Chap. iii. Tyndale's indepen Old Testa ment. The standard which Tyndale sets up may be a precarious one, but yet it differs widely from the bold subjectivity of Luther, which practically leaves no basis for the Canon but the judgment of the individual reader. No one who has followed thus far Tyndale's mode dence in the of dealing with the New Testament can doubt that in the Old Testament he would look first to the Hebrew text, which,' he writes, 'is most of need to be known';' and a crucial test at once offers itself. An Appendix to his New Testament of 1534 contains, as we have seen, 'The Epistles from the Old Testament according to the 'use of Salisbury.' Among these are passages from books which he had not published at that time, even if he had translated them, and from others which he certainly never translated. In the service-books they were of course given in Latin, and it would be most obvious, therefore, to turn them from the Vulgate text. If however in this case Tyndale took the Hebrew as his basis, and not the Latin, and still less Luther, we may be sure that he followed the like course in his continuous translations. And so it is: though he keeps the explanatory words which in some cases introduce or round off the lesson, yet the lesson itself is rendered from the original Hebrew. Two examples will be sufficient to make it plain that it is so. In a very simple passage, 1 Kings xvii. 17ff. the following variations occur where Tyndale strives to keep close to the Hebrew against the Vulgate : my sin... iniquitates meæ... Elias... 18 19 he... a high chamber... 21 he measured the child... Schrift nirgend stehen...Darum ob cenaculum expandit se atque mensus est super puerum... bücher zu rechnen die des Glaubens Grund legen sollen. 1 Answer to More, II. 75. A single verse from Isaiah offers, as might be expected, Chap. iii. a more conclusive proof of the independence of Tyndale: My righteousness is nigh, and my salvation shall go out, and mine arm shall judge nations, and islands shall look for me, and shall tarry after mine arm. Internal Prope est justus meus, egres- Is. li. 5. sus est salvator meus, et brachia mea populos judicabunt: me insulæ exspectabunt, et brachium meum sustinebunt. The variations from Luther are nearly as numerous, and still there are indications that Tyndale was acquainted with Luther's translation as he was with the Vulgate. One continuous passage may be added as a better sample of Tyndale's work, taken from his published Pentateuch. The relation in which it stands to the Vulgate and Luther is, as will be seen, the same as before1: VULGATE. 28 Et ait Moyses: In hoc scietis, quod Dominus miserit me ut facerem universa quæ cernitis, et non ex proprio ea corde protulerim: 29 Si consueta hominum morte interierint, et visitaverit eos plaga, qua et ceteri visitari solent, non misit me Domi nus: TYNDALE. 28 And Moses said: Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works, and that I have not done them of mine own mind. 29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. LUTHER. 28 Und Mose The Italics in Tyndale mark what is preserved still in A.V. Num. xvi. 28 ff. M TYNDALE. 30 But, and if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them, and all that pertain unto them, so that they go down quick into hell, then ye shall understand that these men have railed upon the Lord. 31 And as soon as he had made an end of speaking all these words, the ground clove asunder that was under them, 32 And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them, and their houses, and all the men that were with Corah and all their goods. LUTHER. 30 Wird aber der Herr etwas neues schaffen, dass die Erde ihren Mund aufthut, und verschlinget sie mit allem, das sie haben, dass sie lebendig hinunter in die Hölle fahren; so werdet ihr erkennen, dass diese Leute den Herrn gelästert haben. 31 Und als er diese Worte hatte alle ausgeredet, zerriss die Erde unter ihnen. 32 Und that ihren Mund auf, und verschlang sie, mit ihren Häusern, mit allen Menschen, die bey Korah waren, und mit aller ihrer Habe. 33 Und fuhren hinunter lebendig in die Hölle, mit allem, das sie hatten, und die Erde deckte sie zu, und kamen um aus der Gemeine. Old Testa ment. In his version of the New Testament we have seen Revision of that Tyndale willingly faced the labour of minute correction. The texts of 1525, 1534 and 1535 are specifically distinct, and each later edition offers a careful revision of that which preceded it. Though the evi ́dence is less extensive in the case of the Old Testament, it is evident that he expended no less pains upon this. The texts of the Epistles from the Old Testament' appended to the New Testaments of 1534 and 1535 differ in small details from the published Pentateuch of 1531 (1530); and, what is still more interesting, from one Chap. iii. Internal Tyndale's influence in Bible. another'. Thus in these, as in the New Testaments themselves, there is a double revision; and there is nothing to shew that Tyndale bestowed less care upon the lessons from the Apocrypha than on those from the Canonical books2. This patience of laborious emendation completes the our English picture of the great translator. In the conception and style of his renderings he had nothing to modify or amend. Throughout all his revisions he preserved intact the characteristics of his first work. Before he began he had prepared himself for a task of which he could apprehend the full difficulty. He had rightly measured the momentous issues of a vernacular version of the Holy Scriptures, and determined once for all the principles on which it must be made. His later efforts were directed simply to the nearer attainment of his ideal. To gain this end he availed himself of the best help which lay within his reach, but he used it as a master and not as a disciple. In this work alone he felt that substantial independence was essential to success. In exposition or exhortation he might borrow freely the language or the thought which seemed suited to his purpose, but in rendering the sacred text he remained throughout faithful to the instincts of a scholar. From first to last his style and his interpretation are his own, and in the originality of Tyndale is included in a large measure the 1 For example, in Is. liii. 6, went astray (1534): went all of us astray (1535): 8, when he is taken (1534): though he be taken (1535): 12, of the rich (1534): of the mighty (1535). The last Epistle (for St Catharine's day) is wrongly given in 1534, Ecclus. li. 9-12. The right lesson is substituted in 1535, Ecclus. li. 1-8. Two most surprising misprints of 1534 are also corrected in 1535: Gen. xxxvii. 20, a sand pit (some pit 1535). Is. liii. came up as a sparowe (as a spray 1535). 2 For example, in Ecclus. xxiv. 17-22 the following corrections occur: 18, of greatness and of holy hope (1534): of knowledge of holy hope (1535): 20, than honey or honey. comb (1534): than honey and mine inheritance passeth honey or honey. comb (1535). |