In the Common Version there
are many passages scattered throughout the Bible, that from one cause
and another are misunderstood. Some are mistranslated, others are
invariably misquoted; others again are wrongly punctuated; and so from
various causes the truth is obscured. I have thought that it would be
profitable to notice some of these defects and correct them if
possible, hence this article; others may appear from time to time.
We will look at some
passages in the Psalms and then at one or two in The New Testament.
The first one to which I
would call attention is Psa. 7:11; "God judgeth the righteous and
God is angry with the wicked every day." So it reads in the
common version, but so it ought not to read. The correct reading
is just the opposite, viz., "God is a righteous judge and He
is not angry always." So Young renders it, so also the
Vulgate, Septuagint an Syriac. The original word for God is very
similar to the word for not. El means God; al
means not; in the original there is not so much difference as in the
English, as the vowels are very nearly alike. Doubtless these two words
became confused and thus the error occurred; the corrected rendering
agrees perfectly with such passages as Psa. 103:8,9; Isa. 57:16; Mic.
7:18,19.
The next passage I would
call attention to is Psa. 9:17; "The wicked shall be turned into
hell and all the nations that forget God." It is commonly
understood that the word "hell" here means the place of future
punishment; but this view cannot be true, for the original word is sheol,
equivalent to hades in the New Testament, and means the grave.
It is the same place that Christ went to when he died, see Psa. 16:10;
compare Acts 2:27,31, N.V.*
With this view of the word hell what is the force of the passage?
"The wicked shall be turned into the grave;" What is the
special point in making that declaration, since we know that all,
the righteous as well as the wicked, shall go down into the grave? there
is no special point to it; the translation is incorrect; the correct
rendering is as follows: "The wicked shall turn back to the grave
all the nations that forget God." It will be noticed that in the
common version the word "and" is in italics, indicating that
it is not in the original. I suppose that it is understood by the
readers of this paper that words in italics in the common version are
not in the original but are supplied by the translators to make out, or
help out, the sense. These have no authority excepting the opinion or
judgment of the translator: we have a right to ignore them, or
substitute other words in their place, if the context or other
scripture, or common sense warrants it. Usually these supplied words are
judiciously inserted and help to make the sense clear; but not
unfrequently they obscure the truth, and in many cases, they pervert it.
We should look out for these supplied words when we read the Bible, and
take notice whether they are warranted or not. I have noticed in
previous issues several instances in this line that will illustrate what
I have said; see 1-1-13 and 1-2-41.
If we leave out the word "and" in the passage we are
examining, we have almost the reading that I have given above as the
correct one. The sense of the passage is that wickedness will destroy
any nation; and this fact is demonstrated in past history and in the
present condition of the nations of the world. With the proper
understanding of the word "hell," the common rendering has no
force or point whatever; but the correct rendering I have given is a
great truth confirmed by all human experience.
The next passage is Psa:
109th. This psalm has been severely criticized by infidels and other
opposers of the Bible because it represents David, "a man after
God's own heart," as breathing out the most awful imprecations and
curses upon his enemies and all their posterity. The psalm reads like
the anathemas of the Romish inquisition and the Christian finds it
utterly irreconcilable with the spirit of Christ, of whom David was a
type. Now there is a very reasonable explanation of this psalm, which
clears up all this difficulty and shows us that David was never guilty
of uttering these curses, but that, on the contrary, he is simply
reporting to the Lord in prayer the curses that his enemies pronounce
upon him. Now notice how naturally this explanation corresponds with
the language of the psalm. The first five verses are a prayer to the
Lord setting forth how his enemies have been talking against him;
"For the mouth of the wise and the mouth of the deceitful are
opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue; they
compassed me about also with words of hatred." Notice here that
David refers to himself by the first person, singular pronoun,
"me," and to his enemies by the third person, plural pronoun,
"they." Now with the sixth verse David begins to tell what his
enemies are saying against him; that this is the true meaning is
indicated by the pronouns. "Set thou a wicked man over him,"
over whom? is David saying this of his enemies? no, for if he was he
would have said, "Set thou a wicked man over them,"
i.e. over mine enemies. David is not pronouncing curses upon his enemies;
but is rehearsing the curses that his enemies pronounce upon him,
and this is the drift of the psalm way through until we get to the 20th
verse. Just supply the words "They say" before verse 6, and
read the first 19 verses and it is as plain as can be that the above
explanation is correct. Now leave out the supplied words from verse 20,
and read it thus, "This [i.e. all this cursing] is the work of mine
adversaries before the Lord, and of them that speak evil against
my soul." The remainder of the psalm is in perfect harmony with
this explanation; see especially verses 25 and 28. It was a great
pleasure to me to find this explanation of this puzzling scripture. How
David could utter such imprecations and be a man after God's own heart
would be hard to tell; but the above view is reasonable, in perfect
harmony with the language of the psalm and clears up all the
difficulties.
We will now notice a passage
where a wrong punctuation obscures the truth. See Isa. 26:10,11; change
the various clauses in this passage into questions implying an
affirmative answer and the sense is very materially changed, and is much
more in harmony with the context. The punctuation of the Bible is
another thing that the translators have supplied; in the original there
are no punctuation marks at all; hence the punctuation has no more
authority than the supplied words, and we may change it if the sense
requires it or other scripture gives us warrant. Now see the passage
under consideration together with the two preceding verses; as it stands
now in the common version there seems to be a fault in the connection.
