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but do not adopt Mr . G . ' s rendering . Schultens explains it by an Arabism , and considers it as declaring the unity and therefore the supremacy of God . The present translator seems to be aware of the poet ' s meaning , yet has failed , we think , of giving it a proper English dress . We prefer Scott ' s
cc Sole Potentate , " and , in French , the Genevan version , " II est seul Tout-Puissant . " xxiv . 1 . " Why seeing times are not hidden by the Almighty , &c . *' Pub . Vers . —** Wherefore are not
dooms-days kept by the Almighty , &c . " Good , Times is a literal rendering : and the context shews what seasons are intended . It should be one of the first objects of a translator of the scriptures to avoid the use of words which are either ambiguous or calculated to awaken peculiar , if
not ludicrous , associations of ideas . The majority of Mr . G . ' s readers will here think , naturally enough , upon dooms-day booh ; an awkward and improper combination in this passage . Nor is the phrase in itself sufficiently elegant and dignified } as little so as one which our translator employs in the next clause , — " that his offenders
may eye [ have a regard to ] his periods . " — 16 . " they dig through houses . " " Pub . Vers . — " he wormeth into houses . " Good . There may be some doubt whether the original is to be received literally or figuratively : yet in either case we must deem Mr . G . ' s
rendering incorrect . The author of the poem appears to have in view a degree and species of violence which the shades of night favour . We would follow JrJeath in reading the fifteenth
verse parenthetically . xxlv . 2 . " he maketh peace in his high places / " Pub . Vers . — " he worketh absolutely in' his heights . " Good . There is some obscurity in each of these translations . To both of them
\ ve prefer Heath ' s , whose note on the sentence vindicates , in our eyes , his rendering , " he distributeth perfect justice from the height of his exaltation . '
— 5 . " Behold even to the moon , and it shineth not , " Pub . Vers — " Behold even the moon , —and it abidetb not . " Good , who takes the latter of these verbs in the signification of pitching a tent . Schultens does the same : and , we presume , rightly .
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xxvi . 4 . To whom hast thou uttered words ? " Pub . Vers *—" From whom hast thou pillaged speeches ?" Good . In this translation elegance is sacrificed to a fruitless attempt at energy of expression . We should read , ci Concerning whom hast thou uttered speeches ?"
IS . " his hand hath formed the crooked serpent . " Pub . Vers " his hand incurvated the flying" serpent . " Good . Literally exact indeed , yet awkward . The word incurvate is scarcely naturalized in our language , and is particularly out of place in a
translation of any part of scripture . Bent or formed into a curve might be more eligible . We imagine that one of the constellations is intended . xxvii . IS . < c why then are ye thus altogether vain ? ° Pub . Vers , — " Why
then should ye thus babble babblings ? " Good . Heath , with a much greater regard to the usage of the English tongue , " "Why then are you after this manner so monstrously trifling ? " It would be better , " Why . so thoroughly trifling ?'
xxviii . 4 . " The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant . " Pub . Vers . — " He breaketh up the veins from the matrice . " Good . Of all the translations of . this difficult passage which have come within our knowledge , we prefer what Heath and the French ( Geneva ) version have given : " the torrent bursteth forth from the
springhead . "— Un ruissean ignore sort de sa source . Mines and the operations of mining are referred to : but matvict is a word so purely technical that , insteadof being a good translation , it requires to be translated . Simonis ( ut sup . 554 ) renders the corresponding
noun by radix montis . xxix . 11 . " it gave witness to me / Pub . Vers . — " it hiing upon me . " Good . We are persuaded that this alteration is altogether needless : nor
is any thing- gained , in point of sense or poetry , by departing from the usual import of the verb . The eye gave testimony to Job by the beams of gratitude , joy and veneration vvhich it darted towards him . " Rapture in every ear the sentence raised , And every eye with look app lauding
gazed . —Scott . xxx . 2 . " in whom old age was perished . " Pub . Vers . — " with w crabbed looks arc perpetual . " GoocJ , who translates this clause as being
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114 Review . ' —Goods Translation of the Book of Job .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1815, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1757/page/50/
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