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lians from the Alexandrine Greek translation, but it is now 

 used by Jews also. Of this there are several complete 

 manuscript copies m Europe, a list of which is given by 

 Ludolf : parts of it have been printed. Other copies have 

 been brought to Europe by Bruce and Riippcll. 



There exists also a translation in the dialect of Lower 

 Egypt, the so-called Coptic or Memphitic; and another in 

 the dialect of Upper Egypt, the Sahidic, or Thebaic. The 

 origin of these translations, parts of which have been printed, 

 belongs probably to the end of the third, or the commence- 

 ment of the fourth century. Both were made from the 

 Septuagint. 



The Armenian translation by Miesrob was executed with 

 the assistance of Johannes Ekelensis and Jos. Palnensis, 

 about A.D. 410. With this translation, Miesrob gave to the 

 Armenians an alphabet. He followed the Septuagint, and 

 in Daniel the Greek of Theodotion. Miesrob's translation 

 is said to have been interpolated in the sixth century ac- 

 cording to the Peschito, and in the thirteenth century ac- 

 cording to the Vulgate. 



The Georgian or Grusingian translation was made in the 

 sixth century, and follows the Septuagint. 



The Sclavonic translation is said to have been made in 

 the ninth century, from the text of the Septuagint ; but, 

 according to Alter, it originated from the Itala, and was 

 altered in the fourteenth century according to Greek MSS. 



It is unnecessary in an article so limited as the present 

 to do more than name the Arabic translations, the Veneta, 

 the Targumim, the Samaritan translation, the Peschito, the 

 Vulgate, the Gothic, the Anglo-Saxon and Persian trans- 

 hitiniis, &c. 



The Hebrews had, like other nations, their prose and 

 poetical styles. The poetical style is distinguished by great 

 boldness and freshness of expression, and by a rhythmical 

 movement or cadence of language. This rhythmus occurs 

 in various degrees. There are parts in the prophets, and in 

 the book of Kcclesiastes, which are scarcely elevated above 

 the lovel of prose. The gradual ascent from prose to rhyth- 

 mus, and the descent from rhythmus to prose, constitutes 

 one of the beautiful characteristics of Hebrew poetry. The 

 rhythmus of syllables is, in Hebrew, so free, that some have 

 preferred to call it ' numerus by accentuation.' This numerus 

 consists usually in a free mixture of iambics, trochees, am- 

 phibrachs, and anapaests. 



' The books and passages of the Old Testament, which are 

 composed in a poetical style, have such a diversity of cha- 

 racter, from the various times at which they were written, 

 that it is necessary to distinguish them into several periods. 

 Four of these periodical divisions may be conveniently 

 adopted. 



' The first embraces short historical songs, and oracular 

 sentences : simplicity and obscure brevity are the charac- 

 teristics of these. The second sera is that of heroic song. 

 In the times of the Judges, the actions of the protectors and 

 defenders of Israel were celebrated in this style. Of the same 

 description are inspiriting war-songs, and songs of triumph. 

 The third period commences with the schools of the pro- 

 phets, founded by Samuel, in which the art of poetry was 

 enlarged, refined, and ennobled. Historical poems, pas- 

 torals, and hymns in praise of God, and war-songs, were 

 produced by these schools. At length, under David and 

 Solomon's reign, we approach the golden age of Hebrew 

 poetry, to which succeeded the sublime oracles of the pro- 

 phets. They uttered, in solemn strains, promises and 

 threatenings, and described better times to come in imagery 

 borrowed from the golden age. The fourth epoch coincides 

 with the time about and subsequent to the Babylonian cap- 

 tivity. Then the fiery energy of the prophetic poetry was 

 lost, and plaintive songs of woe were blended alternately 

 with joyful strains, sung in hope of their return to Zion, 

 and with cheerful festive hymns, in which the expectation 

 of a universal kingdom of God on earth was expressed 

 in various ways. 



' With respect to the external form, the various species of 

 Hebrew poetry may, upon the whole, be described by the 

 mines given to their poetic compositions by the Greeks and 

 Romans ; but it must not be imagined that their arrange- 

 ment and disposition are of the same kind. The following 

 .may be considered as distinct species of Hebrew poetry : 



' First, short traditional poems, containing anecdotes of fa- 

 milies, for the purpose of handing them down to posterity. 

