it looks specious, 'arty,' modernistic; with-it commercial advertising is much
given to the same kind of ' verse' — or used to be. But, in my own view, versifying of any kind which is not actual prose,
is unsuitable to the fundamental utterances with which Jesus is praying his Father in these passages in St John. In fact, somewhere in the Scripture there is a phrase which actually warns against 'men who write verses ' probably in certain contexts only.
And a final point here: the NE version gives the word 'shed' instead of 'poured' in the wine-consecration statement. I have dealt with this previously in the Spectator (April 21, 1973). Both RSV and 'Jerusalem' give, correctly, 'poured' which a cup should be. It looks a small point, but it is really a critical one.
Thomas W. Gadd Alexandra Court, Woociborough Road, Nottingham.
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