harmonize with it. Often the mere change of a tense, or a slight alteration in a single word, not at all affecting the rhythm, or general structure of a verse, is all that would be required: for instance in xxxii. 4, 5, 'was' for 'is,' and ' acknowledged' for 'will acknowledge' (similarly xviii. 5, 6, 16, 17; civ. 6b, 7, 8; cxvi. 4); in viii. 1, 'glorious' for 'excellent,' and 'majesty upon' for 'glory above'; in xix. 7, ‘refreshing' for 'converting'; in xlvii. 1, 3, and elsewhere—a slight, but important alteration 1- peoples' for 'people.' In Ps. xlvi the only change which I should think necessary would be 'There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God' (as in R.V.), for' The rivers of the flood thereof shall make glad the city of God'; and in Ps. lxvii (besides 'peoples' four times for 'people') 'salvation' for 'saving health' in v. 2. There are many other Psalms in which the changes needed would be similarly slight. Of course in some passages greater alterations would be required: but in such cases it would be a mistake to attempt to be too literal; the general meaning of the passage should first be seized, and the endeavour then be made to express it with the boldness and breadth of diction, and the rhythmical flow, of which Coverdale shewed himself to be so consummate a master. A revision of the Prayer-Book Psalter, carried out upon strictly conservative lines, as it is surely due to the thousands who use it, so ought certainly not to be beyond the achievement of the literary abilities of the age.

See the Preface to the Revised Version of the Old Testament.

AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO

Sept.

=

Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, made in Egypt by Hellenistic Jews, mostly between the third and the first centuries B. C.

Aq.
Symm.
Theod.

Syr.

=

=

=

= Aquila The authors of three revised transSymmachus lations of the O. T. into Greek, who Theodotion lived in the second century A. D. Only fragments of their versions are preserved. Origen, in the third century A. D., transcribed in six parallel columns the Heb. text of the O. T., the Heb. text transliterated into Greek characters, the Septuagint, and the Versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. This work, called the Hexapla, is no longer extant; but many of the characteristic renderings of Aq., Symm., and Theod. have been preserved independently,-mostly as glosses on texts of the Septuagint. The best edition of the fragments which remain (apart from a few which have come to light since) is in Dr. Field's Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt, 1875. The Syriac Version of the O. T. (the 'Peshițto'), made probably in the second or third century A. D.

Targ.

=

=

The 'Targum' (which means interpretation), or translation of the O. T. into Aramaic, made at different times, and by different hands, for the use of different Jewish communities, in Palestine and Babylonia, after Hebrew had ceased to be their vernacular dialect. The Targum of the Psalms, as we have it, is not earlier than the fifth century A. D.; according to some authorities, it is even as late as the seventh century A. D.

xlviii AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO

Vulg.

=

The Latin translation of the Bible by St. Jerome, completed A.D. 405. This, in the case of all other books of the O. T., consists of translations made by him directly from the Hebrew; but in the case of the Psalms, the version accepted as the 'Vulgate' was not Jerome's direct translation from the Hebrew, but his revision of the Old Latin Version (based on the Septuagint), which he had published previously (c. 387), and which speedily obtained a wide popularity (see Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, iii. 1698 f.).

=

Jer. Jerome's own translation of the Psalms, made directly from the Hebrew. This is not contained in the 'Vulgate,' but has been preserved independently. The best edition is that of de Lagarde (Psalterium iuxta Hebraeos Hieronymi, 1874); there is another, with the Heb. text printed on the opposite page, by Tischendorf, Baer, and Delitzsch (Psalmi Hebraice atque Latine, 1874).

Heb. text. In certain passages of the Hebrew Bible, the Heb. marg. Massoretic scholars (p. xxxiv n.), representing the Jewish tradition of the day, have introduced what may be termed an authorized correction of the text, noting the alteration in the margin, and directing the reader to substitute it for what he finds in the text. Thus in Ps. lxxi, 20 the Heb. MSS. read actually us; but the Massoretic scholars thought that me was preferable (probably on the ground that it harmonized better with the context): they did not, however, venture to alter the text itself, but directed the reader to substitute me in reading. These corrections relate sometimes to grammatical points only, and do not affect the translation (e. g. one in Ps. lxxiii. 2 b). Each case must be estimated on its own merits: the correction is not always intrinsically preferable to the reading of the text. In the present volume the 'Heb. text' and the 'Heb. margin' are treated as of equal authority, sometimes one and sometimes the other (chiefly, however, the Heb. text) being adopted as the basis of the translation, and the other being noted where necessary (but not uniformly) in a foot-note.

THE PARALLEL PSALTER

THE PSALMS

(PRAYER BOOK VERSION)

MORNING PRAYER

PSALM I.

Beatus vir, qui non abiit, &c.

I BLESSED is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law will he exercise himself day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the waterside that will bring forth his fruit in due season.

:

4 His leaf also shall not wither and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.

5 As for the ungodly, it is not so with them : but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away (from the face of the earth)1.

6 Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgement : neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

1 In the Great Bible of 1539-41, certain words or clauses, which do not form part of the original Hebrew, but are glosses introduced from the Vulgate, are printed in smaller type than the body of the Psalms, and enclosed in parentheses.