Page images
PDF
EPUB

12 For God, who is the Lord of all, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who made heaven and earth, sent, firstly, the Prophets to the Jews:

13 That he would absolve them from their sins, and bring them to his judgment.

14 Because he wished to save, firstly, the house of Israel, he bestowed and poured forth his Spirit upon the Prophets;

15 That they should, for a long time, preach the worship of God, and the nativity of Christ.

16 But he who was the prince of evil, when he wished to make himself God, laid his hand upon them,

17 And bound all men in sin',

18 Because the judgment of the world was approaching.

19 But Almighty God, when he willed to justify, was unwilling to abandon his creature;

20 But when he saw his affliction, he had compassion upon him:

21 And at the end of a time he sent the Holy Ghost into the Virgin foretold by the Prophets.

22 Who, believing readily2, was made worthy to conceive, and bring forth our Lord Jesus Christ.

23 That from this perishable body, in which the evil spirit was glorified, he should be cast out, and it should be made manifest

24 That he was not God: For Jesus Christ, in his flesh, had recalled and saved this perishable flesh, and drawn it into eternal life by faith.

25 Because in his body he would prepare a pure temple of justice for all ages;

26 In whom we also, when we believe, are saved.

27 Therefore know ye that these men are not the children of justice, but the children of wrath;

28 Who turn away from themselves the compassion of God; 29 Who say that neither the heavens nor the earth were altogether works made by the hand of the Father of all things. 30 But these cursed men have the doctrine of the serpent. 31 But do ye, by the power of God, withdraw yourselves

1 Some MSS. [and Whistons] have, Laid his hand, and them and al. [flesh] bound in sin.

2 Others [and Whistons] read, Believing with a pure heart.

3 [Whistons," in the same body he should be convicted and made manifest. If he was not God, how did Jesus Christ. . . recall and save, &c.]

4 Some MSS. [and Whistons] have, Of God the Father of all things. 5 Others [and Whistons] read, They curse themselves in this thing.

far from these, and expel from amongst you the doctrine of the wicked.

32 Because you are not the children of rebellion', but the sons of the beloved church.

33 And on this account the time of the resurrection is preached to all men.

34 Therefore they who affirm that there is no resurrection of the flesh, they indeed shall not be raised up to eternal life;

35 But to judgment and condemnation shall the unbeliever arise in the flesh:

36 For to that body which denies the resurrection of the body, shall be denied the resurrection: because such are found to refuse the resurrection.

37 But you also, Corinthians! have known, from the seeds of wheat, and from other seeds,

38 That one grain falls2 dry into the earth, and within it first dies,

39 And afterwards rises again, by the will of the Lord, endued with the same body:

40 Neither indeed does it arise with the same simple body, but manifold, and filled with blessing.

41 But we produce the example not only from seeds, but from the honourable bodies of men.3

42 Ye have also known Jonas, the son of Amittai.1

43 Because he delayed to preach to the Ninevites, he was swallowed up in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights:

44 And after three days God heard his supplication 5, and brought him out of the deep abyss;

45 Neither was any part of his body corrupted; neither was his eyebrow bent down.

46 And how much more for you, oh men of little faith; 47 If you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, will he raise you up, even as he himself hath arisen.

48 If the bones of Elisha the prophet, falling upon the dead, revived the dead,

49 By how much more shall ye', who are supported by the

1 Others [and Whistons] read, Children of the disobedient.

2 Some MSS. have, That one grain falls not dry into the earth.

3 Others [and Whistons] read, But we have not only produced from

seeds, but from the honourable body of man.

4 Others [and Whistons] read, The son of Ematthias.

5 [Whistons om., And brought—abyss."]

6 Others [and Whistons] add, Nor did a hair of his body fall therefrom.

7 [Whistons, Ye who are in the flesh and supported by the Word of Christ.]

flesh and the blood and the Spirit of Christ, arise again on that day with a perfect body?

50 Elias the prophet, embracing the widow's son, raised him from the dead:

51 By how much more shall Jesus Christ revive you, on that day, with a perfect body, even as he himself hath arisen?

52 But if ye receive other things vainly',

53 Henceforth no one shall cause me to travail; for I bear on my body these fetters2,

54 To obtain Christ; and I suffer with patience these afflictions to become worthy of the resurrection of the dead.

55 And do each of you, having received the law from the hands of the blessed Prophets and the holy gospel3, firmly maintain it;

56 To the end that you may be rewarded in the resurrection of the dead, and the possession of the life eternal.

57 But if any of ye, not believing, shall trespass, he shall be judged with the misdoers, and punished with those who have false belief.

