second Book of Esdras was translated in the Authorized Version, by the Syriac, Æthiopic, and other Oriental texts.

Under the resolution, "that the decisions be arrived at by simple majorities," the revisers rejected or replaced, on the authority of the best manuscripts, spurious or corrupt passages, and inserted the missing fragment 2 Esdras vii. 36-105. Such changes are indicated in the margin.

At the place cited the margin contains the note: "The passage from verse [36] to verse [105], formerly missing, has been restored to the text. See Preface, page xi." In Ecclus. xxiv. the margin states: "Verse 18 is omitted by the best authorities," so v. 24. Some marginal notes read: "The Latin is corrupt." "The Greek text here is perhaps corrupt."

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The place of the paragraph, giving the interpretation of Mardocheus' dream, in the Additions to the Book of Esther, before the dream itself remains unchanged.

EXAMPLES.

2 ESDRAS vi. 29-31.

Authorized Version.

Revised Version.

29. And when he talked with 29. And when he talked with me, behold, I looked by little and little upon him before whom I stood. 30. And these words said he unto me; I am come to shew thee the time of the night to come. 31. If thou wilt pray yet more, and fast seven days again, I shall tell thee greater things by day than I have heard.

me, behold, by little and little the place whereon I stood 1 rocked to and fro. 30. And he said unto me, These things came I to shew thee this night. 31. If therefore thou wilt pray yet again, and fast seven days more, I shall yet 2 tell thee greater things than these.

Margin.-1 After the Oriental versions. The Latin is corrupt. 2 So the Syriac. The Latin is corrupt.

WISDOM ix. 14-16.

14. For the thoughts of mortal are miserable,1 and our

men

14. For the thoughts of mortals are timorous,1 and our devices are

30 I also came out as a brook And I came out as a stream1 30

And will water abundantly my And will water abundantly my

And lo, my brook became a And, lo, my stream became a

horseback one in white clothing, shaking his armour of gold. 9. Then they praised the merciful God all together, and took heart, insomuch that they were ready not only to fight with men, but with most cruel beasts, and to pierce through walls of iron. IO. Thus they marched forward in their armour, having a helper from heaven: for the Lord was merciful unto them. II. And giving a charge upon their enemies like lions, they slew eleven thousand footmen, and sixteen hundred horsemen, and put all the other to flight. 12. Many of them also being wounded escaped naked; and Lysias himself fled away shamefully, and so escaped.

head one on horseback in white apparel, brandishing 1weapons of gold. 9. And they all together praised the merciful God, and were yet more strengthened in heart: being ready to assail not men only but the wildest beasts, and walls of iron, 10. They advanced in array, having him that is in heaven to fight on their side, for the Lord had mercy on them. 11. And hurling themselves like lions upon the enemy, they slew of them eleven thousand footmen, and sixteen hundred horsemen, and forced all the rest to flee. 12. But the more part of them escaped wounded and naked; and Lysias also himself escaped by shameful flight.

Margin.-1 Gr.. a panoply. 2Gr. wound.

Various Readings and Marginal Notes.-Near the close of the Preface to the Apocrypha it is said that "lists of the Greek readings-or, in 2 Esdras, the Latin readingsadopted by the Committees will shortly be published." Upon inquiry I have been informed by the Oxford University Press that they have not been published. "The preparation of them was undertaken by Dr. Moulton, but as the work was still far from complete at the time of his death in February 1898, the publication of the readings was then abandoned."

The marginal notes, including illustrative textual references, number 1264.† These notes embrace various readings, literal translations, comments on the condition

From Letter to the Author.

† Dr. Scrivener's similar list, relating to the Authorised Version edition of 1611, numbers 1016. See Cambridge Paragraph Bible, Cambridge, 1873, 4to, p. xxx. col. 2; and for the list printed p. xxviii. sq.

of ancient texts underlying the Revision, alternate renderings, chronological dates, and explanatory matters.

EXAMPLES.

