him by captious questions; and how ill those succeeded, who entered into disputation with him, and were therefore naturally led, from respect to a superiority so great, and so manifest, to avoid exposing their own ignorance, or bad intention. This is sufficiently expressed in the version. J. xxi. 12. 2 N. 40. Punishment, xpiμa. E. T. Damnation. But this word, with us, is confined to the punishment of hell, to which the impenitent will be hereafter condemned. I think it unwarrantable, in a translator, to limit the words of the sacred penmen to this meaning, when neither the terms used, nor any thing in the context, can be said to limit them. The phrases xpIOIS TAS YEEVVAS and xpicis, literally, the punishment of hell, and eternal punishment, are the only terms in the Gospels which may be properly rendered damnation. And even in these I think it preferable, for an obvious reason, to use the periphrasis of the sacred writer. By the frequent, unnecessary, and sometimes censurable, recourse of translators to the terms, damned, damnation, damnable, and others of like import, an asperity is given to the language of most modern translations of the N. T. which the original evidently has not. Ch. xvi. 16. N. 41. The treasury, тu yagopuλaxis. This name seems to have been given to those chests into which the money devoted for the use of the temple and the sacred service was put. The first account we have of such a repository, is in 2 Ki. xii. 9. But the chest mentioned there seems to have been intended for receiving only the money brought in by the priests, as it was set in the court of the priests, near the altar, a place to which they only had access; whereas the treasury here meant, was accessible to people of all ranks and both sexes, as we learn from our Lord's remark on the gift of a poor widow. It must, consequently, have been in the court of the women, beyond which they were not permitted to go. Gazophylacium, from signifying the chest which contained the treasure, came to denote the place in the temple where the chest was deposited. We find our Lord, J. viii. 20. teaching in the treasury; that is, I suppose, in that side of the court of the women where the sacred treasure was kept. 42. Two mites, which make a farthing. Diss. VIII. P. I. § 10. 9. Το bear testimony to them, εις μαρτύριον αυτοίς. E. T. For a testimony against them. Vul. In testimonium illis. Thus also, Mt. x. 18. εις μαρτύριον αυτοίς και τοις εθνεσι. E. T. renders, For a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But, in Mt. xxiv. 14. εις μαρτυριον πάσι τοις έθνεσι is translated, For a witness unto all nations. This is evidently the most natural interpretation, and suits the usual import of the dative case. Nor is there aught in the context of any of the three passages that would lead one to interpret it differently from the rest. The change, consequently, appears capricious. In one place indeed, namely, ch. vi. 11. the words in connection sufficiently warrant the change of the preposition. But that the construction there is rather unusual, may be concluded from the parallel passage, L. ix. 5. where the words are, es pugoy n'aurus, a phrase which occurs in no other part of the Gospel. Be. was the first translator who, in the verse under review, introduced the preposition adversus. 11. Have no anxiety beforehand, nor premeditate what ye shall speak, μη προμεριμνάτε τι λαλήσητε, μηδε μελετάτε. Vul. No. lite præcogitare quid loquamini. The latter clause, answering to unde Mederate is wanting here, and in the Cop. and Sax. versions. So it is also in the Cam, and Four other MSS. 2 Foretold by the prophet Daniel, to pnbev To Davinλ TY TрON78. This clause is not in the Cam. and three other MSS. of some note. It is wanting also in the Vul. Cop. Sax. and Arm. versions. 32. Or. The common Gr. copies have xa; but if we judge from the value, as well as number, of MSS. which read, and from the support this reading has in the ancient writers and versions, we cannot hesitate to admit it as genuine. 2 Hour, apas. This word may be rendered season. Mt. viii. 13. N. 35. In the evening-These are the four night watches, answering with us to the hours of nine and twelve at night, three and six in the morning. CHAPTER XIV. Cri 3. Of Spikenard, vad isins. Vul. Nardi spicati. tics have been divided about the exact import of this term. Some have thought that it has arisen from the La. name nardus spicatus, the latter part of which denoting the species of the plant, has, by some accident, been corrupted into rising. Others consider this word only as an epithet, expressive of the purity or fineness of the balsam. In the former way the Vul. translates it, in the latter the Sy. As in meaning, however, they pretty much coincide, the spikenard being accounted the most precious kind of nard; it seemed better to make' no alteration on the word which our translators have adopted from the Vul. 2 She broke open the box, ovvæpifava to aλabaspar. E. T. She brake the box. Some late translators, not seeing any necessity for breaking the box, in order to get out the liquor, have chosen to say shook. Blackwall (Sac. Clas. vol. ii. p. ii. ch. 3.) thinks that the breaking refers to the parts of the liquor, which would be so separated by shaking, as to diffuse their fragrance wider, and flow easier. Zurrgiber, I acknowledge, does not always mean to break; perhaps oftner to bruise. Evvrgiberdar, however, always implies that there is violence, and that the thing spoken of has sustained damage. Now it is evident, that it is not the li. quor to which the verb is applied, but