the Go. the Sax. and the Cop. versions. The common reading not only has the advantage in point of evidence, but is more clearly connected with the context. 9. "At the toll-office," ini rò reláviov. E. T. "At the receipt of custom." But the word receipt in this sense seems now to be obsolete. Some late translators say at the custom-house." But have we any reason to think it was a house? The Sy. name is no evidence that it was; for, like the Hebrews, they use the word beth, especially in composition, with great latitude of signification. Most probably it was a temporary stall, or moveable booth, which could easily be erected in any place where occasion required. The name tolbooth, which Ham. seems to have preferred, would at present be very unsuitable, as that word, however well adapted in point of etymology, is now confined to the meaning of jail or prison. The word office, for a place where any particular business is transacted, whether within doors or without, is surely unexceptionable. 10. "At table." Diss. VIII. Part iii. sect. 3-7. 13. "I required humanity," leov vélo. E. T. "I will have mercy." But this last expression in Eng. means probably, "I will exercise mercy." In the prophet here referred to, our translators have rendered the verb much better, I desired.' They ought not to have changed the word here. 2" Humanity." E. T. "Mercy." The Gr. word commonly answers, and particularly in this passage, to a Heb. term of more extensive signification than mercy, which, in strictness, denotes only clemency to the guilty and the miserable. This sense (though Phavorinus thinks otherwise) is included in eos, which is sometimes properly translated mercy, but it is not all that is included. And in an aphorism, like that quoted in the text, it is better to interpret the word in its full latitude. The Heb. term employed by the prophet Isaiah, in the place quoted, is chesed, a general name for all the kind affections. See Diss. VI. Part iv. sect. 18. 3 "And not sacrifice," for "more than sacrifice;" a noted Hebraism. "To reformation," is perάvocav. These words are wanting in a good many MSS. There is nothing to correspond to them in the Vul. Sy. Go. Sax. and Eth. versions. Critics are divided about them. To me there scarcely appears sufficient evidence for rejecting them. Besides, it is allowed by all, that if they be not expressed in this place, they are understood. 15. "Bridemen." Mr. 2: 19. N. 16. "Undressed cloth," paxovs άyváçov. E. T. "New cloth.". That this gives in effect the same sense cannot be doubted, as it answers literally to the expression used by L. who says iuariov xaivou. But as the expressions are different, and not even synonymous, VOL. II. 9 I thonght it better to allow each evangelist to express himself in his own manner. 17. "Old leathern bottles," doxovs nadaιous. E. T. "Old bottles." 'Aoxos is properly a vessel for holding liquor. Such vessels were commonly then, and in some countries are still, of leather, which were not easily distended when old, and were consequently more ready to burst by the fermentation of the liquor. As this does not hold in regard to the bottles used by us, I thought it better, in translating, to add a word denoting the materials of which their vessels were made. 18. "Is by this time dead." äori iredevrnoev. E. T. "Is even now dead.” Philostrat. ἄρτι, περὶ τὸν καίρον τῶν ῥημάτων : "By this time dead," a natural conjecture concerning one whom he had left a-dying. As the words are evidently susceptible of this interpretation, candor requires that it be preferred, being the most conformable to the accounts of this miracle given by the other historians. 20. The tuft of his mantle,” του κρασπέδου τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτ TOU. E. T. "The hem of his garment." The Jewish mantle, or upper garment, was considered as consisting of four quarters, called in the oriental idiom' wings,' neqvyia. Every wing contained one corner, whereat was suspended a tuft of threads or strings, which they called xoαonidov. See Numb. 15: 37. Deut. 22: 12. What are there called fringes are those strings, and the four quarters of the vesture are the four corners. In the Sy. version the word is rendered karna, 'corner.' As, in the first of the passages above referred to, they are mentioned as serving to make them remember the commandments of the Lord to do them, there was conceived to be a special sacredness in them, (see ch. 23: 5,) which must have probably led the woman to think of touching that part of his garment rather than any other. They are not properly, says Lamy, 'des franges' in our language, but des houpes.' See his description of them and of the phylacteries, Commentarius in Harmoniam, lib. v. cap. 11. Sc. has rendered it in this place fringe; but this word answers worse than hem, for their garments had no fringes. 