own.

Expositors having mistaken Moses' prayer "to be bloated out of God's
book," seem generally to have had that prayer in their eye when they
have attempted to explain the text; and supposing that Moses prayed to
be made sacrifice for Israel, have thought that Paul had the same
spirit, and here followed his example! But that neither of them ever
entertained the thought of suffering to expiate the sin of their
people, and that the two passages bear no kind of relation to each
other, we conceive indubitably certain.

But let us consider the text and judge for ourselves the meaning.

Perhaps the difficulties which have perplexed it may have chiefly
arisen from the translation. The silence of expositors on this head,
while puzzled with the passage, is strange, if the difficulty might
have been obviated by amending to the original. The translation is
plausible solely from this consideration.

Mr. Pool is the only expositor we have ever seen, who hath noted the
difference between the translation and the original; and he labors
hard to bring them together, but, in our apprehension, labors it in
vain.

The passage literally translated stands thus? _For I myself boasted
that I was a curse from Christ, above my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh_. *

* * * * *

* _Euxoman gar autos ego anathema einai apo tou xristou uper tou
adelphon mou suggenon mou kata sarxa_.

_Euxoman_, rendered in translation by _I could wish_ forms in the
imperfect of the indicative mood, in the Auic dialect. Mr. Pool was
too accurate a scholar not to observe the disagreement of the
translation with the original. Some read it as in the indicative; but
it is generally considered as in the optative, and altered by a figure
which takes on _iota_ from the middle, and cuts an _an_ end of the
word forming _Euxoman_, instead of _auxoiman an_. +

But what warrant have we for these alterations? They only serve to
darken a difficult text.

The most natural and common construction of _euxoman_, derives, is, to
glory or boast. _Gloriar_ is the first word used to express the
meaning of it in Schrevelius' Lexicon; and the meaning _euxos_, the
theme of this verb justifies the construction, in preference to that
used by the translators. And the Greek preposition _uper_, which is
rendered for, is often used to signify above, or more than.

+ Vid. Pool in loc.

* * * * *

For the justice of the criticisms we appeal to the learned. If they
are j