THE REVISED VERSION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 3386, 4 August 1885, Page 3

THE REVISED VERSION.

TO THE EDITOR OF TUB TIMAIIU UEItALU. Sin, — I bare read with pleasure the. comments of Mr Forstor upon tlio Hebrew and Greek terms Hades and sheol Unit have appeared m your columns recently, und having Riven tbo subject some considorntion I ask learo to trespass upon your columns with tho objoct of giving your readers the benefit of tbat research. That. Kioto prevails grenl ignorance upon this question among the majority of the public is 11 fact well known to every student of tho Bible, notwithtUiuding tbo fuel that it is n matter affectiug ovory son of man. In Mr Forater's comment ot tho 14th July it was stated that " tbo Hebrow for soul wiCs nephesh, moaning (and constantly translated m the Bible) person, tho individuality, the ego, or solf." In continuation of this statement I would liko to stato that m the original Hebrew Scripture? this term occurs 750 times, but m tho authorised vorsion it is translated m 45 different ways ; soul, 475 j live, lives, living, 120 times j persons, 3 limes ; fish, 1 j it is also npplied without qualification to man and beast U times. The Greek ciuivajent to nephesh is Psucne,

and has seven different renderings m the New Testament— soul, live, lives, mind, heart, you. etc., etc. Parkhurst m his Hebrew Lexicon says : " Aa a noun nephesh hath been supposed to signify the spiritual part of a man, or what we commonly call his soul. I must (says Parkhurst) for myself confess that I can find no passage where it hath undoubtedly this meaning." This ia also borne out by Robert Young, LL.D., m his analytical concordance to the Bible, which publication is considered one of tho most correct transcriptions that have ever taken place of the scriptures. With reference to sheol and Hades I would like to say that there are four words m Hebrew which refer to the grave, sheol ia one of them, tho others are JB'yee, Kever, shacfi, chath. Sheol is used m the Scriptures 65 times. In 33 texts sheol is translated hell, m 29 grave, and 3 pit. The other term Hades, a Greek term, occurs eleven times m the Greek text, and m ten instances out of tho oleven that Hades occurs m the New Testament it is translated by the Saxon word hell. The Hebrew sheol is translated by Hades m the Septuagint 60 times out of the 65. Parkhurst gives the definition of Hades as, ["obscure, invisible or dark." Now, sir, what are we to gather from theso facts but that there exists m the minds of the people a great misunderstanding aa to the abode of the dead ; if these citations aro correct (which I make hold to assert they aro, having been taken from reliable authorities) we con come to no other conclusian than this — that these words rendered hell and grave m our Authorised Version mean nothing more nor less than the grave into which we all must go. I am, &<;., Joseph King.