"REFORMING" THE BIBLE
ADAM AND EVE IN FREE VERSE
CHICAGO, August 3.
Because, they say, the King James version of the Bible is not clear to the average reader of the present day, scholars of the University of Chicago have compiled and will publish in the autumn an American version of the Old Testament. "Hebrew verbosity" and the use of expressions now obsolete contribute to the difficulty of understanding the older Bibles, according to Dr. .T. M. Powis Smith, the editor of the new edition.
"The old Jews thought on a large sfalc," Dr. Smith says. "Modern readers think of one thing at a time. That gap must be crossed for a clear understanding. The King James version also is sprinkled with "thecs" and "thous," which are not seen in modern English. Word, meanings arc different, too. 'Lade' meant 'load' iii the old Bible, and 'vinegar'referred to wines and liquors." Dri Smith also declared that much of the Bible, although written in prose form, originally was poetry. In the new version the story or Adam ami Eve in the Garden of Eocn is recast as free verse. Other sections are cast in the form of dramatic poems, with all the characters speaking in turn. '
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19271019.2.122
Bibliographic details
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16474, 19 October 1927, Page 10
Word Count
204"REFORMING" THE BIBLE Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16474, 19 October 1927, Page 10
Using This Item
The Gisborne Herald Company is the copyright owner for the Poverty Bay Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Gisborne Herald Company. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in