"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:22)—The Greek preposition "en," which is here translated "in," can be rendered in various ways, depending upon the context in which it is employed. Thus alternative translations of this word are "by, with, through" (cf. Thayer: Greek Lexicon, pp. 209–213). Goodspeed offers the rendering: "Just as because of their relation to Adam all men die, so because of their relation to Christ they will all be brought to life again;" while Murdock, in his translation of the Syriac, has: "For as it was by Adam that all men die, so by the Messiah they all live." Moffatt, Weymouth (fifth edition), and the Riverside New Testament prefer to retain the rendering "in" for the preposition in question.

"No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven" (John 3:13)—Moffatt and Goodspeed omit the clause which is rendered "even the Son of man which is in heaven," doing this on the authority of the well-known Vatican and Sinaitic manuscripts. Weymouth, however, retains it, translating: "There is no one who has gone up to heaven, except One who has come down from heaven, namely the Son of Man whose home is in heaven."

"Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat" (Gen. 2:16)—As noted in the Margin of the Authorized Version, a literal rendering of the Hebrew would be "... eating thou shalt eat," where the repetition intensifies the meaning of the verb; just as in the following verse "Thou shalt surely die" is literally "Dying thou shalt die." A very close parallel may be noted in the English idiom "to die the death" (cf. Webster's Dictionary).

"Every founder is confounded by the graven image" (Jer. 10:14)—The word translated "founder" is more literally "smelter or goldsmith," and a more exact rendering of the verb would be "ashamed." Consequently Moffatt renders: "The goldsmith is ashamed of his carved image;" and Smith: "Every goldsmith is put to shame through his images."

"They are vanity, and the work of errors" (Jer. 10:15)—The word translated "vanity" means literally "vapor" or "breath," while a more literal translation of the term rendered "errors" is "mockery" (cf. Brown, Driver, and Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 1074). Moffatt renders: "There is no breath of life in idols; they are a vain delusion."

"In the time of their visitation they shall perish" (Jer. 10:15)—The word "pekudah," which is here translated "visitation," comes from a root which has the primary meaning of "to attend to" (Brown, etc., op. cit., pp. 823f.). Moffatt translates: "They break down when the test arrives;" while Smith has: "... will break down in their time of trial."

"The vanity of their mind, ... the blindness of their heart" (Eph. 4:17f.)—The Greek word rendered here "vanity" also means "emptiness, unreality, purposelessness, ineffectiveness, instability" (see Souter: Greek Lexicon, p. 153); while the term "porosis," here translated "blindness," had the original meaning of "covering with a thick skin or callous" (poros), and came to be employed in the sense of "mental dulness, obtuseness, stubbornness, or obduracy" (cf. Thayer: op. cit., p. 559; and Abbott-Smith: Greek Lexicon). Consequently Moffatt has: "their dulness of heart;" Weymouth: "the insensibility of their moral nature;" and Goodspeed: "their obstinacy of heart;" while the Twentieth Century New Testament renders, "hardness."

"Adam" (Gen. 2:19)—In this passage, and in a number of others in which the name Adam occurs, it represents the Hebrew "ha-adam," literally "the man," and is thus rendered by the Revised Version, Moffatt, and Smith.

"She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (Gen. 2:23)—The rendering suggested in our Common Version well brings out the play upon words in the original Hebrew, in which "man" is represented by the term "ish," while "woman" is "ishsha." It may also be added that while "ish" means "man as distinguished from woman," "adam" (cf. verse 19, etc.) usually means "mankind in general."

"Ye were sometimes darkness" (Eph. 5:8)—It may be observed that "sometimes," as used in this verse, does not mean "occasionally." In the early seventeenth century, when the Authorized Version was prepared, "sometimes" was equivalent in meaning to the modern "once," which, according to modern usage, provides an exact translation at this point.

"The meek" (Ps. 37:11)—The Hebrew word thus translated, like the Greek term which is rendered "meek" in the New Testament (cf. Matt. 5:5), is more exactly represented in modern English by the rendering "humble," found in Moffatt's rendering of Psalms 37:11.

"The abundance of peace" (Ps. 37:11)—"Shalom" in Hebrew has a variety of meanings, which include "health, welfare, success, salvation" (Feyerabend: Hebrew Dictionary, p. 351), besides "peace." Hence "abundant health" would be a justifiable translation. Moffatt renders: "plenteous prosperity"; and Smith: "abundant prosperity."

"Blessed are they that do his commandments" (Rev. 22:14)—The Sinaitic and Vatican manuscripts, upheld by the Vulgate Version, read, "plunontes tas stolas auton"—they that wash their robes (cf. Rev. 7:14)—instead of the similar appearing words: "poiountes tas entolas autou" (they that do his commandments). Wycliffe appears to have been the first of the English translators to accept this interesting reading, and it is followed by Moffatt, who has: "Blessed are those who wash their robes;" while closely similar renderings are set down by Weymouth, Souter, Goodspeed, and the Revised Version.