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In your Oct. 6 review of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, you state that the translators "approached their translations not as theologians, but as scholars seeking the most authoritative text," and cite, by way of illustration, Isaiah 7:14, where they have substituted "young woman" for "virgin," supposedly on the basis of a 2nd century text. If the age of a manuscript is to be the determining factor in the choice of a translation, it should be stated, however, that the Isaiah manuscript of the Dead Sea Scrolls, written probably before the birth of Christ, has "virgin." Unfortunately, the substitution of "young woman" for "virgin" reflects a persistent effort on the part of some modern theologians to obviate the miracle of the Virgin Birth.
L. W. SPITZ
Concordia (Lutheran) Seminary St. Louis
Sir:
. . . The 32 Protestant scholars may have attempted to revise the Scriptures in the "clearest, most accurate English of our time," but, in so doing, they obscured the original meanings. Moreover, by rendering some original Hebrew names, such as Jehovah, in English words that never convey the original meanings, the translators have greatly transgressed and committed a grave sin. For by using the word "Lord" for Jehovah, they only add confusion to the readers, who will now not know when "Lord" refers to the Father, Jehovah the Creator of All, or to the accepted Christian Son who is so referred to throughout the Evangelical works . . .
What the world really needs is not a "streamlined" King James Version, but an almost literal, unadulterated rendering of the original languages without deviation . . . DAVID HOROWITZ New York City