Latin version for the literal translation of the Chaldee, is ignorant of the grammar of the Hebrew and the Chaldee. The following is the translation of the Hebrew into the Chaldee, as it stands in the text of Onkelos in the Targum, ורמא יי אלהים שנתא על אדם ולמיך ונסיב חדא מעלעוהי ומלא בשרא תחותה Vurma Yeyah Elohyim shanta gnal Adam vulmoke: vinsib chada meegnilgnohi; vumlee bisra techotah: which is thus translated into Latin in the Targum: Et injecit Dominus Deus soporem in Adam et dormivit et tulit unam de costis ejus, et replevit carne locum ejus; and thus translated in the common version: And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. : The first word I shall notice in the text of Onkelos, is лW shanta, which he substitutes for the interpretation of the Hebrew word tardeemah, rendered in the common version a deep sleep. But the Chaldee word N shanta, embraces no such meaning as a deep sleep; whether it be taken from the Chaldee word NW shana, under which root it is found, or from the Hebrew shanah, it has the same signification, to alter, to change. See Dan. vii. 19, diverse-ch. vi. 7, changed-ch. ii. 21,-vi. 11, alter -Jer. ii. 36.-ch. lii. 33.-1 Kings xiv. 2.-Psa. 34. title. So that the Chaldee translation of the word П tardeemah, by NA shanta, to change, perfectly agrees with my translation of the word tardemah, which I have rendered an inactive state; a state different from that state of perfection in which Adam was created. A change had taken place in him; he became inactive, or disconsolate; he began to lose his dependence on his Maker, because he saw, when all the creatures passed before him, that they were male and female, and therefore it is said, But for Adam, there was not found a help meet for him. The next word in the text of Onkelos is vunseeb; it is the literal translation into Chaldee, of the Hebrew Пp vayikkach, rendered in the common version, and he took; which, agreably to idiom, means also the reciprocal action he brought, as I have shown, where the same word, both consonants and vowels, is so translated in the common version, Numb. xxiii. 28. See also Targum of Onkelos, on Gen. xviii. 5, where the paraphrast is regular in rendering the Hebrew verb p kechah, to bring; pre אסב פתא דלחמא serving the reciprocal action agreably to idiom Eseb pitaa delachmaa, and I will bring a piece of bread., See also the Targum of Jonathan on 1 Kings xvii. 10, sabi kegnan li zeegneer mayaa, BRING now for me a little water. The Chaldee word which is chosen by Onkelos for the interpretation of the Hebrew word mitsalgnothao, rendered in the common version, his, ribs, is my meegnilgnohi, which comes from the radix y long, to swallow, for support. See Prov. xx: 25, devoureth-Obad. 16. swallow. So that the interpretation, which Onkelos gives to the word mitsalgnothao, is helps, aids, supports; and not ribs,, as in the common version. This is in perfect agreement with y tseelung, in its root, which means to lean, to halt, to rest, Gen. xxxii. 31, 32-Mich. iv. 6, 7— Zeph. iii. 19; and so it is applied to mean side, as the eastern people when they halt, or rest, generally lie on the side, to renew their strength, and thus acquire support. So that agreably to the interpretation of Onkelos, this word means all the variety of aids, or supports, which man was to derive from woman in a married state. It then is in agreement with the 18th verse, where it is expressly said, I will make a help meet for him. To give him those helps or supports, the want of which help had necessarily brought him into a state contrary to that in which he was created, and for this reason it is said, It is not good that the man should be alone. ומלא בשרא,The last clause of this verse in the Targumis vumlee bisra techotah; which is the literal translation of the Hebrew 10" vayisgor baasaar tachtenah, rendered in the common version, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. of the Hebrew The Chaldee word cumlee, means to fill, to replenish. And the word n techotah, which is the Chaldee translation tachtenah, rendered in the common verrefers to the subject under consideration, It is a reference to the substantive y gneezer, a help, the woman, in the 18th verse; viz. I will make a help, i. e. a woman; and to achath, one, viz. and he brought ONE, i. e. the woman, in the same proposition in this 21st verse. The 19th and 20th verses are to be read parenthetically, as the subject of the creation of the woman is suspended, and resumed in this 21st verse. The word techotah, therefore, having a feminine termination in immediate connexion with NW bisra, flesh, shows that Onkelos applied this word to the generation of the human race, and not to the flesh of the man, as in the application of the word ejus, which has been followed in the English, and in other translations. This last clause of the Chaldee of Onkelos reads-Thus he replenished flesh under her, or subject to her, as the mother of all living. The passage plainly signifies what the fact proves; God had ended all his work, his creation ceased on the sixth day, and he planted life in the first created mother, to be communicated for the birth of all flesh. Some there are indeed, who, contrary to the grammar of the language, will say, that the feminineha, is once used as a masculine pronoun. But this is inconsistent with the rationale of the grammar of the language. Thus agreably to the feminine termination of the word tachtenah, also with