the box. For though, by a common figure, the containing for the contained, the box might be used to denote the liquor; these two are here so contradis. tinguished, that the trope can hardly have place. The historian had told us, that the woman had αλαξαςρον μυρες να δει πισικής που AUTA. After naming the box, the liquor is specified. To this, as being last mentioned, the participle ovrgara might refer, if nothing were subjoined ; but the repetition of aλaasgev after ovvTpara, ought, by the syntactic order, expressly to exclude that interpretation; as it could be intended only to prevent a wrong reference to μupov. The currpara, therefore, whatever it de notes, must regularly refer to the box. This, say they, is not the usual method of taking out the liquor; but it may be sometimes a necessary method. Nor does it follow, as a consequence of breaking the box, that the liquor must be lost. The effect would depend entirely on the form of the vessel, and the manner λυτελές. VOL. IV. μύρον. 30 of breaking it. We may strike off the neck of a bottle or flaggon, without spilling the liquor. I have, however, chosen the words broke open, as sufficiently denoting that it required an uncommon effort to bring out the contents, which is all that the word here necessarily implies. And it is a circumstance that ought not to be altogether overlooked, being an additional evidence of the woman's zeal for doing honour to her Lord. That the term ought not to be rendered shook, is to me evident. I know no example of it in this meaning in any author, sacred or profane. Verbs denoting to shake, frequently occur in scripture. But the word is never curęiew, but twarow, CHW, TaλEUW. 14. The guest-chamber, To xararuμa. L. ii. 7. 3 N. 15. Furnished, esęwμevov. to I have followed the E. T. in rendering the Gr. word by a general term. To make a stricter interpretation intelligible to ordinary readers, would require more circumlocution than it would be proper to introduce into so simple a narrative. The Eng. word, which comes nearest the import of the Gr. is carpeted. But when this term is used, as here, of a dining-room, it is not meant (as without an explanation would occur to us) only of the floor, but of the couches on which the guests reclined at meals. On these they were wont, for the sake both of neatness and of conveniency, to spread a coverlet or carpet. As this was commonly the last thing they did in dressing the room, it may not improperly be employed to denote the whole. μου. 22. Take, eat, this is my body, λαβετε, φάγετε, τότο εσι το σωμα Vul. Sumite, hoc est corpus meum. The same defect is in both the Sy. the Cop. the Ara, the Sax, and the Eth. versions. The Al. and some other noted MSS. omit payεte. 30. Even thou. Though, in the common Gr. we have not the pronoun after ir, it is found in so great a number of MSS. many of them of principal note, in so many ancient versions, fathers, and early editions, that it has been generally received by critics. That is emphatical in this place there can be no doubt. Peter's solemn declaration ended with these words, an' oux ɛyw. Our Lord's words or v stand directly opposed to them. It may be added, that the pronoun, in the learned languages, being in such cases unnecessary for expressing the sense, because its power is included in the verb, is hardly ever mentioned but with an emphasis, which can rarely be transfused into modern tongues without the aid of some particle, as here of the adverb even. 41. All is over, axix↔. E. T. It is enough. This expression is here both indefinite and obscure. L. Cl.'s version is nearer the point, C'est une affaire faite, or An. 'Tis done. The inten tion was manifestly to signify that the time wherein they might have been of use to him by their counsel and comfort, was now lost; and that he was in a manner already in the hands of his enemies. 43. Clubs. L. xxii. 52. N. 51. Who had only a linen cloth wrapt about his body, Tepicsβλημένος σινδόνα επι γυμνου. Ε. Τ. Having a linen cloth cast about his naked body. Bp. Pearce supposes this to have been a tunic, or vestcoat, the garment worn next the skin (for shirts, as necessary as we imagine them, appear to be of a later date, unless we give that name to a linen tunic): but the words in connection, περιβεβλημένος επι γυμνου, lead us to think that this was a loose cloth cast carelessly about him. The historian would never have added yμvov, speaking of the tunic, or, as we commonly render it, coat, which was always ei yuμvov, close to the body. By this, on the contrary, be signifies that the man had on no tunic, and was consequently obliged to make his escape naked, when they pulled off his wrapper. Besides, a man's appearing only in his tunic was nothing extraordinary, and would never have excited the attention of the soldiers. The common people, on ordinary occasions, or when employed in manual labour, seldom appeared otherwise. What our Lord says, ch. xiii. 16. Let not him who shall be in the field turn back to fetch his mantle, is an evidence of this; for these two, the tunic and the mantle, completed their dress. 2 The soldiers, di VERVIσXOI. E. T. The young men. A com mon denomination for soldiers among the Greeks. Had the evangelist said veavonol Tives, or simply vivo, I should have rendered it young men. The definite expression of vervices points to a known part of the company, which could be no other than the soldiers. Though this incident, recorded by Mr. may not appear of great moment, it is, in my opinion, one of those cir cumstances we call picturesque, which, though in a manner un. |