TRANSLATION OF THE PSALMS AND CANTICLES.
Translation of the Psalms and Canticles, with Commentary. By James McSweney, S.J. (Sands and Co. 10s. 6d. net.)—In this volume we have a bi- columnar translation of the Pealing, showing a version of the Hebrew on the left hand and one of the Vulgate on the right. Each Psalm is followed by a full commentary, critical and exegetical. Th-s standpoint of the translator is naturally conservative. On the question of author- ship, for instance, he is ready to attribute more than half of the Psalter to David. On the subject of the imprecations in lxix. and elsewhere, he thinks that "they can scandalise only those who are unable to place themselves with the Psalmist at the standpoint of Divine retribution." This, however, is hardly consistent with the subsequent admission that " the spirit here manifested is that of an elder and less perfect Covenant, and savours of unregenerate nature." He illustrates by Luke ix. 55-56, Surely a Christian may feel something of the same difficulty in uttering David's curses that he would in adopting Elijah's invocation of fire. There is much learning in the book, but we cannot help thinking that the writer has his conclusions settled for him. That, however, is the position of others besides members of the Society of Jesus. By "Canticles" is meant " The Song of Moses" (Exodus xv. 1-19) and that in Dent. xxxii. 1-43, "The Song of Hannah" (Samuel ii. 1-10), "The Song of Hezekiah "(Isaiah xxxviii. 9-20), "The Song of the Three Children" and Habakkuk iii., the " Magnificat " and the " Benedictus." The authorship of the Deuteronomic " Song of Moses" is affirmed without misgiving,—" Moses is the author of this sublime poem." —Another work written in a conservative spirit is A New Translation of Isaiah, by the Rev. E. Flecker (Elliot Stock, 6s.) The unity of the book is assumed, nor does the introduction of the name of Cyrus (given as Coresh) disturb the translator when he comes to comment on the passages where it occurs. We see, however, that the "virgin" of vii. 14, though the word is not changed in the translation, is explained otherwise in the notes. "The announcement points only to the natural birth of a son called Immanuel." The explanation of vii. 15," Butter and honey shall he eat, when he shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good," is as follows : "The desolation will be so great that when the child will [sic] be weaned, he will be fed, as among nomadic tribes, with curdled milk and wild honey." The reader will find that Mr. Flecker, whatever his prepossessions, has been most painstaking in his studies, and that there is much to be learnt from him.
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