the Chaldee translation of Onkelos, the greatest of all authorities except Scripture, so admitted by all the Rabbies since his time; it is evident that he applied the word techotah, i. e. under her, to the woman, and not to the closing up of the flesh of the man. This being the true translation, it cannot, consistently with the Hebrew, or with the Chaldee, mean that a rib was taken from the body of Adam to make Eve, or that God closed up the flesh of the man, because, as observed, the word techotah, has no masculine termination to authorise the translation but that the clause which Onkelos translates, thus he replenished flesh under her, evidently refers, as the Hebrew does, to that order which God established for the creation of the human race. Here I shall close my remarks on the assertions of this writer; assertions which, the learned reader will see, are made in ignorance both of the Hebrew and Chaldee languages. But I cannot quit this subject without observing, that as the English language seems to have arrived at its ultimate degree of perfection, and as the Hebrew language is now far better understood than it ever was at any other period since the dispersion of the Hebrews; if the incorrect readings in the common version are observed, every man who wishes to see the English Bible speak agreably to the original, will be convinced that there is an absolute necessity for a speedy revision. And what confirms this the more, is the opinion of the most learned Hebrew scholars that ever this country produced, who have left their testimony on the necessity of a revision. Their names I have given in the preface. All parties now appear to be sensible that this most important work ought to be done, and that the people ought to have the word of God pure. The necessity of this cannot be more obvious than it is at this very moment, when deistical publications, containing numerous selections of contradictions from the common version, are circulating throughout the kingdom. If the circulation of these pernicious publications be stopped by the interference of government, this will not satisfy the great majority of the people; it will only make them the more earnest to know whether these things be so, and if not, to know what is the truth. That the objections brought forward in this formidable manner, are false and groundless, I aver, without the fear of a contradiction; and it is only by a literal translation from the original Hebrew, that such objections as are (I am sorry to say) made on the ground of the present translation, can be finally done away. If there be any among the clergy, or among the ministers of dissenting congregations, or among the people, who will presume to affect a kind of indifference or contempt for so desirable an object as that of a national revision of the Word of God, such men can be friends neither to the government, to religion, to the Bible, to good order among the people, nor to posterity. Nay those, who declare themselves averse from a literal translation of the Scripture, when it is shown, as in these pages, that the present translation stands opposed in so many instances to the original Hebrew, may tremble at the application of that passage: Mark vii. 13, Making the word of God of none effect, through your tradition which ye have delivered; and many such like things do ye. The necessity of a new revision cannot be better stated than it is by one of the learned Clergy, who observes, in a pamphlet addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Pamphleteer of February last" It cannot have escaped your Lordship, that the Roman Catholics, the Dissenters, and the Unitarians, are at this time separately employed in producing new translations of the Scriptures, and that they do not pursue their labors without attacking the integrity of our authorised copy, and challenging our church to produce men sufficiently acquainted with oriental learning, either to defend our own version, or to compile a correct one." Therefore, as there is no want of ability to produce a more correct translation, it is devoutly hoped that those, who have the management of truths of such vast importance, will not suffer themselves to be charged with torpid selfishness in withholding the purity of the original Hebrew, the pure stream of Siloa, "which flows fast by the oracle of God." Notwithstanding the unmerited abuse, which this writer has heaped on me, as "vanity, arrogance, and presumption;" I disclaim having said in any part of my writings, that I only am capable of giving a perfect translation. I have been laboring at this work during twenty-one years, with a design to adduce such facts, as may induce the Clergy to come forward, and to second the laudable efforts of those learned men whom I have quoted, who have left their testimony concerning the necessity of a new revision. For however accurately any person might translate, it is the congregated body of the Clergy only, that can give energy to the reception of a NATIONAL REVISION OF SCRIPTURE.' EMENDATIONES BENTLEII IN OVIDIUM. II.-[Vid. No. XXXVII. p. 177.] HEROID. EPIST. XIV. 4. piam] pia [ut N. H.] 14. es-piam] est MS. D.-pia. 18. ossa] MSS. orsa recte. 22. MSS. D. et R. pars lucis primaque noctis. recte: cf. 77. 23. templa―tyranni] tecta-Pelasgi [ut V.] 36. audibam] audieram [ut V.] 'We shall readily insert any temperate observations, either on the preceding article, or on criticisms on Mr. Bellamy's work.—En. |