Note 187 — III

I cannot think that it would exceed the authority of our University Presses, if this were removed from the Prayer Books which they put forth, as certainly it is supprest by many of the clergy in the reading. Such a liberty they have already assumed with the Bible. In all earlier editions of the Authorized Version it stood at 1 Kin. xv. 24: “Nevertheless Asa his heart was perfect with the Lord”; it is “Asa’s heart” now. In the same way “Mordecai his matters” (Esth. iii. 4) has been silently changed into “Mordecai’s matters”; and in some modern editions, but not in all, “Holofernes his head” (Judith xiii. 9) into “Holofernes’ head”.