The North American Review

ART. I. — Ἡ ΠΑΛΑΙΑ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΕΒΔΟΜΗΚΟΝΤΑ. ΕΠΙΜΕΛΕΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΔΑΠΑΝΗ ΤΗΣ ΕΝ ΑΓΓΛΙΑ ΕΤΑΙΡΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΔΙΑΔΟΣΙΝ ΤΗΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΙΚΗΣ ΠΑΙΔΕΙΑΣ. ΕΝ ΟΞΟΝΙΩ. ΕΝ ΤΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΑΚΑΔΗΜΕΙΑΣ ΤΥΠΟΓΡΑΦΕΙΩι. ἜΤΕΙ awve. Vetus Testamentum Græce juxta LXX Interpretes. Recensionem Grabianam ad Fidem Codicis Alexandrini aliorumque denuo recognovit, Græca secundum Ordinem Textus Hebræi reformavit, Libros Apocryphos a Canonicis segregavit FRIDERICUS FIELD, A. A. M. Coll. SS. Trin. Cantab. olim Socius. Sumtibus Societatis de Promovenda Doctrina Christiana. Oxonii, Excudebat Jacobus Wright, Academiæ Typographus. M.D.CCC.LIX. pp. 1088.

Ir is recorded of the Cumaan Sibyl, that it was her custom to write her prophecies on leaves which she placed at the entrance of her cave, and that it required especial care, in such as consulted her, to take up these leaves before they were dispersed by the wind, as their meaning then became almost incomprehensible. We should suppose that some such windy contingency attended the manuscripts of the Septuagint at the Alexandrian Pharos. From the earliest times, many of the books, chapters, and verses of this venerable version have been found in the most distressing confusion. Origen attempted VOL. XCI. NO. 188.

by his Hexapla to bring this confusion into some regular order; but what between his obelisks and asterisks, and his various diacritical distinctions, like many other reformers, he only made matters worse; till much of the version became almost a Cretan labyrinth;

"Chaos umpire sits,

And by decision more embroils the fray.”

Now it is the object of the Christian Knowledge Society, and of Mr. Field, their man of business, to rectify this disorder.

This edition of the Septuagint is unique and unrivalled. It exhibits the Greek text in exact correspondence of order with the Hebrew. It makes the version the counterpart of the original in chapter and verse. Hitherto, it has been a task of no small difficulty to collate the Greek translation with the original text, so many were the mutilations and mislocations. Indeed, the attempt was hopeless, unless you had the aid of one of the early Polyglots. We say the early Polyglots; for our boasted English Polyglot, by Walton, has left all these transpositions and mutilations untouched and uncorrected. It is a foul blot on that noble undertaking.

However, Mr. Field and the Christian Knowledge Society have at length discharged that debt to the Alexandrian translators, which has been so long unpaid by the Christian Church. It is strange indeed, and not very creditable to theological scholars and learned universities, whether at home or abroad, that this obligation should have been so long delayed. The bad condition of the text was complained of by Origen, even in the third century of the Christian era; but with the splendid exception of Ximenes, no hand was put forth to remedy the evil. It was adduced by Jerome as one of his many accusations against the Septuagint, but not one of its advocates came forward to remove the numerous blemishes. There have been many ecclesiastics promoted to the bench, who have derived their reputation from amending Greek tragic and comic authors; but not one has been found to rectify the clerical blunders of that version of the Old Testament which is so often cited by the Evangelists and Apostles. This long neglect, however, enhances the importance of this in

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The North American Review, المجلد 91