Stories from the Bible

Walter De La Mare

Description

A collection of major Bible stories of the Old Testament, delightfully re-told in modern English, from the Garden of Eden to David and Goliath!
Although geared towards the young, this book is a delight for all ages...

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Old Testament
• Philosophie et théologie
• Juvenile Nonfiction
• Bible Stories

Informations

• Publié par: Rare Treasure Editions
• Date de parution: 05 novembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781774642795
• Langue: English

Extrait

Stories from the Bible
by Walter de la Mare

First published in 1929
This edition published by Rare Treasures
Victoria, BC Canada with branch offices in the Czech Republic and Germany
[e-mail]
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except in the case of excerpts by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Stories From the Bible
by WALTER DE LA MARE



























TO FRIDY

INTRODUCTION
[Pg ix]
T he stories contained in this volume are versions of but a few of thenarratives related in the first nine books of the Old Testament of theBible, 'that inestimable treasure which excelleth all the riches of theearth'.
The Bible, it is said, is not being read nowadays so much as it used tobe: while there was a time when, it is recorded, a load of hay wouldbe paid gladly for the loan of a manuscript Testament for an hour a day.Wholly apart from the profound truth that 'simple men of wit may beedified much to heavenly living by reading and knowing of the OldTestament', this statement, if true, implies a loss beyond measure tomind and heart, and particularly to the young—its wisdom anddivination, truth and candour, simplicity and directness. All that manis or feels or (in what concerns him closely) thinks; all that he lovesor fears or delights in, grieves for, desires and aspires to is to befound in it, either expressed or implied. As for beauty, though this wasnot its aim, and the word is not often used in it—it is 'excellent inbeauty'; and poetry dwells in it as light dwells upon a mountain and onthe moss in the crevices of its rocks. In what other book—by meremention of them—are even natural objects made in the imagination sowhole and fair; its stars, its wellsprings, its war-horse, itsalmond-tree?
That there are difficulties for those unfamiliar with its pages no onewith any knowledge of the subject would deny. The very simplicity andausterity of the Old Testament stories, their conciseness, the slightchanges that have occurred in the meaning or bearing of English words,occasional obscurities and repetitions in the text, [Pg x] are among them. Mysmall endeavour has been to lighten some of these difficulties, whileyet keeping as close to the spirit of the text as I am capable of. Inmany passages I have kept even to the letter. Apart from that,remembrance of what the matchless originals in the Bible itself meant tome when I was a child is still fresh and vivid in mind, and theserenderings are little more than an attempt to put that remembrance ascompletely as I can into words.
But words in their influence are subtle and delicate beyond all thingsknown to man, and the least change in them when they are in company, orthe least addition to that company, cannot but entail a change ofmeaning; a change, that is, in their complete effect on the mind andspirit of the reader. Comparison of some of the English translations, asthey deal in turn with the same brief passage, will be evidence of this,however little evidence is needed.
Here, for example, are three familiar verses from the first chapter ofthe Book of Ruth. Having come to the parting of the ways, Naomi, whollyagainst her heart and will, entreats Ruth to return to her own peopleand venture no further into a strange land:

The which answerde, Ne contrarye thou me, that Y forsake thee, andgoo a wey; whider euere thou gost, I shal goo, and where thowabidist, and I togidre shal abyde; thi puple my puple, and thi Godmy God; what erthe the takith diynge, in it I shal die, and there Ishal take place of biriynge; thes thingis God do to me, and thesthingis adde, if not oonly deth me and thee seuere. Seynge thanneNoemye, that with stedfast inwit Ruth hadde demed to goo with hir,wold not contrarye, ne more mouynge the turnynge agen to hyrs. Andthei wenten forth to gidre, and thei camen into Bethlem . . .
('Wycliffe': c. 1382)

And sche answeride, Be thou not aduersarye to me, that Y forsakethee, and go awei; whidur euer thou schalt go, Y shal go, and wherethou schalt dwelle, and Y schall dwelle togidere; thi puple is mypuple, and thi God is my God; what lond schal resseyue thee diynge,Y schal die ther ynne, and there Y schal take place of biriyng; Goddo to me these thingis, and adde these thingis, if deeth alooneschal not departe me and thee. Therfor Noemy saw, that Ruth haddedemyde with stidefast soule to go with hir, [Pg xi]

and sche nolde be agens hir, nether counseile ferthere turnyngeagen to her cuntrei men. And thei geden forth togidere, and camenin to Betheleem ...
(The 'Wycliffe' translation revised by John Purvey: 1386)

