Why are there discrepancies between the text of the
Authorised Version which I read at home, published by Collins under
licence from the Lord Advocate, and the text that I read from the
lectern at evensong in my London parish church, published by
Cambridge University Press? For example, whereas the Collins text
has Moses entering the Tabernacle, the CUP text has him entering
the tent of the meeting. In a passage about Cain, the Collins Bible
refers to a "vagabond", but the CUP refers to a "wanderer". I
assume there was no difference in the texts first issued in England
or Scotland. Who made the small emendations, why, and when? The
Collins text seems more archaic and, therefore, probably closer to
the original.
A quick reference to Exodus 33 and Genesis 4 suggests that the
questioner's church uses the Revised Version of 1881 for public
reading. The revisers changed as few words as possible. They
changed "tabernacle" to "tent" because in their day most people did
not know "tabernacle" meant that. That is even more widely true
now; Collins dictionary does not even include "tent" as one of the
meanings.
The questioner writes about "the original". If that means the
Hebrew in which the Old Testament was written, then the questioner
thinks that it has to be translated into archaic English. But why
stop at the 17th century? Perhaps we should all read the OT in
Anglo-Saxon.
Maybe, by "original" the questioner means the Authorised Version
or one of its predecessors, such as the Great Bible of 1539. A
great deal of scholarship has developed during the four centuries
since the publication of the AV in 1611. We now have, as a result,
better and more intelligible translations of the Hebrew text. For
use at home, he or she might try translations such as the
Anglicised New Revised Standard Version, or the Revised English
Bible, both published in 1989.
(The Revd) Jeremy Craddock
Hartford, Huntingdon
I suspect that the CUP Bible is in fact the Revised Version, which
was a conservative revision of the Authorised Version, based on
better underlying Greek and Hebrew texts.
The front matter of the copy of the RV that I have reads:
"Trans-lated out of the original tongues: being the version set
forth A.D. 1611 compared with the most ancient authorities and
revised" (my emphasis).
The differences that he notes are apparent in my copies of the
RV and AV.
(The Revd) James Richards
Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria
Your questions
When visiting my brother in Suffolk, we discovered an
unusual situation at the village church, where the new vicar had
removed the eucharist every first Sunday in the month, and replaced
it with an informal "Family/Children's Service". Among those who
were distressed about this move was a retired priest with
permission to officiate, who normally sat in the congregation. He
"let it be known" that on those first Sundays he would celebrate
the eucharist at the same time in his lounge, and invited others to
join him. As the Sunday eucharist is central to our lives, we went
along, and discovered 15 people there - mostly refugees from the
parish church, but three new Christians, including a teenage lad
who was preparing for baptism. The locals say that this house
church is livelier than the parish church, and there is now to be a
eucharist there on feast days that are no longer observed in the
parish church. The vicar knows what is happening, but refuses to
comment. In some ways it was all very wonderful, but is this not an
illegal "church-plant"? J. R.
With the departure of Bishop John Ford down under, there
are now [5 July], apart from the two suffragan sees in abeyance, a
total of 19 episcopal vacancies (eight diocesan, one provincial
episcopal visitor, and ten suffragan) in the two English provinces.
Have there ever been this great a number? And, more important, why
so many? R. W. C.
What is the significance, when ringing the Angelus bell,
of ringing three sets of three and then a nine? Why that
pattern? B. B.
Address for answers and more questions: Out of the Question,
Church Times, 3rd floor, Invicta House, 108-114 Long Lane,
London EC1Y 0TG.
questions@churchtimes.co.uk