27. "Son of David." This was probably meant as acknowledging him to be the Messiah; for at this time it appears to have been universally understood that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. 30. "Their eyes were opened." A Heb. idiom, neither remote nor inelegant, to denote "they received their sight." 2 Strictly charging them, said,” ἐνεβριμήσατο αὐτοῖς λέγων. Vul. Comminatus est illis, dicens." Si. who translates from the Vul. says, "Leur dit, en les menacant rudement;" where, instead of softening the harsh words of his author, the La. translator, he has rendered them still harsher. In another place, Mr. 1: 43, μßoἐμβρι μησάμενος αὐτῷ λέγει is thus expressed in his translation, “ en lui disant avec de fortes menaces." It is strange that, when the very words used by our Lord, on both these occasions, are related by the evangelist, in which there is nothing of either threat or harshness, an interpreter should imagine that this is implied in the verb. Si. may use for his apology, that he translates from the Vul. The Sy. translator, who understood better the oriental idiom, renders the Gr. verb by a word in Sy. which implies simply he forbade,'' he prohibited. Mr. 9: 25, N. 35. "Among the people," v to law. This clause is wanting in many MSS. in the Vul. the Sy. and most other ancient versions. As in this case the evidence on the opposite sides may be said to balance each other, and as the admission or the rejection makes no alteration in the sense; that the clause possesses a place in the common Gr. editions, and in the E. T. is here sufficient ground for deciding in its favor. 36. “ He had compassion upon them.” ἐσπλαγχνίσθη περὶ αὐτ Tov, E. T. "He was moved with compassion on them." Vul. "Misertus est eis." Be., imagining there was something particularly expressive in the Gr. verb here used, has rendered this clause "commiseratione intima commotus est super eis," and is followed by Pisc. Er. seems to have had in some degree the same notion. He says, "Affectu misericordiæ tactus est erga illos," and is followed by Cal. Leo de Juda adds only "intimè" to 'misertus est.' Cas. has preferred the unaffected simplicity of the Vul. and said "misertus est eorum." Lu. has taken the same method. Be.'s opinion had great weight with the Protestant translators of that age who came after him. Dio. says, "Sene mosse 66 a gran pieta." G. F. "Il fut emeu de compassion envers icelles," which is literally the same with our common version, and which has also been adopted by L. Cl. The P. R. translators, "Ses entrailles furent emeues de compassion." Sa. after the Vul. says simply, "Il en aut compassion." Si. to the same purpose, "Il en eut pitié." So does Beau. who translates from the Gr. Of the late Eng. translations, An. Dod. Wor. and Wa. follow the common version. Wes. has chosen to go beyond it, "He was moved with tender compassion for them." But Wy. has in this way outstripped them all, "His bowels yearned with compassion on them." Sc. and Hey. render the expression as I do. Those strange efforts to say something extraordinary, result from an opinion, founded on etymology, of the signification of the Gr. word onλayyvisoμae, from onλayzva, viscera, the bowels.' This they consider as corresponding to the Heb.richam, both noun and verb. The noun in the plural is sometimes interpreted onλάyyva. The verb is never by the Seventy rendered onλaryvisoμat, a word which does not occur in that version, but generally ɛɛw or oixzɛiow, which occur of ten, and are rendered I have compassion,' 'I have mercy,' or 'I have pity.' Nay, the Heb. word frequently occurs joined with a negative particle, manifestly denoting to have no mercy, etc. Now for this purpose the verb richam would be totally unfit, if it signified to be affected with an uncommon degree of compassion; all that would be then implied in it, when joined with a negative, would be, that an uncommon degree of compassion was not shown. In the historical part of the N. T. where the word onλayyvisoμar occurs pretty often, and always in the same sense, not one of those interpreters who in this passage find it so wonderfully emphatical, judge it proper always to adhere to their method of rendering adopted here, but render it barely I have compassion.' Even Wes. who has been more uniform than the rest, thought fit to desert his favorite phrase in translating Mr. 9: 22, where the man who brought his son to Jesus to be cured says, as he renders it, If thou canst do any thing, "have compassion on us," onλayqvioveis ¿q' σπλαγχνισθεὶς ἐφ ̓ nuas," and help us." So also says Wy. Both have been sensible that emotions of tender compassion,' and the yearning of the bowels,' would make an awkward and affected figure in this place. The plea from etymology, in a point which ought to be determined solely by use, where use can be discovered, is very weak. IfI should render this expression in Cicero, stomachabatur, si quid asperius dixerim;' if I happened to use a severe expression, instantly' his stomach was disordered with vexation,' I believe I should be thought to translate ridiculously. And yet the last clause is exactly in the same taste with "his bowels yearned with compassion." The style of the evangelists is chaste and simple; no effort in them to say extraordinary things, or in an extraordinary manner. The diction, if not, when judged by the rhetorician's rules, pure and elegant, is, however, natural, easy and modest. Though they did not seek out fine words, the plainest, and to that class of people with whom they were conversant, the most obvious, came unsought. They aimed at no labored antithesis, no rounded periods, no ambitious epithets, no accumulated superlatives. There is a naked beauty in their manner, which is entirely their own. And with all the faults of the Vul. the barbarisms and solecisms with which it is chargeable, it has, in many places, more of that beautiful but unadorned simplicity than most modern translations. 1 should not have been at so much pains, where there is no material difference of meaning, but to take an occasion of showing, once for all, how idly some bestow their labor, hunting after imaginary emphasis through the obscure mazes of etymology; a method which, in explaining any author in any language, could, with the greatest facility, be employed to make him say what he never formed a conception of. Diss. IV. sect. 26. 2 "They were scattered and exposed," our indehvμévoi nai ¿ócμμévoi. E. T. "They fainted and were scattered abroad." It is acknowledged, that in a very great number of MSS. the word is not ἐκλελυμένοι, but ἐσκυλμένοι. In regard to the reading in those copies from which the Vul. and other ancient translations were made, this is one of those cases in which nothing can be concluded with certainty. The reason is, one of the senses of the word ¿xhehuμévoi, namely, fatigued,' ' exhausted,' nearly coincides with the meaning of coxvàμévoi; consequently the version might have been the same, whichsoever way it stood in the translator's copy. Now if these translations be set aside, the preponderancy is not such as ought in reason to determine us against the reading which suits best the conTo me, the common reading appears, in this respect, preferable. Now the word izλów, when applied either to a flock or to a multitude of people, means dissipo, 'I scatter,' as well as debilito, 'I weaken;' nor can any thing be better suited to the scope of the passage. Be. has preferred that sense, and Elsner has well supported it; as he has, in like manner, the true meaning of gouuévo in this place, as signifying exposed. This interpretation has also the advantage of being equally adapted to the literal sense and to the figurative; to the similitude introduced, and to that with which the comparison is made. It is not a natural consequence of the absence of the shepherd that the sheep should be fatigued and worn out, or languid, but it is the consequenee that they should be scattered and exposed to danger. The shepherd prevents their wandering and protects them. CHAPTER X. messen 2. "Apostles," άnooτólov. That is missionaries,' gers.' It is rarely applied to any but those whom God, or one representing his person, as the chief magistrate or the high-priest, sends on business of importance. The word occurs only once in the Septuagint, 1 Ki. 14: 6, where Ahijah the prophet is, by those interpreters, represented as saying to the wife of Jeroboam, 'Eyo εἰμὶ προς σε σκληρός. ziμì ànóorodos noos oe oxinoós. After the captivity, in our Lord's time, the term was applied to those whom the high priest chose for counsellors, and to whom he commonly gave commission to collect the tribute payable to the temple from the Jews in distant regions. It continued in use, as we learn from Jerom, after the destruction of the temple and dispersion of the people by Titus Vespasian. Thus, accounting for the expression used by Paul, Gal. 1: 1, he says, "Usque hodie a patriarchis Judæorum apostolos mitti constat. Ad distinctionem itaque eorum qui mittuntur ab hominibus, et sui qui sit missus a Christo, tale sumpsit exordium. Paulus apostolus, non ab hominibus, neque per hominem." We may add, |