CHAPTER XIX. LIGHT is also thrown upon Coverdale's method of procedure by the notes which are loosely scattered throughout his Bible. These notes, especially introduced by "Some reade," let us see incidentally what translations he was consulting, as the debris in front of the mine reveals the nature of the strata through which the miner has been piercing his way. There are only sixty-six notes in all-forty-seven in the Old Testament and nineteen in the New-and they are very capriciously distributed, there being fifteen in Genesis, and nineteen in Exodus, while there are none in Isaiah, and only two in the Minor Prophets. The distribution in the New Testament is similar, there being eight in Matthew, only two in Romans, one in Titus, and none in the subsequent books. If the original plan may be inferred from the number of notes in Genesis, then, for some reason or other, it was not carried out, and was finally dropped. There may have been some haste in the printing of the work, and the hope of a more convenient season, if a new edition should be contemplated. The majority of the notes are from the Zürich Bible, others are taken almost equally from Pagninus1 and Luther, and not a few from the Vulgate. But this selection of notes from "Douche and Latyn," when 1 Sanctes Pagninus, a Dominican monk, and pupil of Savonarola, first taught Oriental literature at Rome, under the patronage of Leo X, then removed to Avignon, and finally to Lyons. He published in small folio, at Lyons, in 1528, a new Latin trans lation of the Bible-a work done very carefully-the translation being very literal, and the verses being marked and numbered. The edition by Arias Montanus is an interlinear gloss. TEXT AND MARGIN. 287 they are compared with the clauses in the text to which they are appended, verifies Coverdale's honest title-page, and shows the proportional influence of those versions on his own eclectic translation. Genesis ii, 12. Some call it "Schoham "—Zürich Bible; text, "onyxe"-Luther and the Vulgate. 18. Some reade, "To stonde next by him "—Zürich Bible; text, "to bear him company "-Tyndale. iii, 6. Some reade, "whyle it made wyse"-Luther; text, "a pleasant tree to make wise "-Tyndale. 16. Some read, "Thou shalt bowe downe thyselfe before thy husbande"-a paraphrase based upon Luther; text, "thy lust shall pertain unto thy husband"--Tyndale. See Münster's Note. iv, 7. Some reade, "let it be subdued unto thee and rule thou it"-Luther and virtually Tyndale; text, "shall he be subdued unto thee, and wilt thou rule him "-Zürich Bible. viii, 7. Some reade, "came not agayne "-Vulgate and Septuagint; text, "came again "-Zürich Bible and Tyndale who follows Luther. The Authorized Version fully represents the Hebrew. xi, 2. Some reade, "from the east"-Vulgate and Tyndale; text, "toward the east "-Luther and the Zürich Bible. xvii, 1. Some reade, "I am the God Schadai" (that is, plenteous in power, abundant, sufficient, and full of good)—a bracketed note in the Zürich Bible; text, "I am the Almighty God "-Vulgate and Luther. xviii, 10. Some reade, 66 as soone as the frute can lyve ”— Tyndale; text, "about this time twelvemonth, if I live"-Zürich Bible. xxiii, 4. Some reade, "my corpse that lieth before me "Luther; text, "my corpse by me"-Zürich Bible. xxiv, 31. Some reade, "thou beloved "-Zürich Bible; text, "thou blessed of the Lord"—after Luther and the Vulgate, more correctly resembling the Hebrew. Genesis xxvii, 35. "That my herte may wysh thee good "-virtually from the Zürich Bible; text, "my soul may Exodus bless thee "-after the Vulgate and Luther. xxviii, 1. Some reade, "talked louingly with him”—Zürich Bible; text, "and blessed him "-Vulgate, Luther, and Tyndale. 