_Old Version_. _New Version_.
2. Praise ye the Lord for the 2. For the leading of the
avenging of Israel, when the leaders in Israel, for the
people willingly offered voluntary offering of the people,
themselves. praise ye the Lord . . .
7. _The inhabitants of_ the 7. Leaders failed in Israel,
villages ceased, they ceased in they failed, until that I,
Israel, until that I Deborah Deborah, arose, that I arose a
arose . . . mother in Israel . . .
10. Speak, ye that ride on white 10. Ye that ride on white asses,
asses . . . . . . prepare a song,
11. _They that are delivered_ 11. Responsive to the voice of
from the noise of archers in the those who divide the spoil by the
places of drawing water, there watercourses. There they shall
shall they rehearse the righteous rehearse the victories of the
acts of the Lord, _even_ the Lord, the victory of his princes
righteous acts _toward the in Israel; then shall the people
inhabitants_ of his villages in of the Lord descend to the gates.
Israel: then shall the people of
the Lord go down to the gates.
12. Awake, {13} awake, Deborah: 12. Awake, awake, Deborah;
awake, awake, utter a song. . . . awake, awake, utter a song . . .
13. Then he made him that 13. Then I _said_, Descend, ye
remaineth have dominion over the remnant of the nobles of the
nobles among the people: the Lord people! O Lord, descend for me
made me have dominion over the among the mighty!
mighty.
14. Out of Ephraim _was there_ a 14. Out of Ephraim _came those_
root of them against Amalek; whose dwelling is by Amalek.
after thee, Benjamin, among thy After thee (Ephraim) _was_
people; out of Machir came down Benjamin among thy hosts; out of
governors, and out of Zebulun Machir (Manasseh) came down
they that handle the pen of the princes, and from Zebulun those
writer. who grasp the staff of a leader.
15. And the princes of Issachar 15. The princes of Issachar also
_were_ with Deborah; even _came_ with Deborah; yea,
Issachar, and also Barak: he was Issachar was the staff of Barak.
sent on foot into the valley. He rushed into the valley at his
For the divisions of Reuben feet. For the divisions of
_there were_ great thoughts of Reuben _I have_ great griefs of
heart. heart . . .
16. Why abodest thou among the 16. Wherefore didst thou sit
sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings still among the folds, to listen
of the flocks? For the divisions to the lowing of the herds? For
of Reuben _there were_ great the divisions of Reuben _I have_
searchings of heart. great revolvings of heart.
17. Gilead abode beyond Jordan: 17. Gilead (Gad) abode beyond
and why did Dan remain in ships? Jordan; and Dan, why tarried he
Asher continued on the sea shore, in ships? Asher sat at the shore
and abode in his breaches. of the sea, and abode at his
creeks.
18. Zebulun and Naphtali _were_ 18. For Zebulun, the people
a people _that_ jeoparded their scorned their lives, and _rushed_
lives unto the death in the high upon death, and Naphtali, in the
places of the field. high places of the plain.
19. The kings came _and_ fought, 19. The kings came, they fought,
. . . they took no gain of money. . . . they took no spoil of
silver.
22. Then were the horsehoofs 22. Then did the horses’ hoofs
broken by the means of the smite _the ground_ from the
pransings, the pransings of their haste, the haste of their riders
mighty ones. . . .
We here pause, before proceeding to our second extract, to notice one
very damaging source of mistranslation as applicable to the Old
Testament. We allude to what may be called the use of the Prophetical or
Theological scheme in dealing with the Prophecies. For instance, in the
2nd verse of 53rd chap, of Isaiah, as below, the words “_for he shall
grow up_” ought to be rendered “_and_” or “_so_” (resuming the argument
of the previous chapter) “_he grew up_” in the PAST tense; and so on
through the chapter. The Prophets, it is well known, in the vividness of
their prophetic vision, contemplated the future events that passed under
their ken as _actually past_; {14} and as this is a prominent
characteristic of their mode of delivering prophetic truth, it ought not
to be lost sight of in a translation. The explanation of the _fact_ that
what they spoke of as actually past was still future, belongs to what is
called “exegesis,” and stands out as an Order of Rhetoric significant of,
and sacred to, their prophetic function; but by no means should such an
element enter into a translation, which, if it does not present a
faithful reflex of the original, is simply a misnomer. Not that there is
any inviolable uniformity in the practice of the translators in the use
of this scheme. Far from it; as is evident from the translation that
follows. And this serves to render a subject, necessarily obscure from
its very nature, immeasurably more so. The truth is, we have here forced
upon us the fact, that the translators were not fully acquainted with a
principle of the language—now well understood—that lies at the basis of
the whole structure. {15} They saw its force—they could not help doing
so—in the Narrative portions, but were not cognizant of it as a
Fundamental principle of the language, applicable alike to all subjects,
and not variable and flexible at the pleasure of the interpreter.
We are sorry we can adduce no particular name on which to cast the
responsibility of the following amended version. We have consulted very
many of the most distinguished of those who have laboured to translate
this, in some respects, very intricate passage, and what we have given
must be considered mainly as an _amalgam_ of the joint labours of them
all. We are far from thinking we have given the best version possible;
and _perhaps_ the text itself, where the difficulty is peculiarly
pressing, may yet be found susceptible of improvement:—