placed in the foot-notes, while "reported" has been left unmarked in the text, and a curve placed after the verse numeral to indicate a change in the order of the retained words. Instances of this method of marking are exceptional. (5) While the words introduced by the Revisers are necessarily either additions or substitutions, it should be borne in mind that the two kinds of marks of inclosure employed in our diacritical work are not to be understood by a simple reference to that distinction. Upright dashes inclose only added words, but not all added words. Parallels, on the other hand, inclose all substituted words, but are not restricted to them. Where an added and a substituted word are conjoined, parallels inclose both; they also inclose all added words which, though introduced apart from substitutions, occupy the places of words excluded by the Revisers. Finally, parallels are in occasional instances somewhat loosely employed-in order to avoid using a curve after the verse numeral — in passages where there has been revisional addition and exclusion, but not strict alternation. The labor which is here brought to a close has been a heavy one. Unceasing vigilance was required at every step as a condition of the degree of accuracy attained in its execution. That price was willingly paid; and the work is now commended to the favor of all who love the Holy Word and to the blessing of its Divine Author. RUFUS WENDELL. ALBANY, N. Y., July 13, 1886. NOTE.-The "Explanation of Diacritical Marks and Foot-notes" employed in this volume will be found on the page facing the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. I. NUMERICAL SUMMARY. BELOW is an explanation of the four numeral columns of the subjoined tabular statement. Column 1 gives the number of words in the text of every book of the Revised Bible. The aggregate is 792,444 words (O. T., 612,530; N. T., 179,914). Column 2 gives the number of words introduced by the Revisers into the text of every book. The aggregate is 70,772 words (O. T., 45,248; N. T., 25,524). Column 3 gives the number of words excluded by the Revisers from the text of every book. The aggregate is 68, 508 words (O. T., 42,611; N. T., 25,897). Column 4 shows what percentage (i. e., how many words in a thousand) of the text of every book is composed of words introduced by the Revisers. 1. The Bible contains 1189 chapters (O. T., 929; N. T., 260). of a Revised Bible chapter is 666 words; of an O. T. chapter, 659 chapter, 692 words; of a Psalm, 293 words. The average length words; of a N. T. 2. The average length of a Bible verse is 25 words; of an O. T. verse, 26 words; of a N. T. verse 22 words. 3. The text of the Old Testament is 77% per cent of the Revised Bible; the text of the New Testament is 22 per cent of the Revised Bible. 4. The Revised Bible contains 31,088 verses (O. T., 23, 145; N. T., 7943). The number of verses which the Revisers have left verbally unchanged is 8166,- equal to 26 per cent of the total number. The verbally unchanged verses of the O. T. (=7295) are 31 per cent of its verses; those of the N. T. (=871) are 11 per cent of its verses. The 8166 verbally unchanged verses of both Testaments are numerically one in excess of the 222 verses of Ecclesiastes added to the 7943 verses of the N. T. Of the 8166 verbally unchanged verses 815 (O. T., 747 ; N. T., 68) have alternate renderings in the Revisers' Margin. 5. There are in the Revised Bible 866 verses (O. T., 589; N. T., 277) which, in the text, the Revisers have verbally changed only by the exclusion of some word or words. 6. There are 1051 verses (O. T., 797 ; N. T.. 254) which the Revisers have verbally changed only by the addition of some word or words. 7. The words introduced into the text by the Revisers are equal in amount to one hundred and six average Bible chapters. III. THE WORK OF THE REVISION COMPANIES. THE British Company of New Testament Revisers began its work on the 22d of June, 1870, and finished the same on the 11th of November, 1880. During that time it held 407 meetings. The American New Testament Revisers began their work October 4, 1872, and concluded it October 22, 1880.. The British Old Testament Revision Company began its work June 30, 1870, and finished it June 20, 1884. It held 792 meetings of six hours each. The American Old Testament Company began its work October 4, 1872, and completed the same at the close of 1884. The Revised New Testament was published in May, 1881; the Revised Old Testament, in May, 1885. CORRIGENDA. IN THE TEXT. Delete the curve before verse-numeral, Gen. x. 11; Delete the curve after verse-numeral, II. Sam. xi. 19; Gen. xiv. 17, inclose "vale" in parallels. Prov. vi. 2, insert verse-numeral; xviii. 4, substitute upright dashes for parallels. ciliation." Rom. v. 12, insert section-mark (§) before recon 67 (O. T.), for " 15 for; 16 read " 16.." ་ 13 because.. (for)." 351 (O. T.), change bracketed" 33" to "31" at end of last line. 44 a "should be uninclosed. arrows" should be uninclosed. "a" should be uninclosed. PREFACE. THE Revision of the Authorised Version was undertaken in consequence of a Resolution passed by both houses of the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury, as has been fully explained in the Preface to the Revised Version of the New Testament, which was first published in May 1881. When the two Companies were appointed for carrying out this work, the following General Principles, among others, were laid down by the Revision Committee of Convocation for their guidance: 1. To introduce as few alterations as possible into the Text of the Authorised Version consistently with faithfulness.' 2. To limit, as far as possible, the expression of such alterations to the language of the Authorised and earlier English Versions.' 4. That the Text to be adopted be that for which the evidence is decidedly preponderating; and that when the Text so adopted differs from that from which the Authorised Version was made, the alteration be indicated in the margin.' 7. To revise the headings of chapters and pages, paragraphs, italics, and punctuation.' In order to shew the manner in which the Old Testament Company have endeavoured to carry out their instructions, it will be convenient to treat the subjects mentioned in the foregoing rules in a somewhat different order. It will be observed that in Rule 4 the word 'Text' is used in a different sense from that in Rule 1, and in the case of the Old Testament denotes the Hebrew or Aramaic original of the several books. In this respect the task of the Revisers has been much simpler than that which the New Testament Company had before them. The Received, or, as it is commonly called, the Massoretic Text of the Old Testament Scriptures has come down to us in manuscripts which are of no very great antiquity, and which all belong to the same family or recension'. That other recensions were at one time in existence is probable from the variations in the Ancient Versions, the oldest of which, namely the Greek or Septuagint, was made, at least in part, some two centuries before the Christian era. But as the state of knowledge on the subject is not at present such as to justify any attempt at an entire reconstruction of the text on the authority of the Versions, the Revisers have thought it most prudent to adopt the Massoretic Text as the basis of their work, and to depart from it, as the Authorised Translators had done2, only in exceptional cases. With regard to the variations in the Massoretic Text itself, the Revisers have endeavoured to translate what appeared to them to be the best reading in the text, and where the alternative reading seemed sufficiently probable or important they have placed it in the margin. In some few instances of extreme difficulty a reading has been adopted on the authority of the Ancient Versions, and the departure from the Massoretic Text recorded in the margin. In other cases, where the versions appeared to supply a very probable though not so necessary a correction of the text, the text has been left and the variation indicated in the margin only. In endeavouring to carry out as fully as possible the spirit of Rules 1 and 2, the Revisers have borne in mind that it was their duty not to make a new translation but to revise one already existing, which for more than two centuries and 1 The earliest MS. of which the age is certainly known bears date A.D. 916. 2 See, for instance, 2 Sam. xvi. 12; 2 Chr. iii. 1, xxii. 6; Job xxxvii. 7; Ezek. xlvi. 10; Amos v. 26; Hag. 1. 2. |