masculine gender, is correctly joined with the preceding verb also in the masculine." The torrent Kishon swept them away." The word is, without doubt, the nominative to the verb 77, in whatever way the words may be translated. Thou didst prevail,' is not the literal rendering of the verb; it signifies to tread, an action never attributed, so far as our recollection serves us, to a river. Nor can we perceive the propriety or beauty of the adopted sense, as applied to the Kishon, which had already been represented as sweeping away the kings of Canaan, Mr. B.'s version introduces a strange confusion of metaphor, and appears to us to be a complete anti-climax.

1 Sam, i. 16 Account not thy daughter a worthless 'woman.' An intelligible rendering of a passage which, in the Common Version, is obscurely expressed, and the import of which, as is fully proved by the subjoined note, may certainly be misapprehended.

16. A worthless woman. The common idiom, a daughter, or son of Belial, for a worthless, or profligate man or woman, I believe is generally misunderstood. I have asked persons of some reading and good natural parts, what they supposed it meant; and they have replied, that they thought Belial, a name of the Devil. Had not our Translators some such notion, as it is printed with a capital Belial, as if it denoted a person? The Bishops' and Geneva versions are, wicked woman; Purver, ungodly woman. How often did James's translators, by retaining the Hebrew idiom, obscure the sense!'

1 Sam. xxv. 8. "He was of the house of Caleb," C. V. Yea, he was irritable as a dog.' B. A doubtful, but perhaps on the whole, justifiable alteration, founded on a slight correction of the original text, and agreeing with some of the ancient versions.

Kennicott's representation of the sense of 2 Sam. vii. 12-20. has always appeared to us remarkably forced. We are pleased to find that the present Translator renders it in accordance with the Common Version.

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18. Then went King David into the tabernacle, and sat before Jehovah, and said, Who am I, O Lord Jehovah! and what is my house, that hitherto thou hast so promoted me?

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men,' is one of the most singular and inadmissible translations that we remember ever to have seen. Who is the subject of this conditional visitation? The offspring of David's own body. (ver. 12.) The message delivered to David by Nathan, to which the entire series of the expressions, 2 Sam. vii. 12-29, refers, regarded the establishment of the royal authority in bis family, in direct connexion with the succession of Solomon. This is perfectly plain from 1 Kings viii. 20. "The Lord hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the "room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel as the "Lord promised," compared with 2 Sam. vii. 12. "When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will "set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy "bowels, and I will establish his kingdom." The house to be built, ver. 13. "He shall build a house for my name," was the Temple. 1 Kings viii. 20. " And have built a house for the 66 name of the Lord God of Israel." That Kennicott is altogether mistaken in describing the house to be erected, as not material or made of stones, but a spiritual house or family, is very evident; for in relation to what but a material building, does Solomon declare, I Kings v. 5. "I purpose to build a house "unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto "David my father, saying, Thy son whom 1 will set upon thy "throne in thy room, he shall build a house unto my name?" Kennicott's representation is completely set aside by the evidence of 1 Kings vi. 12. "Concerning this house which thou "art building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my "judgements, and keep all my commandments to walk in them;

then will I perform my word unto thee, which I spake unto "David thy father." Now, of this person who should thus build a house for God, and who was no other than Solomon, it is said, v. 14. "If he commit iniquity, I will chastise him with the rod " of men, and with the stripes of the children of men :" the compound word is in the Hiphil conjugation, and is correctly rendered in the Common Version, and by Mr. Boothroyd, If he commit iniquity.' Instead of" The manner of man," (v. 19.) Kennicott would read, The law of the Adam,' asserting that literally signifies the man, or the Adam. The expression, we are persuaded, has no such reference, Gen. vi. 5. is, the wickedness of mankind," not the wickedness of the man, or, the Adam. DIN Gen. viii. 21. is, 'heart of man,' generally and universally, not, the heart of the man, or the Adam. N is the law, or the custom, or 'the manner of man." Kennicott's entire criticism on the pássage, is strangely bold and inaccurate.

the

We shall copy the whole of Mr. Boothroyd's version of the last words of David,' 2 Sam. xxiii. 1–7.

1. Now these, though later, are the words of David,
Thus saith David, the son of Jesse ;
The man who was highly exalted;
The anointed of the God of Jacob;
The pleasant psalmist of Israel-

2. The spirit of Jehovah speaketh by me, And his word is on my tongue.

3. The God of Israel hath said to me; To me the rock of Israel hath promised, "A just ruler over mankind,

Who will rule in the fear of God."

4. As the light of the morning when the sun ariseth; A morning cloudless and resplendent;

As the grass from the earth after rain,
5. Is not my house thus with God?

For with me He hath made an everlasting covenant,
Wisely ordered in all points and sure.

Truly in this is all my salvation;

And mine every desire will he not accomplish? 6. But lawless men, all of them,

Are like thorns, to be thrust away,

(For they cannot be taken with the band,

7. But the man who would cut them up,

Must have an ax and a spear-shaft,}

And to be burned in the place with fire.'

