A word of caution about this post. This is essentially a work in progress post that provides some thoughts I had about the background to the King James Version translation of Psalm 37:8.
In a recent interview, Mark Ward recently pointed out how hard this verse is to the modern ear (link). This has prompted me to consider what lead us to the translation that appears in the KJV. I have a working theory that the King James translators spoke Latin the way that modern-day European scholars speak English, and that although some (such as John Bois) were excellent in Hebrew, even those who were excellent in Hebrew were much more excellent in going between Latin and English than in going between Hebrew and English. Likewise, I think that Greek was a more widely studied language among the King James translators than Hebrew. So, I think it is only natural that the King James translators, whose task it was to revise the Bishops' Bible, would have started from comparing the English to the Latin translations of the Hebrew and the Greek and then also to the Greek translation of the Hebrew. They surely also checked the printed editions of Vulgate Latin that they had. Many of these same translators also likely knew French, so they may have checked French translations for verification of their understanding. This is, of course, just a working theory that hopefully helps the reader understand why I'm digging through secondary or tertiary translation work as the background to the KJV. In reality, it is the Hebrew of the Psalms that is authoritative, not any language translation thereof.
In 1515, Felix Pratensis offered a Latin translation of the Hebrew of the book of Psalms. His translation of Psalm 37:8 was as follows:
(source)
My transcription is this:
Left Margin: 6 Relaxa ab ira.
8. Desine 6 ab ira et derelinque furorem: ne contendas 7 attamen ut maligneris.
Right Margin: 7 Ne commiscearis vel emuleris: certe ut maligna facias.
This would translate to something like:
Desist [6] from wrath and abandon fury; do not strive [7], at any rate, to malign.
[6] Relax from wrath.
[7] Do not associate or emulate; surely from evil-doers.
The Clementine Vulgate (1598 edition) has this:
Desine ab ira, et derelinque furorem: noli aemulari ut maligneris.
Translation by the Rheimists was (source):
- Cease from wrath, and leave furie: have not emulation that thou be malignant.
Beza's 1588
Desine ab ira, et derelinque furorem: noli aemulari, ut maligneris.
Previous Protestant Translations in English
Coverdale Bible (source) / Matthew's Bible (source) 1535
- Leaue of from wrath, let go displeasure, let not thy gelousy moue the also to do euell.
Great Bible (source) 1539
- Leaue of from wrath, & let go displeasure, frett not thy self, els shalt thou be moued to do euell.
Bishops' Bible (source) 1568
- Leaue of from wrath, and let go displeasure: fret not thy selfe, lest thou be moued to do euill
Geneva Bible (source) (not sure if this is the 1560/1599 text)
- Cease from anger, and leaue off wrath: fret not thy selfe also to doe euill.
- he dimitte iram et relinque furorem noli contendere ut malefacias
- desine ab ira et derelinque furorem noli aemulari ut maligneris
