Mr. Sawyer renders [Greek: _katha thov chrinon du haekribose_] thus: "according to the precise time which he had learned."--Is this literal or correct? [Greek: _'Akriboo_] signifies _to inquire diligently, assiduously, or accurately_, and has no such signification primarily as _to learn_. If the reader will now turn to Mr. Sawyer's translation of the 7th verse of the same chapter of Matthew, he will there find that he translates [Greek: _haekribose_] "asked"! And yet it stands in that passage in precisely the same connection of thought as in the 16th verse; so that we have our translator, who gives us only strictly literal renderings, translating the same word, occurring in the same relative connection, in the one instance by "asked," and in the other by "had learned,"--neither of them legitimate translations, and neither precisely expressing the thought. The rendering "asked" falls as far short of the full and forcible meaning of [Greek: _haekribose_], in the one case, as "had learned" varies from its strictly literal signification in the other.
We will now examine another passage illustrating Mr. Sawyer's consistent fidelity to literal renderings. He translates the word [Greek: _phuchae_], Luke xii. 19, 20, and 23, "soul"; thus, "I will say to my _soul_," find "Is not the _soul_ more than the food?"--agreeing with the common version in the first instance, and differing from it in the second. But he renders [Greek: _phuchae_] in Mark viii. 36, 37, Luke xvii. 33, and Matt. xvi. 26, "life"; thus, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his _life_?" "For whoever wishes to save his _life_ shall lose it." In these cases he seems to have made his choice between the renderings "soul" and "life" according to no rule of translation or of criticism in philology, but as his fancy dictated. How shall we explain these inconsistencies, and, at the same time, grant Mr. Sawyer his claim to literalness of rendering?
Luke ix. 24, 25, Mr. Sawyer translates [Greek: _phuchae_] "life," and then renders [Greek: _eauthon de apolesas ae zaemiotheis_] "and destroys himself or loses his life." The common version is "and lose himself or be cast away," which is not only more strictly literal, but far more forcible. [Greek: _'Apollumi_] conveys the strongest idea of _total, irremediable ruin_; and [Greek: _zaemioo_], when used, as in this passage, in the aorist tense, has the signification of _bringing loss or ruin upon one's self_. Both these thoughts are lost in Mr. Sawyer's translation; and a more tame, insufficient, and tautological rendering than his could scarcely be imagined.