Wording of the Decalogue.
By J. H. W.
In the article reviewed by Bro. Penniman in this paper, the remarks of Bishop Stevens on the wording of the ten commandments are liable to mislead, and need to be qualified. He says: “The second commandment, which in our Bible is divided into three verses, is all expressed in the original by three or four words—Thou shalt not make to thyself idols.” It is difficult to conceive why this statement is made. The forbidding of making idols is, in truth, stated in a few words, and so it is in our version. But the whole commandment contains over eighty words in our version, and over thirty in the Hebrew. There are two reasons why less words are contained in the original. The Hebrew is a very brief language; prepositions, pronouns, &c., are connected with nouns so as to form but one word; of course they must be translated separately. Again, several words are frequently so connected as to be read as one, dropping the accent from all but the last, thus—“veeth-col-asher-bam;” as if we should write in translating:—“and-all-that-inthem [is],” and read it as one word. “Thou shalt not covet,” is contained in two words, as he says. But “thy neighbor’s” is another word, and “house” another, and “wife” another, and so on. There is no practical importance attached to this, except as some may be misled to suppose that the original law is not as specific and definite as our version, which is a great mistake. J. H. W.