Show A NEW BIBLE some time ago 1 it was mentioned in these columns that a number of scholars had decided to publish the bible in various colors for the purpose of showing theo the position of higher criticism on the question of the authorship thor ship af of the sacred books the new bible of which the first installment now has been issued will be known as aa the polychrome bible genesis Is printed in eight different colors leviticus in two joshua in seven samuel in eight job in three chronicles in four and ezra in nine and so on the translation is also new and to is an at tempt to render into classical english the language of the ancient hebrews ferary digest gives the sub joined specimen of its rendition of isaiah 28 2829 28 29 polychrome BIBLE 23 listen and hear ye m my y voice attend and hear ye my speech 24 Is the ploughman never done with his ploughing sloughing hing with the opening and harrowing of ground 25 does he not when its surface la Is leveled i scatter fennel and eow cummin broadcast and duly set wheat there and barley and for its border plant spelt 26 it is who has taught these right courses it to is his god who has trained him 27 we do not thresh fennel with sledges nor are cartwheels cart wheels rolled over cummin but fennel is threshed with IL a staff A and nd cummin is threshed with a rod t 28 do we ever crush bread corn to pieces nay the threshing goes not on forever but when over it cartwheels cart wheels are driven pt sledges our care Is never to crush it 28 29 this also from proceeds wonderful counsel great wisdom has 1 H for the sake of comparison the common version of the scripture passage Is given authorized VERSION 23 28 give ye ear and hear my voice hearken and hear my speech 24 doth the plowman 1 plow all day to sow doth he open and break the clods of his ground 25 when he hath made plain th the 1 face I 1 thereof doth he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the cummin and cast in the principal wheat and the bhe appointed barley and the rye in tb their ir place 16 26 for his god doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him 27 for the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument neither Is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin but the fitches are beaten out with a staff and the cummin with a tod 21 2 bread corn is bruised because hp he will nat ever be threshing it nor break it with the wheel of his cart nor bruise re it with his horsemen 29 this also cometh forth from the lord of hosts which is wonderful in 4 counsel and excellent tr li working AS aig a work of scholarship ahw the poly f chrome bible promises to be of intense interest but its real value is likely to be small in the first place the theory t he ory it to so laboriously represents by its mul ti colored paper is at best a bold guess a ad to the origin of the books founded ott nothing but alleged internal evl y dence and this Is so uncertain that the various scholars engaged in the work of coloring the sacred pages find tault fault with one another stade ot of gleasen giessen who prepares kings criticises criticizes me of strassburg who prepares zamuel luel and budde ln lin his turn critics cyses of rottingen gottingen Gottl Got ngen who L prepares he psalms pawing what is there then for the public to rely on in the various colors of which even the teamed learned painters themselves disagree disagreed 9 tn the second place to render the hebrew in classical english even at fhe sacrifice of the true se sense ense of the text Is to render the bible translation utterly useless for the purpose of ascertaining certa ining a doctrine were the he brew scriptures nothing more than a remnant of the literature of an ancient j people elegance in translation would i lie he necessary n e for a true appreciation atthe 4 the beauties of the writings of that poetical age but the bible Is more y than that it is the means by which the voice of god as heard anciently is conveyed to man and for that reason t the first consideration is a faithful bw translation on the whole the remark Is Justi justified bed that this polychrome bible Is an eft fort to give a scholarly form to a fad s that has not even become popular fashions change and fade axe are forgot ten the colors of the polychrome will fade fad and the work be looked upon as a curiosity |