Mary edged to the front of her chair. “ What is it, Mary?” the pastor asked. “ Do you have a question?” “ Yes, I have,” she replied. “ I don’t understand why, if Wycliffe translated the Bible into English, it was necessary later on to have the King James Version. The Bible is the Bible, and English is English, isn’t it?” “ The fact is,” he said, “that between Wycliffe’s Bible and the King James Version there were something like six other versions. The period was one of great intellectual advance. The cobwebs of the dark ages were being swept away. In 1492—well, you know what happened then. But in addition to the discovery of America, it was in 1492 that Grocyn became the first teacher of Greek in Oxford University. The first Greek grammar was published in 1476, and the first Hebrew grammar in 1503. In other words, the foundations for ad vanced Biblical scholarships were laid. But to get back to your question, Mary. In any work of translation, different people will express a certain thought in different ways. Suppose Ar chie translated the first chapter of Genesis from Hebrew into Greek—” “And it will have to remain a supposition,” Archie chuckled. Everyone laughed at that, and when quiet was restored, the pastor went on. “ And suppose that Patricia came along and translated Archie’s Greek into Latin. And let us suppose that Mary had the job ,of translating Patricia’s Latin into English—do you think the resultant translation would be ex actly like it would be if Mary could have translated that chap ter from the Hebrew into English?” Mary laughed mischievously, and said, “ Not if Archie and Patricia had anything to do with it.” “All right,” continued the pastor. “ I think you get the point. Those who translate naturally inject their own styles and ex pressions into their work. Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin. Had he translated it from the original Hebrew and Greek, perhaps his work would have been different. A century or more later, other scholars used Hebrew and Greek manu scripts that had become available. As the knowledge of those languages improved,, scholars saw where even better transla tions could be made, and thus by the beginning o f the 17th century it seemed advisable to have another translation or revision, and the King James Version was the result.” “ I’m beginning to see light,” Archie acknowledged. “ I knew you would,” the pastor said in a fatherly tone. Then suddenly, “Archie, how would you like to read up on the King James Version, and be ready to give a report when I call on you next Sunday?” “ I sure would. It intrigues me. But can you tell me what books to get hold of?” “ I’ll see that you get several books that deal with the sub ject.” “ I’ve got another question, Mr. Waller,” said Jack. “ If the King James Version brought the Bible up to date, why do we have other versions today?” “ There are three principal reasons,” the pastor replied. “ First, the English language has changed so that some words today have different meanings from what they had in 1611, or have been dropped entirely. Second, Biblical scholarship has made giant strides since the 17th century; and, in the third place, we now have valuable manuscripts of the Bible, including the most, important ones that we know of today, which those who produced the King James Version didn’t have. Naturally, they throw further light on the exact meaning of Scripture.” There was a pause, for the young folks seemed to have run out of questions. Mr. Waller said, “ If you have nothing fur ther to ask, I’ll—” “ Just a minute,” interjected Patricia. “ You said the King James Version was produced in 1611. When did the next ver sion appear?” “ That wasn’t until 1885, or about 275 years later. By then it was felt necessary to revise the King James Version.” “ But,” persisted Patricia, “ don’t we still use the King James Version? It’s the only Bible that I ever see.” “ That is probably so,” the pastor explained. “ You see, dur ing that period of 275 years the King James Version was the Bible of the English-speaking world, at least the Protestant part of it, and people grew used to it, and came to love its beautiful expressions. Consequently when the Revised Version Page Ten
was available in 1885 it didn’t take the place of the King James in the affections of the people.” “ There’s a man who attends prayer meeting who has a Bible that is different from ours—that is, from the King James Version,” Archie observed. “He let me look at it, and I noticed that it reads a little differently and is arranged in paragraphs instead of verses.” “ I think you are referring to Mr. Anderson,” the pastor said. “He has an American Standard Version—but that reminds me. I should have told you that the revised Bible of 1885 was the work of a group of British scholars who were later aided by an American group. It was understood, how ever, that the revision produced at that time would be in line with the thought of the British revisers, although all suggestions by the American scholars which were not incor porated into the text were to appear in an appendix added to each copy which came from the press during the next fourteen years.” “ But where does Mr. Anderson’s Bible come in?” Archie asked. “ I’m coming to that right away,” said the pastor. “ The American scholars agreed to give no sanction to the publi cation of any editions of the Revision, other than those pro duced in England, for a period of fourteen years. But when that term expired, they prepared their own Revision known as the American Standard Version. It first appeared in 1901, and was based on the best scholarship of both Britain and America, but prepared with American readers in mind be cause some words used in Britain then either were not used in America or were used with different meanings. And that is what Mr. Anderson’s Bible is.” “ Then there were two Revised Versions?” queried Archie. “ It would be better to say there were two editions of the one Revision—the first being that finished in 1885 and pub lished in England; the second, that completed in 1901, and printed in America.” “ Mr. Waller,” asked Patricia, “would that make a good topic for me to have next Sunday?” “ It certainly would, Patricia. Suppose you take it. You’ll have to share the books that Archie will be using, but I know he won’t object. Then it’s understood that you will dis cuss the Revised Version of 1885 and 1901.” “ Pastor,” said Jack, “ you’ve brought us up to the twentieth century. Have there been any developments since 1901?” “ Yes, Jack. I’m glad you asked that question. The Bible is again being revised—right now. The New Testament has already been completed and published, and the Old Testament is expected to be ready in 1950. And all this work is being done by American scholars.” “ I think I’ve seen one of those revised New Testaments,” commented Mary. “ Don’t they have blue covers?” “Yes, the cloth binding is blue, but there are leather bind ings also,” he explained. “ Perhaps you would like to know what that New Testament is called. Excuse me a moment while I go and get my copy, for I don’t remember the name exactly.” He went over to a bookcase and quickly located the desired volume. “Here is is,” he said. And turning to Mary, “ See its cover is blue, as you noticed.” ' “ But what is it called?” she asked. “ Oh, yes,” he remembered, “here’s the name, ‘The Revised Standard Version of the New Testament.’ ” Mr. Waller continued: “ I think we’ve made good progress this evening, but we’ve barely.scratched the surface of the subject.There’s one thing more before you go home. Since the American Standard Version appeared in 1901, a number of different versions in modern English have been prepared. They are the work of individuals rather than of officially ap pointed committees, and are very helpful. I have several of them, written by different scholars, and I think if one of you would take them, an interesting contribution could be made on Sunday by reading a familiar passage from each. Who would like to do that? Let’s see, only Jack and Mary are left. Jack, suppose we say ‘ladies first’ and let Mary take that as her assignment.” “ Okay,” he responded gallantly, “but what’ll I take?” “ Do not worry; there is plenty to this subject for all of us,” his pastor reassured him. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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