474 Life and Immortality. 



correct interpretation of the original ? It is claimed that it 

 does not. The word " perish," it is said, does not occur at 

 all in the Hebrew text, nor is even the idea expressed. No 

 such translation as " beasts that perish," which appears 

 twice in our version, is justified by the Hebrew, the words 

 of the original implying " dumb beasts." The idea of per- 

 ishing, in the sense of annihilation, does not seem to be 

 implied. Let us take the Jewish Bible, which is acknowl- 

 edged to be the best and closest translation in the English 

 language, and examine it. Both in verses 12 and 20 of 

 Psalms XLIX, where the passage occurs, the rendering 

 reads : " Man that is in honor, and understandeth this not, is 

 like the beasts that are irrational." As an alternative read- 

 ing for " irrational," the word " dumb " is given in a foot- 

 note. A somewhat similar reading is found in the Septu- 

 agint, which, according to Brunton, runs as follows : " Man 

 that is in honor understands not; he is compared to the 

 senseless cattle, and is like them." In Wycliffe's Bible, 

 which is a translation from the Vulgate, the passage is ren- 

 dered : " A man whanne he was in honour understood not ; 

 he is comparisoned to unwise beestis, and is maad lijk 

 to tho." The " Douay " Bible, made by the English 

 Roman Catholic College of Douay, and which is the 

 version accepted by that branch of the Church in Eng- 

 land, renders the passage: " Man, when he was in honor, 

 did not understand ; he hath been compared to sense- 

 less beasts and made like to them." Numerous other 

 translations might be adduced, and it is safe to say that 

 scarcely any of them imply the idea of perishing in the 

 sense of being reduced to nothing. Even supposing that 

 the word " perish " is translated correctly, it does not there- 

 fore follow that annihilation is meant. Take the tenth verse 

 of the same Psalm in our authorized version : " For he 

 seeth that wise men die, and likewise the fool and the brutish 

 person perish, and leave their wealth to others." Surely no 

 sensible, intelligent person would construe this passage into 



