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fcbth the Gammon Translation and that of the Improved Version equally connect it with Jehovah , of which name the Greek Kvpiog , is the representative , they are both almost equally objectionable . Jehovah , the proper and peculiar name of the God of Israel , being an appellative , and from its
nature denoting one object , would not have the attribute of singleness ascribed to it , which supposes the possibility of its including more than one . It would be just as rational to say , " George our king is one George , " if any one could need to be informed
of his unity . The only supposition on which the language- of the Common Translation or Improved Version could be justified is , that it was intended directly to contradict the doctrine of the Trinity , which will be embraced neither by its advocates nor by those who believe it to have been first devised in a
later age . There is no other passage of Scripture in which unity is predicated of the name Jehovah , except Zech . xiv . 9 , in which I conceive the translation to be incorrect .
Dr . Geddes has , I think , translated the words of Moses more successfully than his predecessors — " The Lord , the Lord only is our God ; " where , though for the sake of clearness and conciseness , the one is changed into
the adverb only , the quality of unity belongs to the word God , which is equally applicable to false as to the true God . The meaning is , " Jehovah is our God , Jehovah is the only God . " The Hebrew Lexicons , to which I have access , do not indeed give to the word TriK , the sense of only or alone ; but there can be little doubt of its
allovvableness , as it is but a different application of the same idea , which is often expressed by the same word , not only in the kindred languages but in many others , besides which there occur to ine some instances in justification of it . Job xxiii . 13 : in « l « im , " But he is the o nly one , " i . e . the Supreme God ( vide Dathe in loc . ) ; or , perhaps , though fie be alone 9 who can hinder him ? " Song of Solomon vi . 9 : " This
my dove , my most excellent is alone / 9 nrtK , unrivalled in beauty—above all the queen ' s concubines and virgins spoken of in the preceding verse . " She » the only one ( nn «) of her mother , toe most beloved of her parent . " CUathe in loc . ) Ezech . vii . 5 : " There
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is an evil , an only evil , " nntt . In Zech . xiv . 9 , our Common Version is , The Lord shall be king over all the earth , In that day there shall be one Lord , and his name one .
But as the intention plainly is to prophesy of the authority of Jehovah being- acknowledged , and his name adored , to the exclusion of other gods , it will certainly be a great improvement to render in « as in the above
examples : And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth ; In that day shall Jehovah be alone .-i . e . as king or God . And his name shall be the only one : sc . which shall be reverenced and honoured .
I it be allowed , as I think it must , that the translation I have adopted is justifiable from the original words , we shall not , I apprehend , find much difficulty with the ancient versions . I believe they all meant to convey the same sense . The Targum of Onkelos
and the Samaritan Version are liable to exactly the same remark 3 as the original . The other translations insert the substantive verb at the end , from which it has been inferred , that they took the whole to be one clause . The Latin unus , the Greek L <; , ( vide
Schleusner in verb . ) and the Syr . f * may all signify " only" or " one alone . " " The Lord our God , the Lord is the one , or the only / ' sc . God , is a just
translation of the Greek words , and that this was our Lord ' s meaning may appear , probable , from the echoing reply of the Scribe , ** Well , Master , thou hast said the truth ; for there is one God : and there is no other but
he . " The argument also drawn from the words , for the exclusive love of Jehovah , is plainly directed against the worship of many gods . On the whole , there is a material difference between the propositions ,
" There is one God , " " God is one . " The former is opposed to the opinions and practices of Pagans , and is a simple and important truth—the latter must appear a mere truism , unless in reference to the doctrine of the Trinity , which all who disbelieve it hold to have arisen much too late to be directly contradicted in Scripture ; but , as in the text under our conside-
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Mr . Hincks on Mark xii . 29 . 69
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1822, page 69, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2509/page/5/
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