I Esdr. i. 2, " temple-servants"; margin, "That is, the Nethinim. See. Num. iii. 9; same chapter, v. 28, "did not turn back unto his chariot"; margin, "Another reading is, his chariot from him.” Ch. v. 40, "Urim and Thummim"; margin, "Gr. the manifestation and truth"; v. 72, holding them strait"; margin, "Or, besieging

them."

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2 Esdr. iv. 11, "incorruption "; margin, “Syriac and Æthiopic, the way of the incorruptible"; v. 12, "And when I heard these things "; margin, "So the Syriac and Ethiopic. The Latin is corrupt." xiv. 42, "characters which they knew not"; margin, "So the Oriental versions. The copies of the Latin vary and are corrupt." Wisdom xviii. 22, 66 anger"; margin, "The word rendered anger differs only by the transposition of two letters from the reading of the Greek text, which here yields no sense."

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Ecclus. xliii. 23, planted"; margin, "The most ancient authorities read Jesus planted it."

Baruch vi. 54, “redress a wrong, being unable"; margin, “Another reading is, deliver him that is wronged."

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I Macc. i. I, over Greece"; margin, "That is, the Greek Empire. Compare v. 10 and ch. vi. 2."

I Macc. xv. 10, "In the hundred and seventy and fourth year"; margin, "circa B.C. 139."

2 Macc. viii. 27, "And when they had gathered the arms of the enemy together, and had stripped off their spoils"; margin, "The exact meaning of this clause is uncertain. Gr. their arms. . . the spoils of the enemy." xi. 21, "Dioscorinthius"; margin, "This name is not found elsewhere, and is perhaps corrupt."

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...

in

Ecclus. xxiv. 14, "I was exalted like a palm tree on the sea shore" (R. V.) is a doubtful improvement on the rendering Engaddi” (A. V.). That tree does not flourish on the sea shore, but Engedi, known also by the name of the "city of palms," HazazonTamar, was famous for its grove of palms.* Cod. Vat. év alɣıaλoîs =sea-shore, pl. Cod. Sin. (2d hand) ev evyaddois. Vulg. Cades. Ecclus. xxv. 15, "There is no head above the head of a serpent, and

* Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 295.

there is no wrath above the wrath of an enemy" (A. V. and R. V.), yields no sense. The Greek kepaλń, head, is probably due to the mistranslation of the Hebrew in, rōsh, signifying alike "head,” and "poison," both of plants, given by name, Deut. xxix. 3; xxxii. 32; Hos. x. 4; and of serpents, Deut. xxxii. 33. "There is no poison above (worse than) the poison of a serpent," appears to be a true rendering.

b

2 Macc. vii. 36, "For our brethren, who now have suffered a short pain, are dead under God's covenant of everlasting life" (A. V.), is changed to "For these our brethren, having endured a a short pain that bringeth everlasting life, have now died under God's covenant" (R. V.). The marginal notes follow: a" Gr. short pain of everlasting life"; By the omission of one Greek letter the words would signify having endured a short pain, have now drunk of everlasting life under God's covenant." The change is Teжάкαol for weπtúkaσv.

b

Similar conjectural renderings occur elsewhere, e.g. Wisd. xii. 5, xviii. 17, xxi. 2.

Omissions. Many of the Notes indicate that certain lines or verses are "omitted by the best authorities," and do not appear in the revised text. More than sixty such omissions occur in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, the revision of which was completed in 1883. Since then the discovery of a Hebrew text of the Book, which thus far covers about one half of its contents, must necessarily lead to a collation with the texts of the ancient versions, underlying the Revision, and not improbably involve further revision.*

Concluding Remarks.—Although the limits of this chapter preclude a critical examination of the entire Revision of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, previous observations, together with the examples given, may enable the reader to pass upon its merits and demerits. It cannot be denied that, taken as a whole, it is an immense improvement upon the text of the Authorized Version, and that while much has been gained, much remains to be done by

See article "Ecclesiasticus" in Encyclopædia Biblica.