The Greatest English Classic: A Study of the King James Version of the Bible and Its Influence on Life and LiteratureMcAfee, Cleland Boyd
Religion
The Greatest English Classic: A Study of the King James Version of the Bible and Its Influence on Life and Literature
McAfee, Cleland Boyd
Bible -- History; Bible -- Influence; Bible and literature; Bible. English -- Versions -- Authorized
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and
the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom
abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of
Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and
Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of
our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble
knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear
not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a
recompense; He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing:
for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty
land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each
lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be
there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the
unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall
be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not
be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed
of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
That can be set to music as it stands. You catch the same form in the
familiar 13th chapter of I Corinthians, the chapter on Charity. It could
be almost sung throughout. This musical element is in sharp contrast with
much else in the Scripture, where necessity does not permit that literary
form. For example, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is argumentative
throughout, there is no part except its quotations which has ever been
set to music for uses in Christian worship. It is rugged and protracted in
its form, and has no musical element about it. The contrast within the
Scripture of the musical and the unmusical is a very marked one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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