58 Because such are the generation of vipers, and the children of dragons and basilisks.

59 Drive far from amongst ye, and fly from such, with the aid of our Lord Jesus Christ.

60 And the peace and grace of the beloved Son be upon you. Amen.

1 Some MSS. [and Whistons] have, Ye shall not receive other things in vain.

2 Others [and Whistons] finished here thus, Henceforth no one can trouble me further, for I bear in my body the sufferings of Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, my brethren. Amen. 3 Some MSS. have, Of the holy evangelist.

4 Others add, Our Lord be with ye all. Amen.

Done into English by me, January-February, 1817, at the Convent of San Lazaro, with the aid and exposition of the Armenian text by the Father Paschal Aucher, Armenian Friar.

BYRON.

Venice, April 10. 1817.

I had also the Latin text, but it is in many places very corrupt,

and with great omissions.

311

APPENDIX B.

TRANSLATION OF THE EPISTLES TO THE
CORINTHIANS.

THE Translation of the Two Epistles to the Corinthians in the Authorized Version of 1611, was made by the Fifth out of the Six Companies or Committees appointed to translate the several portions of the Bible. It sat at Westminster; its work was to translate the whole of the Epistles; and it consisted of seven persons, Dr. Barlow, Dr. Hutchinson, Dr. Spencer, Mr. Fenton, Mr. Rabbet, Mr. Sanderson, Mr. Dakins.

Each of these translated a part, to be submitted to the revision of the whole; and therefore the Epistles to the Corinthians cannot be ascribed to one more than the other.

But inasmuch as the version of these Epistles in 1611, in common with that of the whole Bible, was professedly based on the Bishops' Bible of 1568, and inasmuch as the alterations from that earlier Version are very slight, the virtual translators of the Epistles to the Corinthians, as we now have them, are those who were concerned in that work in the reign of Elizabeth. Of these, the name of the translator of the First Epistle is learned from the initials affixed, G. G., Dr. Gabriel Goodman, Dean of Westminster. The Second Epistle having no such marks, its translator is not known.1

I have given here the text of the Authorised Version, with such corrections only as were required for the sake of more faithfully representing the sense of the original. They are as follows:

(I.) Such as are produced by a restoration of the text of the ancient MSS. as represented by Lachmann.

(II.) Such as are produced by a better system of punctuation. (III.) Such as are produced by transposing the words into a nearer conformity with the original order.

(IV.) Such as are produced by bringing out the emphasis of

[blocks in formation]

words, apparent in the original text either from the use of the
pronoun, or from the place of the words in the sentence.
(V.) Such as are produced by inaccuracy of translation.
these:

Of

[ocr errors]

(1.) Some few are from mere carelessness, without any authority in the Received Text, or any assignable motive: e. g. in 1 Cor. i. 4. "Jesus Christ" is substituted for "Christ Jesus; in 1 Cor. i. 7. "coming" for " revelation" (this is peculiar to the Version of 1611); in 1 Cor. iii. 19., vii. 37. “own” is omitted. But these are very rare.

(2.) Some few must probably be ascribed to theological fear or partiality. In 1 Cor. ix. 27. the word adókipos is translated "cast away," instead of its otherwise universal rendering, "reprobate," apparently in order to avoid the conclusion that the Apostle might fall away from grace. In 1 Cor. xi. 26. the words EoinτE n TivηTE are rendered "eat and drink," in order to avoid the inference that the Eucharist might be received under one kind. It happens that in each of these cases, the supposed inference may easily be avoided by a proper consideration of the Text.

(3.) Some few are not so much inaccuracies as obsolete expressions. In 1 Cor. iv. 4. uavт@ σúvoida is rendered "I know nothing by myself," where "by" is used in a provincial and antiquated sense for "against." The use of the word "meat" in 1 Cor. iii. 2., vi. 13., viii. 8. 10. 13., for "food," is another instance. Under this head should perhaps be placed the rendering of Soulos by "servant," instead of "slave," which originated partly in the fact that "servants" at the period of the Translation, being of a more servile character, might more properly be taken as the class corresponding to the ancient domestic slaves, partly in the fact that our word "slave" is comparatively modern, and is only used twice in the Authorised Version, Jer. ii. 14.; Rev. xviii. 13.

(4.) Some are not mistranslations so much as retentions of the original Greek or Latin words, a practice which increased in the two later Versions of 1568 and 1611; e. g., "mysteries" for uvormpia, instead of "secrets" "heresies" for aipéσes, instead of "sects;" "charity" for ayán, from the Vulgate caritas, instead of "love;""church" for EKKλŋola, instead of congregation."

(5.) The greater part are such as result from an imperfect attention to the language, or from the real difficulty of the style.

(a.) The aorists are generally translated like perfects or presents. One frequent effect of this practice is, that what the Apostle specially ascribes to the period of the conversion of his readers, is turned into a general truth. Thus, in 1 Cor.

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »