1893.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 69 



Bibles were written. The Hebrew Bible used to-day by students is 

 usually that in which the words are " pointed," the translation of 

 such words as given in the Hebrew- English Dictionary being that 

 determined upon by Jews living about 1,200 years ago. No doubt such 

 Jews, in the pointing of stem words, as well as the translators of 

 the Bible into English in modern times, were influenced by the 

 interpretation of the Hebrew as given in the Greek translation 

 made by the Seventy at Alexandria in the reign of Ptolemy 

 Philadelphus, and by Aquila, Theodotion and Symmachus, and in 

 the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome, all six of which versions, it may 

 be mentioned, were incorporated by Origen in his famous Hexapla 

 Bible. The authority, therefore, for the accepted pointed Hebrew 

 text and for the old and revised versions of the English Bible is 

 weighty indeed. It is with great diffidence, therefore, that the 

 author presumes to offer any other interpretation than that usually 

 accepted of those verses in the first chapter of Genesis relating to 

 the creation of animal life. 



The account of the creation of animal life as given in the first 

 chapter of Genesis begins with the 20th Verse, which we give in 

 the original unpointed Hebrew, together with a literal translation 

 of the same : 



rr»n tfsa ptt ron wittF xpfib* nt:«n 



living creature reptile waters the abundantly produce shall Aleim said and 



but which, according to the English version, old or revised, is trans- 

 lated, " And God said let the waters bring forth abundantly the 

 moving creature that hath life." 



heavens the of expanse the of faces the above earth the above flutter shall birds 



rendered according to the authorized version, " and fowl that may 

 fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven." Admit- 

 ting that, while our translation of the Hebrew is far less beautiful 

 and elegant than the language of the old or revised version, it is 

 nevertheless correct, it will be observed that the Hebrew word V"ltP, 

 shrtz, is translated by us "reptile" instead of "moving creature," 

 and tpy, ouph, "bird " instead of " fowl." The translation of the word 

 shrtz " reptile " instead of " moving creature " or " creeping creature " 

 as given in the marginal reading of the English versions is justified 

 first by its etymology, it being derived from the verb shrtz, " to creep 

 or crawl or to produce abundantly," and second, from the fact of it 

 being translated by the Seventy, Aquila and Theodotion ipnera, 



