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opinion , that the practice in question " is never heard oft \\\ this passage of Josephus . " If Mr . Freud can produce a more ancient testimony to the existence of this practice , I shall hail the discovery as one of no small
importance to the cause of sacred literature ; and I do not despair that such a testimony may still be found , although it has not been my good fortune to meet with it . But , " Our Saviour himself / ' says Mi * . Frend ,
< c when he quotes the very words of the first cominand ment , uses the terms , the Lord thy God , and not the word by which the hallowed name is expressed , " I merely notice , in passing , the inconsistency into which Mr . Frend
is inadvertently betrayed , when he says that our Saviour ' * quotes the very words of the firat commandment / ' and , at the same time , admits that he has substituted a very different word for that " by which the hallowed name is expressed / ' But , supposing the above remarks of Mr . Frend to
contain a fair representation of the case as to the main circumstance , what do they tend to prove ? Simply this : that our Lord followed the example of the Seventy , in rendering the word mrp , by the Greek word Kvpiof . The Septuagint was the only Greek version of the Old Testament in use
at the time when the Gospels were written ; and , as this version was originally intended for the Alexandrian Jews , and was generally used during the time of our Saviour , by those Jews who spoke the Greek language , it seems natural to suppose that , when
he had occasion to quote passages from the Old Testament , if he did not in all cases adopt the exact words of this translation , he would adhere as closely as possible to its peculiar phraseology , which had the authority of long-established usage in its favour . But as the word Jehovah was of
Hebrew origin , and had no corresponding term in the Greek language , why , it may be asked , was it not retained by the Seventy ? And , as the Seventy have not retained it , why did they use
Kvpioq as its representative , in preference to any other Greek word ? To the former of these questions it may be replied , that , when a word presents itself to a translator to which no equivalent term can be found in the lan-
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guage into whick lie is translating , he naturally adapts some vvord in common use , which approaches most nearly in meaning to the original word 3 and to the latter inquiry , the only satisfactory answer wMch presents itself to my mind is , that Kvpio <; was sometimes used by the Greeks instead of 0 £ 6 < j . " Etiam apud Grsecos o Kv $ io $ pro Deo dieitur . " ( Schleusner . ) The . Seventy might , indeed , have selected Aso-ira-n ^ , as the translator of th « Book of Proverbs has
done in one instance , ( ch . xxix . 2 & , ) or Gsoq , ( see Gein . iv . 4 ; Exod . iv . 2 , &c ., ) or any other word expressive of great power or dignity ; and why they did riot , I confess myself quite at a loss : to determine . Kup * c $ , however , is , at least , as good a translation of mrp as 0 eo * is of cdti ^ n . In the formation of the latter , there
is a peculiarity which we should in vain attempt to transfer to the Greek or any other language ^ except by coining a new word \ and , tloiigh we find ® sq <; substituted for it in the Septuagint , this word is no less objectionable as a translation of CD * iiV&
than Kufioq is of niitv The truth , is , that , in the translation of both words , their etymology is totally disregarded by the Seventy ; and the terms Kvpios and ® so <; are selected only because they were words already in general use , and because they
appeared better adapted than any other Greek words for the purpose of the translators . That the Seventy gave a decided preference to Kvgiog is evident , from their frequent use of it in
passages where the word mrp occuifa in the original ; and that the Evangelists adopted the same word under the same circumstances , because they had the authority of the Septuagint in their favour , and because a deviation
from established usage in this particular might have led to inconvenience , is a position which appears to me quite incontrovertible . But , at all events , I cannot allow that the use of this word by the Evangelists , Matthew , ( xxii . 37 , ) Mark , ( xii . 29 , 30 , ) and Luke , ( x . 27 , ) in their accounts of a conversation of our Lord with €€ one of the Scribes / ' is any proof that Jesus objected to the introduction of the name of Jehovah , whea used with proper solemnity and
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158 Mr . Wallace on the Reverencd oftheJeimfot theNdtn&qf \ Gdd .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1824, page 158, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2522/page/30/
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