1 Chron. xvii. 16-18. On this passage, which Kennicott has selected for another trial of his critical skill; we accord in opinion with Mr. Boothroyd, and King James's Translators. 16 And David, the king, went into the tabernacle, and sat before Jehovah, and said, "Who am I, O God Jehovah, and what is my 17 house, that hitherto thou hast so promoted me? And as if this was but a small thing in thine eyes, O God, thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come; and hast provided for me according to the state of men of high rank, O God Jehovah !"'

Instead of a man of high degree,' as in the Common Version, or men of high rank,' as in Boothroyd's, Kennicott reads, The Adam that is future, or the man that is from ' above.' The word by does not mean futurity; the root from which it is derived, never is used in this sense, nor can it mean from above.; it is never so applied. The expression is evidently parallel with that at ver. 8. The great men that are in the earth. Kennicott's criticism, however, is not original; he is only the copyist of Peters, who, we believe, first suggested the rendering, in the preface to his Critical Dissertation on the Book of Job.

We extract the following additional examples of variation from the Common Version.

Gen. vi. 16. A window shalt thou make.' C. V.

'A deck.' Boothroyd.

A sloping deck.' Geddes.

x. 9.

Mighty hunter.' C. V.

Mighty plunderer.' B.

xxxiii. 18.

xxxvi. 24.

Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem.' C. V. 'Jacob came safe to the city Shechem.' B.

Mules.' C. V. Waters.' B.

Exodus i. 19. They are lively.' C. V.

They are more vigorous.' B.

iii. 1. Backside of the desert.' C. V.

'Extremity of the wilderness.' B.

v. 14. I AM THAT I AM.' C. V.
'I AM because I AM.' B.

iv. 25. A bloody husband.' C. V.
"A blood-bought husband.' B.

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viii. 19. The finger of God.' C. V.

'The finger of a God.' B.

xii. 2. The beginning of months.' C. V.
The chief of months.' B.

xiv. 7. Chariots of Egypt.' C. V.
'Cavalry of Egypt.' B.

Lev. xiii. 4. Sbut him up seven days.' C.V.
'Bind up the wound seven days.' B.

xvii. 7. ' Devils.' C. V. 'Demons.' B.

xix. 26. Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood.' C. V. 'Ye shall not eat upon the mountains.' B.

xxiv. 15. ‹ Whosoever curseth his God.' C. V.

"Whosoever curseth his own rulers.' B. '-and he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord.' C. V. 'but he who blasphemeth the name of Jehovah.' B. Num. i. 50. Tabernacle of testimony.' C. V.

'Convention tent.' G. Testimony-tabernacle.' B. In Exodus xxxviii. 21. 'Tabernacle of testimony,' occurs in Mr. Boothroyd's version.

Num. v. 18. The bitter water that causeth the curse.' C. V. The proof-execration water.' B.

xiv. 34.

'The corrosive-execration water.' Geddes.

Ye shall know my breach of promise.' C. V. "Ye shall know my indignation.' B.

xvi. 1. Took men.' C. V.

Conspired.' B.

xxi. 1. Way of the spies.' C. V.

Way of Atharim.' B.

Deut. xxviii. 5. Thy store.' C. V.

'Thy kneading troughs.' B.

Joshua, vi. 4. Seven trumpets of rams' horns.' C. V. 'Seven jubilee trumpets,' B.

xi. 13. The cities that stood still in their strength.' C. V.
'The cities which stood on the hills.' B.

xiii. 19. The mount in the valley.' C. V.
On mount Enak.' B.

Judges iii. 19.

Quarries.' C. V. 'Carved idols.' B. We must now dismiss this First Volume of Mr. Boothroyd's 'Improved Version' of the Bible, a title by which it is not incorrectly designated. Mr. B. is neither a dogmatizer nor a rash and fanciful innovator. He scarcely ever offends us by his temper; and in the alterations which he introduces, he proceeds with commendable caution. Differing essentially from Geddes in his theological credenda, he has nevertheless not scrupled to avail himself of the philological improvements of that Translator, whom indeed he very generally follows. Conjectural alterations, of which we are at all times very jealous, are but sparingly, and perhaps then necessarily, adopted. Some passages are struck out of the text, as Judges ch. 1. ver. 11-19 inclusive, and a considerable portion of the eighteenth chapter of the first Book of Samuel, and other less copious instances. The cases of transpositions are numerous. These, It should be remembered, are of a less hazardous character than examples of the preceding description, inasmuch as the inviolability of the text is strictly maintained; the only difference here between the Common Translation and the Improved Version,' consisting in the arrangement of the words. In the cases that differ, that adopted in Mr. Boothroyd's Bible is generally to be preferred. The division of chapters in the Common Version, is perhaps not quite so faulty in the Old, as in the New Testament part of it; there is, however, room for amendment in this respect, and Mr. Boothroyd has not overlooked the instances in which a more approveable distribution of the matter of the several books of Scripture, was desirable. Of the practical reflections we cannot speak too highly; they may be warmly recommended for domestic use. The Editor professes to have been assisted' occa'sionally' in this part of his labours, by the Exposition of Orton: his obligations to that Author are to the full as considerable as this acknowledgement imports. The notes are principally explanatory, either assigning the reasons for the variations from the public version, or elucidating the sense of the text.

On the whole, Mr. Boothroyd's Improved Version' is deserving of great commendation, and merits at once the approba