Of Unknown Date and Authorship,
Rendered Into English
From Supposed Copies of Supposed Originals
Unfortunately Lost.
Rev. T. K. Cheyne, who is one of the contributors to the most scholarly work recently produced by churchmen, * gives a number of instances of deliberate manipulation of bible texts by the translators. "The Old Testament," he writes, "is not altogether in its original form; it has undergone not merely corruption, but editorial manipulation. This is plainer in some books than in others; but nowhere, perhaps, is it more manifest than in the Psalter." Two of his examples of mistranslation are from the twenty-ninth psalm:
* The Encyclopedia Biblica.
Authorized Version. Literal Translation.
1. Give thanks unto the Ascribe unto Yahwe, O ye
Lord, O ye mighty, give unto sons of Jerahmeel,
the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe unto Yahwe glory
2. Give unto the Lord the and strength.
glory due unto his name; Ascribe glory, O ye Ish-
worship the Lord in the maelites, unto Yahwe,
beauty of holiness. Worship Yahwe, Rehoboth
and Cush.
Compare also the first verse of the one hundred and thirty-ninth psalm with its literal translation as given by Doctor Cheyne :
Authorized Version. Literal Translation.
1. O Lord thou hast O Yahwe ! thou hast rooted
searched me, and known me. up Zarephath,
2. Thou knowest my It is thou that hast cut
down-sitting and mine upris- down Maacath;
ing, thou understandest my Ashhur and Arabia thou
thoughts afar off. hast scattered.
All Jerahmeel thou hast
subdued.