THE PREFACE

Jude Thu 02 May 2013, 23:39

In the name of GOD most Gracious, ever Merciful!

The Beloved and I

Volume 2: Enoch, Jubilees, Joshua, Judges

Thomas McElwain

New Jubilees Version of Sacred Scripture in Verse With Verse Commentaries

Revised Edition

Adams & McElwain Publishers

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain

First published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006.

Second edition, 2010

Third and revised edition, 2012

All rights reserved.

No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by

Adams & McElwain Publishers
Puijonrinne 7
70200 Kuopio, Finland

ThomasGMcElwain@gmail.com

www.lulu.com

Cover photo by Anna Maria McElwain

Contents

Preface
Enoch
Jubilees
Joshua
Judges

PREFACE

This second volume of The New Jubilees Version is written in the same format as the first: a verse translation of the Scripture text interspersed with sonnet-like commentary. The first two books in this volume, however, are little more than versifications, since the original language was consulted only sparingly. The books of Joshua and Judges were translated from the Hebrew in the same way as the Torah in volume one.

There has been an attempt to use italics for all words, phrases and occasionally lines that have been added in commentary to the text within the verse numbered passages themselves. Given that this is a verse rendering, the accuracy achieved by the masterful King James Versions is not attained here, although it goes beyond that of some modern versions.

The Scriptural portions are set in octosyllabic, following the same Turkish tradition. Obviously, besides Turkish poetics, English hymnodic tradition, specifically Long Metre, has been influential. The rhyme scheme is based on the couplet with variation. A hint is taken from Medieval Hebrew poetry as well as Turkish tradition in the predilection for complete identity rhymes, something that is not acceptable in traditional English poetry except in the sestina. The poetics is thus a combination of Turkish, English, and medieval Hebrew traditions. Although the syllable count, based on Turkish-style scansion is exact, except for feminine rhymes, it sometimes includes weak syllables, which of course contrasts with normal English scansion. The result is that the entire text of the Scriptures could conceivably be sung to the tunes of Christian Long Metre hymns and many folk tunes in Turkish and other traditions, including such obscure ones as Finnish Kalevala melodies. Of course octosyllabic lines are the most English of all verses since before the time of Chaucer. The challenge is to imbue a translation into that ancient form with any degree of freshness.

The commentaries are distinguished, for the most part, by a form combining features from the Shakespearean sonnet and the Oriental ghazel. It consists of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, the English heroic line. The rhyme scheme, however, is the same as that for the Scriptural translations, mirroring a ghazel style.

I have gone so far as to assume the original Hebrew cognate of Muhammad behind the Ethiopic in several passages of Enoch and Jubilees. The cognates of Ali and Muhammad quite simply exist in the Hebrew Scriptures, and the reader has a right to know this, whether or not she chooses to apply it prophetically.

I have occasionally translated the Hebrew word shalom not as peace, but as Islam, with the view that the word refers, not to a particular religious establishment, but to that peace with God that comes through submission to His revealed will. No implications favouring a religious establishment should be inferred. Indeed, the unbiased reader of the Qur’an will soon become aware that its intention was not to create a new religious tradition, but to call people of all sects back to the faith of Abraham.

This work is unique in several ways. Others have single-handedly translated great bodies of Scripture, although it is fairly rare in this age of committees, at least in such languages as English. A few have even translated large segments of Scripture into verse. Examination of the greater portion of the material in early languages and directly from critical texts is hardly unusual for translators of Scripture. But the combination of critical investigation with translation into verse of such an enormous canonical collection, coupled with extensive mystical commentary in poetic form, is unusual in the Oriental context and even more so in a Western one.

At least since the Protestant Reformation, Scripture has been increasingly perceived as factual literature instead of the more evocative mythical. The fact that so many today perceive Scripture as myth, by which they mean it is not true, only demonstrates the blind and narrow factuality that has oppressed the human soul in recent centuries. Nothing in post-modern thought mitigates this approach: factuality has merely splintered into the meaningless. It is the conscious attempt of the author and translator to avoid not only the deconstructionist fashion of the present as well as historical conventions and outlooks. But this work does not replace the functions of prose translations, study Bibles, or critical editions. Its unique form implies a different function altogether, yet one that approaches the early usage “to be read in churches.” Its intention is to provide a reliable text for the purpose of devotional, liturgical, mystical and perhaps sacramental recitation of Scripture. That does not prevent its being read as poetry or even as a novel. The practice of the author himself is to read the weekly Torah lesson, as found in volume one, on the Sabbath day in congregation, and to use the succeeding volumes devotionally on the other days of the week.

The mysticism at the foundation of this work is the realization that absolute existence belongs to the one God alone. The implication for the identity of the “I” and the unity of humankind ought, with a little contemplation, to become evident. In this context the self of illusion and the Self which is God are in variable tension. The result is sometimes the expression of contempt for institutions and even individuals. This should be understood mainly in terms of the microcosmos of the individual, rather than a projection of suspicion on the world about. To understand these expressions in a literal and exterior sense is to miss the entire point in terms of the self in mystical thought. By the same token, those expressions of love and adoration that may appear to refer to human beings should be understood in the mystical contemplation of the human face, whereby God is apperceived. This danger of misapprehension is well known and is at the root of secretiveness among such mystical groups as Sufis, Kabbalists, and others. One can only pray that the spiritual benefits of this contemplation will outweigh any detriment that careless reading may experience.

The conscientious and spiritual will immediately see beyond the shiny surface of these waters of revelation to the towers and pinnacles of the jewelled city arising from the seabed below. Let these lines be a springboard for the truly adept to plunge into the refreshing flood. These meditations, by contrast to many readings of the Scriptures, couched in the form of verse dialogues, are conversations or love letters between the Beloved, who once inspired the Scriptures, and the lover who now turns to their contemplation.

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