Questions regarding the translation of familiar passages in the Bible
always arouse some interest, particularly in the case of the New Testament, since many more people are versed in Greek than are versed in Hebrew. A Welsh correspondent, referring to the verse I quoted at random last week from Mr. Kingsley Williams' new translation of the New Testament, " In my father's house are many rooms," suggests that the rendering in the Welsh translation, " trigfannau—resting- places," is preferable to Mr. Williams' " rooms." But the A.V. " many mansions " is obviously unsatisfactory; a house does not contain mansions in the modern sense of the latter word. The Greek is monai—" abiding-places " as the R.V. margin has it (much better than Moffatt's " abodes "). The Vulgate has " mansiones multae," the German " vielo Wohnungen," the French " plusieurs demeures." Of all these the R.V. margin, or the Welsh, seems the best.
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