Article June 29, 1935 Issue

Bible Notes

"Neither is there any rock like our God" (I Sam. 2:2)—Those who prepared the Septuagint and Old Latin versions of the Old Testament read a Hebrew word meaning "righteous," instead of that which our Common Version translates as "rock"; and, in accord with this evidence, Smith suggests the rendering: "There is none righteous like our God." Moffatt, while accepting the reading "tsur" (literally "rock"), clearly takes the word as symbolic of "power" and "steadfastness," for he translates: "No Power is steadfast like our God."

"I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed" (Isa. 43:12)—The verb here translated "I have shewed" means literally, "I have caused ... to hear," and so "I have proclaimed" or "made proclamation" (cf. Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 1034). Smith translates: "I foretold, and I saved, I announced;" while Moffatt has: "'Twas I who promised to save, I who fulfilled what I foretold."

"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest" (Ex. 33:14)—The Hebrew verb here rendered "to give rest" is often used in the sense of "to set down, let lie, cause to settle" (Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 628); and Moffatt's rendering would appear to combine the two ideas, for he translates: "My presence shall go with you, and I will settle you safe." Smith, however, suggests: "I will go along myself ... and lead you."

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