The R.V. reads "land" in both passages, but in each case gives the marginal note--"or

earth".

Some of the alterations made by the Revisers have been hastily condemned, but it is

surely wise to investigate carefully before passing judgment on such a work as this,

produced under the conditions we have already described.

At first sight it may seem to be the intrusion of pedantry to alter the words of the

A.V.--"There were two thieves crucified with Him"--To "There were two robbers". A

thief acts by stealth, a robber by violence; and Barabbas, says the A.V., was a "robber".

This change re-establishes one connection which would otherwise be lost. The Lord

speaks of "a thief and a robber" (John 10: 1). And Matt. 21: 13 gains in force and truth

when we read that the rulers of Israel had turned the house of God into a den of

"robbers". This agrees with Jer. 7: 11, and indicates the brazen openness of their

extortionate plundering of those who came up to the temple worship. So again, in

Luke 10: 30, the man going down to Jericho fell among "robbers", not thieves; and this

throws light upon the "perils of robbers" of which Paul speaks (II Cor. 11: 26). The wild

state of the times, and the mixed motives of patriotism and private greed, are further

illuminated by the statement that Barabbas was connected not only with robbery, but with

"insurrection" and "murder". The dying "robber" may have been one who had thus

entertained hopes of re-establishing the Kingdom; he was blessedly enlightened before

he died. Again, men do not usually employ an armed force with swords and staves to

take a "thief", though they may to apprehend a "robber", especially in days when robbery

was associated with political motives (Mat.. 26: 55).

We wish to express our indebtedness for many examples brought forward in this

series, to the careful collation made by Dr. Brooke Foss Westcott, whose labours have

much facilitated our study in this direction.

We are often rather shy of repetition in writing, and usually try to find some

convenient synonym to avoid repeating the same term. In some cases, however, there is

great force in exact repetition, as for example, the following: The A.V. of John 3: 31

This not only makes a difference to the sense of the passage, but also suggests a false

connection with the word "earthly" in verse 12. As we read the R.V. rendering, we are

impressed by its simple majesty:--

As another example, we may take the occurrences of the word logizomai in Rom. 4:

The word occurs eleven times (verses 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24) and is translated

in the A.V. "counted", "reckoned" and "imputed".  The Revised Version uses