Our store houses full, producing all kinds of provision : Our flocks bringing forth thousands, ten thousands in our fields: PSALM CXliv. 12-14. "O! how great is thy goodness which thou hast treasured up, for them that fear thee; Which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men ! Thou wilt hide them in the secret place of thy presence, from the vexations of man; Thou wilt keep them safe in the tabernacle, from the strife of tongues." "A sound of a multitude in the mountains, as of many people; Jehovah and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land.” "They are turned backward, they are utterly confounded, who trust in the graven image; Who say unto the molten image, ye are our gods!" ISAIAH xlii. 17. * They are ashamed, they are even confounded, his 4adversaries, all of them; Together they retire in confusion, the fabricators of images: But Israel shall be saved in Jehovah, with eternal salvation; Ye shall not be ashamed, neither shall ye be confounded, to the ages of eternity." ISAIAH xlv. 16, 17. These examples, all except the two first, are of long verses thrown in, irregularly, but with design, between verses of another sort; among which they stand out, as it were, somewhat distinguished in regard to their matter as well as their form. I think, I perceive some peculiarities in the cast and structure of these verses, which mark them, and distinguish them from those of the other sort. The closing pause of each line is generally very full and strong: and in each line commonly, towards the end, at least beyond the middle of it, there is a small rest, or interval, depending on the sense and grammatical construction, which I would call a half-pause. The conjunction, the common particle of connection, which abounds in the Hebrew language, and is very often used without, any necessity at all, seems to be frequently and studiously omitted at the half-pause: the remaining clause being added, to use a 4 See the note on the place. grammatical term, by apposition to some word preceding; or coming in as an adjunct, or circumstance depending on the former part, and completing the sentence. This gives a certain air to which may be esteemed in some sort as characteristic these verses, of the kind. : The first four Lamentations are four distinct poems consisting uniformly and entirely of the long verse, which may therefore be properly called the elegiac verse; from those elegies, which give the plainest and the most undoubted examples of it. There may perhaps be found many other very probable examples in the same kind but this is what I cannot pretend to determine with any certainty. Such, I think, are the xliid and xliiid Psalms; which I imagine make one entire poem, and ought not to have been divided into two Psalms: the lines are all of the longer kind, except the third line of the intercalary stanza three times inserted; which third line, like that at the close of an example given above from the cxlivth Psalm, is of the shorter kind of verse; somewhat like the Parœmiac verse of the Greeks, which commonly makes the close of a set of anapæstic verses. Such likewise may perhaps be the cist Psalm; which seems to consist of fourteen long verses, or seven distichs, thus divided: "Mercy and judgement will I celebrate; to thee, O Jehovah, will I sing. I will act circumspectly in the perfect way; when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk with a perfect heart in the midst of my house; I will not set before mine eyes, a wicked thing: Him, that dealeth unfaithfully, I hate; he shall not cleave unto me; t 5 In the second Lamentation, the second line of the 4th period is deficient : in length and so likewise is the 31st verse of the third Lamentation. In the former two words are lost out of the text; in the latter, one. This will plainly appear by supplying those words from the Chaldee Paraphrase, which has happily preserved them. They prove their own genuineness by making the lines of a just length, and by completely restoring the sense; which in the former is otherwise not unexceptionable, in the latter manifestly imperfect. I will add the lines; with the words supplied, included in crotchets : ויהרג [כל כער] כל מחמדי עין כי לא יזנח לעולס [עבדיו אדני "And he slew [every youth,] all that were desirable to the eye.” "For the Lord will not cast off [his servants] for ever." 6 This conjecture, offered some years ago, has since been confirmed by twenty-two MSS. which join them together. D A perverse heart shall remove from me; the wicked I will not know. Whoso slandereth in secret his friend, him will I destroy. The lofty of eyes, and the proud of heart, him I will not endure. Mine eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me : He shall not dwell within my house, who practiseth deceit. To cut off, from the city of Jehovah, all the workers of iniquity." The sublime ode of Isaiah in the xivth chapter is all of this kind of verse, except, perhaps, á verse or two towards the end: and the prophecy against Senacherib in the xxxviith chapter, as far as it is addressed to Senacherib himself. I venture to submit to the judgement of the candid reader the preceding observations, upon a subject, which hardly admits of proof and certainty; which is rather a matter of opinion and of taste, than of science; especially in the latter part; which endeavours to establish, and to point out, the difference of two sorts of verse, the longer and the shorter. For though the third Lamentation of Jeremiah gives a clear and indubitable example of the elegiac or long verse, and the two Psalms perfectly alphabetical of the shorter; yet the whole art of Hebrew versification, except only what appears in the construction of the sentences, being totally lost, it is not easy to try by them other passages of verse, so as to draw any certain conclusion in all cases, whether they are of the same kind, or not. And that, for this among other reasons; because what I call the half-pause, which I think prevails for the most part in the longer verses, is sometimes so strong and so full in the middle of the line, that it seems naturally