Ruth answered: Speake not to me thereof, that I shulde forsakethee, and turne backe from the: whither so euer thou goest, thitherwil I go also: and loke where thou abydest, there wil I abide also:Thy people is my people, and thy God is my God. Loke where thoudiest, there wil I dye, and euen there wil I also be buried. TheLorde do this and that unto me, death onely shal departe vs.
Now whan she sawe, that she was stedfastly mynded to go with her,she spake nomore to her therof. So they wente on both together,till they came vnto Bethleem.
(Miles Coverdale: 1536)

And Ruth answered, Intreate mee not to leaue thee, nor to departfrom thee: for whither thou goest, I will goe: and where thoudwellest, I will dwell: thy people shalbe my people, and thy God myGod. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried. TheLord do so to me and more also, if ought but death depart thee andme.
When she saw yt she was stedfastly minded to goe with her, sheeleft speaking vnto her. So they went both vntill they came toBethlehem ...
(The Geneva Bible: 1560)

She answered: Be not against me, to desire that I should leave theeand depart: for whithersoever thou shalt go, I will go: and wherethou shalt dwell, I also will dwell. Thy people shall be my people,and thy God my God. The land that shall receive thee dying, in thesame will I die: and there will I be buried. The Lord do so and soto me, and add more also, if aught but death part me and thee.
Then Noemi seeing, that Ruth was steadfastly determined to go withher, would not be against it, nor persuade her any more to returnto her friends: So they went together and came to Bethlehem.
(The Douai Bible: 1609)

And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return fromfollowing after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go: and wherethou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thyGod my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I beburied: the Lord do so to me and more also, if ought but death partthee and me.
When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, thenshe left speaking unto her. So they two went until they came toBethlehem ...
(Authorized Version: 1611)
It is a lesson in much more than mere word-craft to consider each ofthese in turn. In one, the lovely simplicity of 'that I forsake thee,and go away'; in another, 'that Ruth had deemed with steadfast soul togo with [Pg xii] her'; in another, 'She spake no more to her thereof. So theywent on both together'; and then, the sovran 'Intreat me not to leavethee', and 'the Lord do so to me and more also'; and last, in the Douaitranslation, 'if aught but death part me and thee'.
Here also is but a fragment from the second chapter of Genesis:

And the Lord God brought forthe of the erthe eche tree fayre insight, and swete to ete.
(Wycliffe)

And the Lorde God caused to sprynge out of the earth all manertrees, pleasant to loke upon, and good to eate.
(Miles Coverdale: 1536)

For out of the ground made the Lorde God to grow euery treepleasant to the sight and good for meate.
(The Geneva Bible: 1560)

And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees,fair to behold and pleasant to eat of.
(The Douai Bible: 1609)

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that ispleasant to the sight and good for food.
(Authorized Version: 1611)
If these are the varying achievements of the masters, what manifolddangers, then, await the 'simple creature' who attempts in our own dayto re-tell even a fraction of any particular chapter of the OldTestament in his own words.
To read, too, any book worthy of the name needs all the powers ofunderstanding and imagination and spirit of which one is capable, andeven then, what is made of the reading may fall far short of what wasintended in the writing. How much so, then, when that book is the Bible!Its unique history is proof of it. Even the most usual of words in themost ordinary of circumstances may have many senses. We say, 'Here I am,at home': meaning, 'in my own familiar place'; and, maybe, 'the housewhere I was born'. But as when striking a note softly on a piece of fineglass one may listen on to its chiming overtones, so, if we listen tothe echoes of the word home in memory, they can hardly fail to remind usof the home that is the body, where the 'I, myself', [Pg xiii] has its earthlydwelling. Next, maybe, of the 'keeping in order' of that home. And last,of the home of the heart's desire, which has had almost as many namesgiven to it as there are races of mankind.
'Worde,' as Wycliffe says, 'worde wynd and mannes mynd is full short,but letter written dwelleth.' So too with the Bible. Its meanings or'understandings', as St. Thomas Aquinas declared, are fourfold. Firstthe literal, which is 'ground and foundement' of the other three—theallegorical, the moral and the analogical.
These words sound a little formidable, but no word is 'long', when oneknows the meaning of it. Thus the word Jerusalem may mean first,literally, the chief city of Palestine—seated beyond the barren hillsbetween it and the sea, and of an age-long, unique and tragic history.Next, allegorically, it may signify also the Jer