That the reader may be able to form some definite judgment upon the matter here presented to him, his attention is called to the following selection of passages from different parts of the Bible, in which it will now be generally acknowledged by competent judges that the translators of 1611 have failed to give a faithful representation of the meaning of the original texts: Gen. iv. 15 is rendered, in the version of 1611, as in previous versions: “And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him,” and no small amount of ingenuity has been wasted in the endeavour to decide what this supposed mark upon the body of Cain might be. The rendering moreover altogether misrepresented the import of the passage. The “mark” or “sign” was not something intended for the warning of others, but was given to remove the fears of Cain himself, expressed in verses 13, 14: “The Lord set a sign for Cain [to assure him] that whoever found him would not kill him.” Gen. xx. 16. Here Abimelech is made to say to Sarah, “Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand _pieces_ of silver; behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, with all that are with thee, and with all _other_; thus she was reproved,” a statement which is both misleading and obscure. It was not Abraham, but the present of money, that was to be for Sarah a covering of the eyes, that is, a testimony to her virtue, and by this act of the king she was not reproved for her conduct, but was cleared in her character. The latter part should be rendered, “Behold, it shall be to thee a covering of the eyes ... and thus she was righted.” Exod. xvi. 15. “And when the children of Israel saw _it_, they said one to another, It is manna, for they wist not what it was.” To the ordinary reader this seems to involve a contradiction; but the stumbling-block is at once removed by the more faithful rendering, “They said one to another, What is it? for they wist not what it was.” Further on, in verse 31, it is stated that from this cry, “What is it?” the bread from heaven thus given to them was called Manna, or more correctly Man (the Hebrew word for What?). Josh. vi. 4. “And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns.” This is a very unfortunate rendering; for not only are rams’ horns solid, and so also unsuitable for wind instruments, but also it is only by the merest fancy that any reference to rams can be brought in at all. The word rendered “rams” is “jubilee,” the same as that given to the great Year of Release. It denotes either some kind of trumpet, and is so used Exod. xix. 13, or the sound or signal given by a trumpet. The Year of Release derives its name, the Year of Jubilee, from the solemn sounding of trumpets throughout the land with which it was inaugurated. The original term should here be kept, and the verse should read, “And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of jubilee.”[67]