to resolve it into a distich of two short verses. I readily therefore acknowledge, that in settling the distribution of the lines, or verses, in the following translation I have had frequent doubts, and particularly in determining the long and short verses. I am still uncertain in regard to many places, whether two lines ought to be joined to make one, or one line divided into two. But whatever doubts may remain concerning particulars, yet upon the whole, I should hope, that the method of distribution, here proposed, of sentences into stanzas and verses in the poetical books of scripture, will appear to have some foundation, and even to carry with it a considerable degree of probability. Though no complete system of rules concerning this matter can perhaps be formed, which will hold good in every particular; yet this way of considering the subject may have its use, in furnishing a principle of interpretation of some consequence, in giving a general idea of the style and character of the Hebrew poetry, and in shewing the close conformity of style and character between great part of the prophet. ical writings, and the other books of the old testament, universally acknowledged to be poetical. And that the reader may not think his pains wholly lost, in labouring through this long disquisition concerning sentences and members of sentences; in weighing words, and balancing periods; I shall endeavour to shew him something of the use and application of the preceding observations; and to convince him, that this branch of criticism, minute as it may appear, yet merits the attention of the translator and of the interpreter of the Holy Scriptures; so large a part of which is entirely poetical, and where occasional pieces of poetry are interspersed through the whole. It is incumbent on every translator to study the manner of his author; to mark the peculiarities of his style, to imitate his features, his air, his gesture, and, as far as the difference of language will permit, even his voice; in a word, to give a just and expressive resemblance of the original. If he does not carefully attend to this, he will sometimes fail of entering into his meaning; he will always exhibit him unlike himself; in a dress, that will appear strange and unbecoming to all that are in any degree acquainted with him. Sebastian Castellio stands in the first rank for critical abilities and theological learning among the modern translators of Scripture: but by endeavouring to give the whole composition of his translation a new cast, to throw it out of the Hebrew idiom, and to make it adopt the Latin phrase and structure in its stead, he has given us something that is neither Hebrew nor Latin; the Hebrew manner is destroyed, and the Latin manner is not perfectly acquired; we regret the loss of the Hebrew simplicity, and we are disgusted with the perpetual affectation of Latin elegance. This is in general the case; but chiefly in the poetical parts. Take the following for a specimen. “Quum Israelitæ ex Ægypto, quum Jacobæa domus emigraret ex populo barbaro, Judæi Israelitæ Deo fuere sanctitati atque potestati. Quo viso, mare fugit, & Jordanis retrocessit. Montes arietem, colles ove natorum ritu exiliverunt." Surely to this even the barbarism of the Vulgate is preferable: for though it has no elegance of its own, yet it still retains the form, and gives us some idea of the force and spirit, of the Hebrew. I will subjoin it here; for it needs not fear the comparison. “In exitu Israel de Ægypto, domus Jacob de populo barbaro, Mare videt, & fugit : Jordanis conversus est retrorsum. Montes exultaverunt ut arietes : & colles sicut agni ovium." Flatness and insipidity will generally be the consequence of a deviation from the native manner of an original, which has a real merit, and a peculiar force of its own for it will be very difficult to compensate the loss of this by any adventitious ornaments. To express fully and exactly the sense of the author is indeed the principal, but not the whole duty of the translator. In a work of elegance and genius he is not only to inform: he must endeavour to please; and to please by the same means, if possible, by which his author pleases. If this pleasure arises in a great measure from the shape of the composition, and the form of the construction, as it does in the Hebrew poetry beyond any other example whatsoever, the translator's eye ought to be always intent upon this: to neglect this, is to give up all chance of success, and all pretension to it. The importance of the subject, and the consequent necessity of keeping closely to the letter of the original, has confined the translators of Scripture within such narrow limits, that they have been forced, whether they designed it or not, and even sometimes contrary to their design, as in the case of Castellio, to retain much of the Hebrew manner. This is remarkably the case in our vulgar translation .; the constant use of which has rendered this manner familiar and agreeable to us. We have adopted the Hebrew taste; and what is with judgement, and upon proper occasion, well expressed in that taste, hardly ever fails to suggest the ideas of beauty, solemnity, and elevation. To shew the difference in this respect, I shall here give an example or two of a free and loose translation, yet sufficiently well expressing the sense, contrasted with another translation of the same, as strictly literal as possible. 1. "The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done his marvellous works, that they ought to be had in remembranee." Ps. cxi. 4. Old version. 2. "Lo! children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift, that cometh from the Lord." Ps. cxxvii. 4. O. V. 3. "O put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man; for there is no help in them. "For when the breath of man goeth forth, he shall turn again to his earrh; and then all his thoughts perish." 4. "The Lord thy God, O Sion, shall be king forevermore, and throughout all generations." PSALM CXlvi. 2, 3, 10. O. V. 1. "He hath made a memorial of his wonders: gracious and of tender mercy is Jehovah." |