 Second, longer historico-religious poems ; as, for example, 

 1 Moses (Gen,) i. and ii., also Psalms cxxxv. cxxxvi. ; and 



poems of a mythic form, 1 Moses (Gen.) iii. xi. Third, odes : 

 these are subdivided into 1. Hymns, songs of praise, and 

 thanksgiving for divine worship ; 2. Common odes, in which 

 other important, objects were expressed in sublime imagery, 

 and, finally, 3. War-songs, which often ascend to the dignity 

 of the ode. Fourth, elegies, lamentations, pastoral lays, and 

 songs in praise of love. Fifth, songs of a middle species, 

 which do not attain the character of the ode. Sixth, di- 

 dactic poems, of which there are 1. Many short ones in 

 the Psalms; and, 2. Some of greater length in Job and 

 Ecclesiastes. To these latter belong 3. Parables, fables, 

 and allegories ; and, finally, 4. Single sententious apo- 

 phthegms, or proverbs. 



' Descriptions of the separate prophetical books are given 

 in the Introductions (such as those of Eichhorn, Jahu, Ber- 

 thold, and De Wette) to the Old Testament : but those 

 books must be divided into two classes, in order to facilitate 

 their interpretation, viz., those written before, and those 

 written after the captivity, as the character and contents 

 of the latter differ materially from those of the former 

 writings. 



' The first period of those writings is that between Moses 

 and the captivity. The prophets who lived in this period la- 

 boured to oppose idolatry ; and continually exercised this 

 grand theme of their discourses and denunciations in new 

 forms, and under various images and conceptions. They 

 announced on these occasions the approach of divine justice 

 in the devastation of the land, and the carrying off of its in- 

 habitants, but they at the same time opened a view into a 

 distant state of future felicity, the return of the better part 

 of the Israelites to the true God, the return of manv of them- 

 selves out of all tribes to Judoea, and their re-union as a 

 people. They already saw many heathens, proceeding 

 with the Jews towards Jerusalem, for the observance of the 

 same worship ; they saw a divine kingdom, whose borders 

 were to be continually enlarging. 



' The other period is that from the exile to Malachi. Tho 

 prophets who lived during this time sustained the hopes of 

 Israel ; but they at the same time directed their exhorta- 

 tions to the promotion of the true worship of God, and de- 

 nounced punishment against hypocritical offerings, against 

 indolence in doing good, against unrighteousness, and many 

 other sins, as being the cause of preventing God from ful- 

 filling, in their complete extent, his promises to the citizens 

 of the newly-restored Jerusalem. Some of the prophets 

 already foresaw a time of severe judicial punishments to be 

 indicted by God on the sefractory Israelites.' (Seller's Her- 

 mencutics.) 



The English Bible. No complete translation appears to 

 have been made in the Saxon times into the language then 

 spoken in England. By some writers Bede is said to have 

 made such a translation, but this is now generally under- 

 stood to be a mistake. That he translated portions of the 

 Scriptures is, however, certain. One of the best authenti- 

 cated facts in his life is, that he was employed in trans- 

 lating the Gospel of St. John into Saxon at the time of his 

 decease. The early writers who relate this fact differ re- 

 specting the extent to which he had proceeded in trans- 

 lating this Gospel. No evidence can be produced that the 

 whole of the Scriptures was, by any person, rendered into 

 Saxon. But of the more important portions Saxon versions 

 still exist in manuscript. We shall notice three of the most 

 remarkable copies: 1. A manuscript of the Psalms iu 

 Latin, with an interlinear Saxon version. This is now in the 

 Cottonian Library at the British Museum, where it is nume- 

 rated Vespasian A. i. 2. A manuscript of the Gospels in 

 the same library, numerated Nero D. iv. This contains the 

 Latin text, with an interlinear Saxon version. Both these 

 manuscripts are of singular beauty, and impress the mind 

 with a strong feeling of respect for the monks of Lindisfarn, 

 in whose house, and probably not later than the eighth cen- 

 tury, they were executed. 3. Another manuscript of the 

 same class is at Oxford, where it is known by the name of 

 the Rushworth Gloss, on account of its having belonged to 

 Rushworth the historical writer. This manuscript contains 

 the Gospels only. Other manuscripts exist of Saxon versions 

 of portions of the Scriptures in many libraries ; and there are 

 notices in writers on Saxon affairs of several persons who, 

 beside Bede, were employed in the translation of these im- 

 portant writings into the vernacular tongue. At the Re- 

 formation, when the work of translating the Scriptures met 

 with opposition from the church, it was a point of some im- 

 portance to draw the public attention to the fact that versions 



