11. +The English of the Bible+ (i).-- The version of the Bible which we at present use was made in 1611; and we might therefore suppose that it is written in seventeenth-century English. But this is not the case. The translators were commanded by James I. to “follow the Bishops’ Bible”; and the Bishops’ Bible was itself founded on the “Great Bible,” which was published in 1539. But the Great Bible is itself only a revision of Tyndale’s, part of which appeared as early as 1526. When we are reading the Bible, therefore, we are reading English of the sixteenth century, and, to a large extent, of the early part of that century. It is true that successive generations of printers have, of their own accord, altered the spelling, and even, to a slight extent, modified the grammar. Thus we have _fetched_ for the older _fet_, _more_ for _moe_, _sown_ for _sowen_, _brittle_ for _brickle_ (which gives the connection with _break_), _jaws_ for _chaws_, _sixth_ for _sixt_, and so on. But we still find such participles as _shined_ and _understanded_; and such phrases as “they can skill to hew timber” (1 Kings v. 6), “abjects” for _abject persons_, “three days agone” for _ago_, the “captivated Hebrews” for “the captive Hebrews,” and others. 12. +The English of the Bible+ (ii).-- We have, again, old words retained, or used in the older meaning. Thus we find, in Psalm v. 6, the phrase “them that speak leasing,” which reminds us of King Alfred’s expression about “leasum spellum” (lying stories). _Trow_ and _ween_ are often found; the “champaign over against Gilgal” (Deut. xi. 30) means the _plain_; and a publican in the New Testament is a tax-gatherer, who sent to the Roman Treasury or Publicum the taxes he had collected from the Jews. An “ill-favoured person” is an ill-looking person; and “bravery” (Isa. iii. 18) is used in the sense of finery in dress. --Some of the oldest grammar, too, remains, as in Esther viii. 8, “Write ye, as it liketh you,” where the _you_ is a dative. Again, in Ezek. xxx. 2, we find “Howl ye, Woe worth the day!” where the imperative _worth_ governs _day_ in the dative case. This idiom is still found in modern verse, as in the well-known lines in the first canto of the “Lady of the Lake”:-- “Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day That cost thy life, my gallant grey!” CHAPTER V. MODERN ENGLISH.