uses which can possibly be made of them, will require much labour and consideration, much judgment and sagacity, and repeated trials by a variety of examiners, to whose different views they may shew themselves in every possible light. Some critics may be very forward and hasty in pronouncing their judgments; but it must be left to time and experience to establish their real and full value.

In regard to the character and authority of the several manuscripts which have been collated, and which in the notes are referred to, we must wait for the information which Dr. Kennicott will give us in his general dissertation. The knowledge of Hebrew manuscripts is almost a new subject in literature: little progress has been made in it hitherto; and no wonder, when they were esteemed uniformly consonant one with another, and with the printed text; consequently useless, and not worth the trouble of examining. Dr. Kennicott, and his worthy and very able assistant Mr. Burns, who have been more conversant with Hebrew manuscripts, and have had more experience, and more insight into the subject, than any, or than all, of the learned of the present age, will give us the best information concerning it that can be obtained. It must be left to the attentive observation, and mature experience, of the learned of succeeding times, to perfect a part of knowledge, which, like others, must, in its nature, wait the result of diligent inquiry, and be carried on by gradual improvements.

In referring to Dr. Kennicott's variations, I have given the whole number of manuscripts or editions which concur in any particular reading: what proportion that number bears to the whole number of collated copies, which contain the book of Isaiah, may, I hope, soon be seen by comparing it with the catalogue of copies collated, which will be given at the end of that book. But that the reader in the mean time, till he can have more full information concerning the value and authority of

the several manuscripts, may at least have some mark to direct his judgment in estimating the credit due to the manuscripts quoted, I have, from the kind communication of Dr. Kennicott concerning the dates of the manuscripts, whether certain or probable, given some general intimation of their value in this respect: for though antiquity is no certain mark of the goodness of a manuscript, yet it is one circumstance that gives it no small weight and authority, especially in this case: the Hebrew manuscripts being in general more pure and valuable in proportion to their antiquity; those of later date having been more studiously rendered conformable to the Masoretic standard.* Among the manuscripts which have been collated, I consider those of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries as ancient, comparatively and in respect of the rest. Therefore, in quoting a number of manuscripts, where the variation is of some importance, I have added, that so many of that number are ancient, that is, are of the centuries above-mentioned,

I have ventured to call this a New Translation though much of our vulgar translation is retained in it. As the style of that translation is not only excellent in itself, but has taken possession of our ear, and of our taste, to have endeavoured to vary from it, with no other design than that of giving something new instead of it, would have been to disgust the reader, and to represent the sense of the prophet in a more unfavourable manner: besides, that it is impossible for a verbal translator to follow an approved verbal translation, which has gone before him, without frequently treading in the very footsteps of it. The most obvious, the properest, and perhaps the only terms, which the language affords, are already occupied; and without going out of his way to find worse, he cannot avoid them. Every translator has taken this liberty with his predecessors: it is no more than the laws of translation admit, nor indeed than the

* See Kennicott, State of the Printed Heb. Text. Dissert. ii. p. 470.

necessity of the case requires. And as to the turn and modification of the sentences, the translator, in this particular province of translation, is, I think, as much confined to the author's manner as to his words: so that too great liberties taken in varying either the expression or the composition, in order to give a new air to the whole, will be apt to have a very bad effect. For these reasons, whenever it shall be thought proper to set forth the holy Scriptures for the public use of our church to better advantage, than as they appear in the present English translation, the expediency of which grows every day more and more evident, a revision or correction of that translation may perhaps be more advisable, than to attempt an entirely new one. For as to the style and language, it admits but of little improvement; but, in respect of the sense and the accuracy of interpretation, the improvements of which it is capable are great and numberless.

The translation here offered will perhaps be found to be in general as close to the text, and as literal, as our English version. When it departs at all from the Hebrew text, on account of some correction which I suppose to be requisite, I give notice to the reader of such correction, and offer my reasons for it: if those reasons should sometimes appear insufficient, and the translation to be merely conjectural, I desire the reader to consider the exigence of the case; and to judge, whether it is not better, in a very obscure and doubtful passage, to give something probable by way of supplement to the author's sense apparently defective, than either to leave a blank in the translation, or to give a merely verbal rendering, which would be altogether unintelligible. I believe, that every translator whatever of any part of the Old Testament, has taken sometimes the liberty, or rather has found himself under the necessity, of offering such renderings, as, if examined, will be found to be merely conjectural. But I desire to be understood as offering

this apology in behalf only of translations designed for the private use of the reader; not as extended, without proper limitations, to those that are made for the public service of the church.

The design of the Notes is to give the reasons and authorities, on which the translation is founded; to rectify or to explain the words of the text; to illustrate the ideas, the images, and the allusions of the prophet, by referring to objects, notions, and customs, which peculiarly belong to his age and his country; and to point out the beauties of particular passages. I sometimes indeed endeavour to open the design of the prophecy, to shew the connexion between its parts, and to point out the event which it foretells. But, in general, I must entreat the reader to be satisfied with my endeavours faithfully to express the literal sense, which is all that I undertake, If he would go deeper into the mystical sense, into theological, historical, and chronological disquisitions, there are many learned expositors to whom he may have recourse, who have written full commentaries on this prophet: to which title the present work has no pretensions. The sublime and spiritual uses to be made of this peculiarly evangelical prophet, must, as I have observed, be all founded on a faithful representation of the literal sense which his words contain. This is what I have endeavoured closely and exactly to express. And within the limits of this humble, but necessary, province, my endeavours must be confined. To proceed farther, or even to execute this in the manner I could wish, were it within my abilities, yet would hardly be consistent with my present engagements; which oblige me to offer rather prematurely to the public, what farther time, with more leisure, might perhaps enable me to render more worthy of their attention.

ISAIAH.

CHAP. I.

THE VISION OF ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOTS, WHICH HE SAW CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM; IN THE DAYS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, HEZEKIAH, KINGS OF JUDAH.

2

HEAR, O ye heavens; and give ear, O earth!
For it is JEHOVAH that speaketh.

I have nourished children, and brought them up;
And even they have revolted from me.

3 The ox knoweth his possessor,
And the ass the crib of his lord:
But Israel knoweth not Me;
Neither doth my people consider.

4 Ah, sinful nation! a people laden with iniquity!
A race of evil doers! children degenerate!

They have forsaken JEHOVAH;

They have rejected with disdain the Holy One of Israel;

They are estranged from him; they have turned their back upon him.

5 On what part will ye smite again, will ye add correction?

The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint: 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness therein;

It is wound, and bruise, and putrefying sore:

It hath not been pressed, neither hath it been bound; Neither hath it been softened with ointment.