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STEREOTYPED BY B. AND J. COLLINS, NEW-YORK.

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TO THE READER

THE IIE Providence of God is particularly manifested in the preservation of the Holy Scriptures. To the Jews were committed the Oracles of God, and o faithful have they been to this sacred trust, that when copies of the law or the prophets were transcried, they not only diligently compared the one with the other, but even counted the number of letters in each book, and compared the numbers.

No sooner did the gospel spread through the nations, than it was found necessary to translate the Bible for each into its proper language. Some affirm that the five books of Moses and that of Joshua were translated into Greek before the days of Alexander the Great. But the most remarkable translation of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint, which, if the opinion of some emiLent writers is to be credited, was made in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, about 280 years before the Christian era. At any rate, it is undoubtedly the most ancient that is now extant, and on many accounts deserving notice, though not to be put on a level with the Hebrew text, as has been sometimes done.

Other translations of the Old Testament into Greek were made, from A. D. 129 to 200. It is generally believed that the church of Antioch was favoured with a Syrian version of the Bible in the year 100. The Ethiopians, of Abyssinia, have a version of the Bible, which they ascribe to Frumentius, of the fourth century. Chrysostom, who lived in the end of the fourth, and Theodoret, who lived in the middle of the fifth century, both inform us, that they had the Syrian, Indian, Persian, Armenian, Ethiopic, Scythian, and Samaritan versions. The ancient Egyptians had the Scriptures translated into their lan guage. The Georgians have a version in their ancient language. The Old Testament of all these versions, except the Syrian, is taken from the Septua gint.

The famous Latin translation of the Bible called the Vulgate, which is now, and has been for many ages, of authority in the church of Rome, is of great antiquity. It is hy some said to have been written, or at least copied and im proved, by St. Jerome, in the fourth century; probably the last was the case, for there existed before his time a Latin version, which Augustine calls the Italian, Jerome the Vulgate, and Gregory Nazeazen, the ancient version. in the year 1990 Peter de Vaux translated the Bible into French; and about the same time the Spanish translation was made. There have been many transla. tions both into French and Spanish since that time. The Polish version was published A. D. 1390; and the first Italian version A. D. 1471. Luther composed his version of the Bible, in the German language, between the years 1521 and 1532; and what is reinarkable, not only the Popish translations, but those of the Protestants, for a considerable time after the reformation, were made, not from the Hebrew of the Old, and Greek of the New Testament, but from the Latin of the Vulgate. We are told, that early in the sixteenth cen tury the Bohemians took their first version from the Vulgate; but that towards the close of that century eight divines were employed to compose another from the original text.

We will now give some account of the translations of the Bible into the English language. There have been some who bave affirmed that Adelme, Bishop of Sherburn, who lived in the beginning of the eighth century, translated the Psalms into the Saxon tongue. That however is uncertain, as some of the best historians make no mention of it; yet it is possible, as he was a man of great parts, and of great learning for those times, and said to be the first Englishman who wrote in the Latin language. About the same time, or a little ater, Bede, commonly called the Venerable Bede, translated some parts of the New Testament, some say the whole Bible; but that is not probable." Near two hundred years later king Alfred translated the Psalms into the same language. In 1882, Wickliff finished his translation of the Bible, which is yet extant; that is to say, there are copies of it in some public and private libraries. All these translations were made from the Vulgate. In the reign of Henry the 6th, several editions of the Old and New Testaments were published in English; one of the most remarkable is that of William Tyndal in 1530. The transla tion of the New Testament was made from the original Greek, but probably the Old Testament either from the Latin of the Vulgate, or the Greek of the Septuagint. This was soon followed by the improvements of Coverdale and Mathews. By order of the king, Tonstal, Bishop of Durham, and Heath, Biship of Rochester, nade a new translation, which was published in 1541; but not pleasing Henry, was suppressed by authority. In the reign of king Edward the 6th, another translation was made, two editions of which were published, one in 1649, and the other in 1551. In the reign of queen Elizabeth, another translation was made, which, being revised by some of the most learn ed of the Bishops, went by the name of the Bishops' Bible. This professed to be translated from the Hebrew of the Old Testament, and the Greek of the New, though in some instances, when there was a difference, it preferred the Septuagint to the Hebrew,

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TO THE READER.

This last circumstance, with some others, induced king James the first 10 select fifty-four persons, eminent in learning, and particularly well acquainted with the original languages in which the Old and New Testaments were written, to make a new translation of the whole Bible. In the year 1507, fortyseven of those persons, the other seven probably having died, assembled together, and arranged themselves into committees, to each of which a portion was given to translate. They were favoured not only with the best transiations, but with the most accurate copies, and the various readings of the origi al text. After about three years assiduous labour, they severally completed the parts assigned them. They then met together, and while one read the translation newly formed, the rest had each a copy of the original text in his rand, or some one of the ancient versions, and when any difficulty occurred they stopped, till by common consultation it was determined what was most agreeable to the inspired Original. This translation was first published A. D. 1610, and is the one that has been, ever since that time, prinied by public authority, and generally used in the British dominions.

THE NAMES AND ORDER OF THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, WITH THE NUMBER OF THEIR CHAPTERS.

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