In verses 8 and 9 the prophet is earnestly longing and waiting for the
coming of the Lord in the way of his judgments, for when his judgments
are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness;
thus does the prophet speak of a time of special favour and blessedness,
when the whole world shall be enlightened and learn righteousness. Then
he goes on according to the common version, "Let favour be shewed
to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness," this seems a
positive contradiction of the sentiment of the preceding verse; in
that verse the prophet says that in that specially favoured period when
the Lords comes in the way of his judgments the inhabitants of the
world will learn righteousness; in the next verse the common version
makes him say that though favour is shown to the wicked yet will
he not learn righteousness; and the rest of this verse and the next
verse seems to still further carry out this contradiction. Now all the
trouble is in the punctuation of verses 10 and 11. Change the
declarative clauses in verses 10 and 11 to questions, implying the
answer yes and all is harmony. Read it thus: "In the way of thy
judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; with my soul have I desired
thee, for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the
world will learn righteousness. Let favour be shewed to the wicked, will
he not learn righteousness? in the land of uprightness will he deal
unjustly, and not behold the majesty of the Lord? Lord when thy hand is
lifted up will they not see? they shall see, and be ashamed for their
envy at thy people, yea the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.''
With the above punctuation the drift of the passage is very apparent.
In the
preceding paper I have shown that the judgment day is a period of
special blessing for the race, the time when God will shew the
exceeding riches of his grace, favour; then "the
inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." After making
this statement, the prophet goes on to show by questions how reasonable
this view is. "Let favour be shewed to the wicked, will he not
learn righteousness? in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly,
and not behold the majesty of the Lord?" as though he had said,
when favour is shown the wicked, i.e. when he is enlightened and brought
to a knowledge of the truth," will he not then learn righteousness?
of course he will, for with the knowledge will come the power
and the desire to do right. "In the land of
uprightness," that is, when all around him is fair, and honorable,
and truthful, "will he deal unjustly?" certainly not, it would
be hardly possible to be unjust amid such surroundings; and as for
beholding the Lord's majesty, we know that it is just the time when,
"God's glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." The prophet
goes on, "Lord, when thy hand is lifted up," that is, when his
power and authority is plainly manifested in the earth, so that all
shall recognize it, "will they not see? they shall see, and be
ashamed for their envy at thy people;" compare Jude 14,15.
"Yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them;" their
enmity shall be destroyed, when they see and experience these things;
compare Zeph. 3:8,9. Thus explained the whole passage is plain and
harmonious.
Now we will look at a
passage in the New Testament; viz., that precious declaration in John
3:16, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son," etc. We will take into consideration verses 14-17 inclusive;
first I will clear up several points of obscurity and error and then
give the rendering as it should be. In verse 15 the words "not
perish but" should be omitted; according to the best authorities
they have been interpolated, probably from the following verse; they are
left out from the New Version. The word "whosoever" in the
l5th and l6th verses should be rendered all; in the original it
is the word usually rendered all throughout the New Testament; it
occurs hundreds of times, and is rendered all in over nine
hundred instances, and whosoever in only about forty; the
rendering all then is plainly the usual one. The word rendered
"believeth," in the original is a participle, believing;
the clause should read, "that all, believing in him should
not," etc. The words, believing in him, are explanatory,
telling us how "all" are to be saved, viz, by believing
in him. In the common version it will be noticed that the
participle is, without authority, rendered by the verb
"believeth," and the words, "whosoever believeth in
him" are thereby made to have a conditional force, as though
it read, if they believe in him, implying that some will not
believe in him, and hence will perish, and be lost eternally. But this
is not a correct rendering of the original, as I have shown above; the
clause is not conditional, but is thrown in, as a participial form, as
explanatory of the manner of the world's salvation by believing in
him; this view is fully confirmed by the l9th verse; "for God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world
through him might be saved." Now I will give the whole passage as
it ought to be. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the son of man be lifted up, that all, believing in him.
might have æonial life. For God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son, that all, believing in him, might not perish, but
have æonial life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn
the world but that the world through him might be saved." Thus
truthfully translated this passage is one of the grandest and most
sweeping declarations of the final universal triumph of God's grace in
the salvation of the world, contained in the Bible. It is
positive and direct, and mighty enough, could they only appreciate it,
to utterly silence all those narrow, shortsighted souls who think that
God will only gain a partial victory over the devil, that he will not
save the world, but only a portion of it, a vast number being
eternally lost. It is very plain why the translators of the common
version handled this passage as they did. Their creed would not allow
them to accept it just as it reads; it required only a slight change to
make it conform to their own idea. They insert the unusual rendering
"whosoever," change believing to "believeth," and
then, punctuating it accordingly, the passage is "tinkered" so
as to harmonize with the creed. Thank God for deliverance from man made
creeds! "Let God be true, though every man be false."
(To be continued)
_______________
*i.e. New Version; refers to The
English Revised Version of 1881-1885 (RSV)
