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according to the age in which a writer lives, or the fashion which he has adopted for himself. Thus the edition of 1611 abounds with parentheses1 which are largely discarded in modern Bibles, wherein commas supply their place, unless indeed they are left unrepresented altogether. The note of admiration, which is seldom met with in the old black-letter copies (wherein the note of interrogation usually stands in its room: e.g. Prov. xix. 7) is scattered more thickly over Blayney’s pages than the taste of the present times would approve. Upon the whole, while the system of recent punctuation is heavier and more elaborate than necessity requires, and might be lightened to advantage, as in this volume has been attempted2; that of the standard of 1611 is too scanty to afford the guidance needed by the voice and eye in the act of public reading. “It is a torture to read aloud from, as those who have had to do it know3.” Grote contrasts it in this particular with a Cambridge edition of 1683, into which more changes in the stops were admitted than later books cared to follow, and whose punctuation differs in fact but little from that in vogue in recent times.

The case in which difference of punctuation involves difference of meaning cannot be thus summarily dismissed. Since interpretation is now concerned, rather than arbitrary liking or convenience, the principles laid down in the First Section are strictly applicable here (pp. x., xiv.). The stops found in the original ought not to be altered unless the sense they assign be not merely doubtful, but manifestly wrong4. Modern changes, if still abided by, should be scrupulously recorded, and their retention can be justified only by the consideration that it is at once pedantic and improper to restore errors of the standard Bible which have once been banished out of sight. The following list will be found to contain all divergencies of punctuation from that prevailing in recent editions, not being too insignificant to deserve special notice, which can be supposed to influence the sense. They naturally divide themselves into two classes, those which are, and those which are not, countenanced by the two issues of 1611.

I. The stops of 1611 are retained in preference to those of later Bibles, there being no strong reason to the contrary, in

Gen. xxxi. 40, “Thus I was in the day, the drought consumed me,” 1611, after Masoretic stops, LXX., Vulg., against the Bishops’, 1638–1769, moderns, who have “Thus I was; (, 1638–1762) in the day the drought consumed me.” Lev. iv. 2, “(concerning things which ought not to be done).” Here 1769 and the moderns reject the parenthesis of the earlier books, which, though not found in vv. 13, 22, 27, tends to relieve a hard construction. Joshua iii. 16, “very far, from the city Adam,” 1611–1630. In 1629 Camb. and subsequent editions the comma after “far” is removed, but the other distribution is not less probable. 1 Kin. xii. 32, “and he || offered upon the altar (so did he in Bethel,) || sacrificing.” The moderns, after 1769, punctuate “and he || offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, || sacrificing:” against the Hebrew stops, Zakephkaton standing over both “altar” and “Bethel;” and rendering the margin (which provides for וַיַּעַל, being the Kal rather than the Hiphil conjugation) quite unintelligible. xix. 5, “behold then, an angel” (וְהִנֵּה־זֶה): “behold, then an angel,” 1769, moderns. Neh. ix. 4, “upon the stairs of the Levites,” (עַל־מַֽעֲלֵה֣ הַֽלְוִיִֹּם): “upon the stairs, of the Levites,” 1769, moderns. ver. 5, “Jeshua and Kadmiel,” (cf. Ezra ii. 40): “Jeshua, and Kadmiel,” 1769, moderns. Job xix. 28, “persecute we him?…found in me.” 1611–1617. But 1629 Lond., 1630 place (?) also after “me:” 1629 Camb., 1638, moderns, transfer the second clause into the oratio obliqua “persecute we him,…found in me?” xxxi. 30. This verse is rightly set in a parenthesis in 1611–1744, which 1762, moderns, remove. xxxiii. 5, “If thou canst, answer me,” as in ver. 32. The first comma is removed in 1629 Camb. (not 1629 Lond., 1630) and all modern books. xl. 24 marg. “or bore,” 1611: “or bore,” 1629, 1638, Bagster 1846. But 1744, 1762, moderns, “or, bore,” quite absurdly. Psalm ii. 12, “but a little: Blessed,” 1611–1744, “but a little. Blessed,” 1762 mod.5 lxxix. 5, “wilt thou be angry, for ever?” Cf. Ps. xiii. 1; lxxxix. 46. The comma is removed by 1616 (not 1617, 1630), 1629 Camb., &c. ver. 11, “come before thee, According to the greatness of thy