66 xxxiii, 19. Some reade, an hundreth lambes"-Vulgate, Tyndale, and Pagninus, who has in his margin, "centum nummis"; text, 66 an hundred pence -Luther and the Zürich Bible reading, however, "umb hundert groschen." xli, 45. "Zaphnath Paena, that is to saye, an expounder of secrete thinges, or a man to whom secrete thinges are opened "-the explanation being from Pagninus, with the clauses reversed, and the spelling of the Hebrew word being copied from the Zürich Bible and Tyndale. The adventurous note in our present Bibles, referring to the Coptic for explanation, is not in the first edition of 1611. ix, 16. Some reade, “I have holden thee up"-Zürich Bible; text, "have I stirred thee up"-Luther and Tyndale. xvi, 15. Some reade, "What is this "-Vulgate and Tyndale; text, "this is man"-Luther and Zürich Bible. xvii, 16. That is, "the Lorde is he that lifteth me vp❞— virtually from Pagninus, "dominus elevatio mea," the marginal note being "vel signum meum"; text, "the Lord Nissi "-Luther and the Zürich Bible, Tyndale having "Jehovah Nissi," with the marginal note, "that is, the Lord is he that exalteth." xxix, 28. "Some call them peace-offeringes "-Vulgate, Luther having "thank-offerings"; text "deadofferings"-Zürich Bible. Num. xxxiii, 52. "Hill chapels, or altares builded vpon hilles "— the last clause being the translation of Tyndale ; text, "destroy all their high places "—Vulgate and Luther. XIX.] TEXT AND MARGIN. 289 Joshua iii, 15. Some reade, "of the haruest "-virtually Vulgate and Luther; text, "it was full of all manner waters of the land "-Zürich Bible. Ruth iii, 3. Some reade, " Anoynte thee "-Pagninus, Luther, Vulgate, and Tyndale; text, "muffle thee " Zürich Bible. 1 Sam. xxiii, 28. "Sela Mahelkoth, the rock of parting asunder" -Pagninus, the spelling of the Hebrew word after Luther, the explanation being a translation of his note, and of a bracketed clause in the Zürich Bible. 2 Sam. viii, 18. Some reade "rulers"-after the margin of Pagninus, Tyndale having "chief rulers"; text, "priests"-Luther and the Zürich Bible. xvi, 22. In reference to Absalom's incestuous intercourse with his father's harem on the roof of the palace, the note is, "the houses were flat in those partes at that tyme." 1 Kings ii, 17. That is, "He shall not denye the thy peticion❞— virtually from the Vulgate, Tyndale's rendering being preserved in the Authorized Version; text, 'for he shall not shame thy face"-based on Luther. vii, 26. A Bat was a certayne measure of liquore—a note not unlike it being in Matthew's Bible. xvi, 7. "The prophet," explanatory of "this man " in the text; the Vulgate having "that is, John the son of Hanani," and there is an alternative, rendering in the Zürich Bible. 2 Kings vi, 25. A Cab is a certayne measure, a similar note being VOL. I. in Matthew's Bible. xv, 13. Some reade, "Vsia,” "Azarias"-Vulgate. Zurich Bible; text 30. That is Asarias whom some call Vsia-a similar note in Matthew's Bible. xxiii, 60. "That is Jechonias." XXV, 6. Some reade, "And they talked with him of iudgment "-Zürich Bible and Pagninus; text, "And he gave judgment upon him"-Luther, the singular being also in the Vulgate. T 2 Kings xxv, 23. "Otherwyse called Masphat," the Vulgate having Maspha; Matthew's Bible, Mazphag. 2 Chron. vii, 20. Some reade," them"-Zürich and Pagninus; text, "you"-Vulgate. xxii, 6. "That is Ochosias, otherwyse called Ahasia," the first name being in the Vulgate, and the second in Luther; text, "Azarias "-Zürich Bible. Ezra iii, 7. Otherwyse called "Japho "-Zürich Bible; text, Joppa," after Vulgate and Tyndale. Nehemiah ix, 10. Some reade, "them," the same note being repeated in Matthew's Bible after Zürich Bible; text, "madest thee a name "-Vulgate. Job iii, 3. "Simile Jere, xx". -a reference to the striking similitude of language. ix, 9. "Some call these seven starres the clock hen with hir chekens." Ps. xiv, 5, 6, 7. "These three verses are not in the Hebrue." They are found in the Vulgate and Septuagint, and are quoted in Romans iii, 11, &c. xxxvii, 21. Some reade thus, "the vngodly lendeth vpon vsury, and not for naught "-Zürich Bible, "auff wücher leycht der gottloss"; text, "the ungodly borroweth & payeth not again"Vulgate, Luther, and Pagninus. xl, 6. Some reade thus, "but myne ears hast thou opened "—Luther and the Zürich Bible; text, a body hast thou ordained me," which, however, is not in accordance with the Hebrew. Compare Hebrews x, 5. Jeremiah i, 18. "Or brass"-Vulgate; the text correctly, "a Amos Malachi wall of steel." vii, 7. "Some call it a lyne," after Pagninus, Luther 66 did not the one "-Luther, but "excellent spirit" is from the same note of Pagninus. |