John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

13. This morning I finished the perusal of the German Bible, which I began 20. June last— There are many differences of translation from either the English or the French Translations— Some of which I have compared in the three versions— Many passages obscure and even unintelligible to me in the English are clear in the French and German— Of the three, the German I think has the fewest of these obscurities— But the eloquence of St Paul strikes me as more elevated and sublime in the English than in either of the others. In the German New Testament there is a transposition in the arrangement of the Books— The Epistle to the Hebrews being separated from the rest of St Paul’s, and placed after those of Peter and John— There is a difficulty which obviously often embarrassed all the Translators; it was how to render the significant proper names which abound in the Bible— For instance in the text where Adam says in the English Bible that Eve “shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man” the name does not correspond with the reason assigned for giving it— II. Gen. 23.— The French Bible has it “on la nommera Hommesse, car elle a été prise de l’homme”— The name and the reason here correspond, but hommesse is not the french word for woman—there is no such word in the language—the German Bible resorts to the same expedient of coining a word, and says she shall be called Männin if the English translators had taken the same liberty they would have called her Manness— In expressions of this sort the English Translators whenever they can retain the very Hebrew word; and sometimes they give as proper names, words which the other translators render as things— The more I read the Bible the more I feel that it ought to be accompanied with critical and explanatory Notes— There are Commentators and Expositors enough; but they are too voluminous; and almost universally sectaries: whose labours are devoted not to explanation but to controversy— The German Bible has one very useful kind of annotation. It is that after every verse throughout the Book, all the other verses having reference to it are marked down— This is peculiarly convenient for consulting the mutual references between the Old and New Testament—the Prophecies and their fulfilment— The German New Testament also besides the division of the Books into Chapters marks the festivals at which particular Epistles and Gospels are to be read; at the passages themselves. There is at the commencement both of the French and German Bibles an excellent discourse upon the manner and dispositions in which the Scriptures should be read—that of the German Bible is the best.— Mr Montreal paid me a morning visit— The Ladies spent the Evening at Madam Colombi’s and Charles was left with me.— I find it difficult to employ his time, and when with me he entirely engrosses mine— I endeavour to amuse him, and at the same time to convey instruction to his mind through the medium of every thing that happens— But it is not always easy to discriminate between the knowledge suitable to his age, and the solid nourishment of maturer years— He often asks questions, which it is impossible to answer to his understanding; as do all children of good natural parts— My rule is, to answer them always truly; and as I should to a grown person; explaining what I can make him understand, but freely using terms which I know he cannot, when they are necessary to the definition— If he does not 355take the whole idea, he usually gets part of it, and seldom pushes the enquiry any further. I believe that all complex ideas must be thus acquired by parts at a time; and that they can only be completed, by the frequent repetition of their recurrence— By giving however some of these fragments, much beyond the comprehension of a Child, they are apt to associate themselves in his mind with the ideas which are lodged there, and the combination produces absurdities which may be liable to run eventually into errors of judgment or paradoxical opinions— Socrates says in one of Plato’s dialogues, that he is only a midwife to the minds of his disciples— This Talent is perhaps the most essential of all that can contribute to form an accomplished teacher— How much I would wish to possess it— I give Charles a large portion of my Time; and I would fain have it prove profitable to him— He had the whole of this Evening.