student will find in the careful enumeration of passages, and the
discriminating and decided but not dogmatic judgment pronounced upon
them, materials which will assist him in working out (as each man must
do) his own theological conceptions.

* * * * *

An edition of the Septuagint, with a literal translation into English
(_The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament_; with an English
Translation, and with various Readings and Critical Notes: Samuel
Bagster and Sons), is a work attempted by no one, we believe, before Mr.
Bagster, and will be welcomed by the increasing number of thoughtful
students of the Bible. There is a short introduction, stating all that
is known of the origin of the Septuagint; the Greek text and English
translations are given in parallel columns, in neat and small type,
which enables the whole work to be comprised in a moderate quarto
volume; and short notes are added which notice variations of readings,
alternative translations, and the additions made by the Hebrew original,
and direct attention to the passages quoted from the Septuagint in the
New Testament. There is also an Appendix noticing a very few words as to
which some difficulty arises, and a few passages which are supplied from
the Alexandrine text. No mention is made of the Apocrypha.

The translation is for the most part exact and literal, yet made to read
fluently, where this was possible--perhaps more fluently than the Greek
text. The following passage from Isaiah ix. 1-5, is a good specimen of
the translation, and, being well known as the Lesson for Christmas Day,
will enable the reader to appreciate the singular discrepancies often
existing between the Septuagint and the original text as it stands in
our Bible. The passage begins in the English version with the words,
"Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation." In
the translation of the Septuagint it stands thus--

"Drink this first. Act quickly, O land of Zabulon, land of
Niphthalim, and the rest _inhabiting_ the seacoast and _the land_
beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

"O people walking in darkness, behold a great light: ye that dwell
in the region _and_ shadow of death, a light shall shine upon you.
The multitude of the people which thou hast brought down in thy
joy, they shall even rejoice before thee as they that rejoice in
harvest, and as they that divide the spoil. B