This (though in a periphrasis) I conceive to be the just meaning of the words; the verb is in the plural, and according to Miss SMITH'S version, (vid. Parkhurst on p) skin, as he justly observes, must be taken in a distributive sense, to govern it: and is it not better to construe the passage literally, "and after (they) have destroyed this skin of mine, or my skin in this man"ner, &c." and then to ask the question, to whom, the nominative pronoun understood, refers? the answer could be no other than that which our translation has made, the worms, (vid. chap. vii. ver. 5;) and might it not even add to the beauty of the passage, to suppose Job, in allusion to this part of his complaint, pointing to his own miserable situation, and crying,

"And after the worms have thus destroyed my skin, "Yet in my flesh, &c.

PAGE 65. CHAP. XX. VER. 20.

Therefore his mind shall know no ease.

signifies not only belly, but the inmost part, or mind of man; and the uniform adherence of all our commentators to the former meaning has produced many expositions that border upon the ridiculous.

and thus derived it from the root, to waste, or

consume, instead of, the word used in Job x. 19,

for being carried to the grave.

PAGE 75. CHAP. XXIII. VERSE 2.

My hand presses heavy on my sighs.

That is, My hand presses heavy upon my groaning heart. Our translation is objectionable from giving a sense to that it will not fairly bear. The Septuagint, to get rid of the difficulty, changes 7 into 19", and renders the passage η χεις αυτό βαρεια γεγονεν επ' εμώ sevay. But Miss SMITH'S version gives a natural description of a man oppressed with pain and grief, without recurring to any alteration.

VERSE 6.

No, surely he hath put in me permanent existence.

The disciples of the Warburtonian school will object to this version, because it militates strongly against their

system, if it do not completely overturn it. The construction, however, if be allowed to take this substantive form, (vid. Parkhurst,) is no less accurate than beautiful. It avoids an ellipsis, and gives a sublimity of idea to the passage, perfectly consistent with the religious sentiments Job had before avowed, “ He will not utterly destroy me:" Non omnis moriar.

VERSE 9.

To the left, on his splendour.

.עשה instead of עשת From

VERSE 14.

And many ministers are with him.

Instead of the pronoun, with the to mark similitude, Miss SMITH has taken it from 17.

PAGE 78. CHAP. XXIV. VER. 6.

They reap in a field not their own.

Dividing the word

not to him, instead of taking

from

it as our translators have done in one word

provender. It is thus divided in the Targum of

Jonathan.

VERSE 7.

They pass the night.

Miss SMITH, instead of the causive conjugation, has rendered in Kal.

PAGE 82. CHAP. XXV. VER. 5.

Her abode is not fixed.

Not taking it from, to shine; but 78, to pitch or spread a tent.

PAGE 83. CHAP. XXVI. VER. 5.

The dust of the dead trembles, &c.

I should deprive the reader of a great pleasure in not referring them to a note on this passage in Dr. Magee's new edition of the Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice,* (vol i. p. 373.) There is little difference between his translation and that of Miss SMITH. Both

* In calling the reader's attention to this most excellent publication, I cannot forbear mentioning, that should he wish to be acquainted with the learned controversy (if it may be so called) on the book of Job, in no work that is extant, will he find the evidence on both sides so ably detailed, and so ingeniously discussed.

convey the same idea, and precisely that which the word DX is made to give, Psalm lxxxviii. 11, Shall the dead arise? and Isaiah xiv. 9, He stirreth up the dead.

VERSE 7.

Hung the earth on a balance.

Vid. Parkhurst on

.בלם

PAGE 85. CHAP. XXVII. VER. 8.

GOD shall demand his soul.

his used in this sense, 1 Sam. i. 17; GoD shall grant (8) thy request. It looks more like a

.שאל mistake for

VERSE 19.

Shall not again.

From to repeat, or do again, with an N, to compensate for the quiescent, as in Exodus v. 7, and 1 Sam. xviii. 29.

PAGE 87. CHAP. XXVIII. VER. 3.

The miner feels in the dark.

This can never stand without a very forced construction, making P, extremity, or end to signify the ex