Benjamin Blayney (1728 – 20 September 1801) was an English

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

and

Hebraist A Hebraist is a specialist in Jewish, Hebrew and Hebraic studies. Specifically, British and German scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries who were involved in the study of Hebrew language and literature were commonly known by this designation, a ...

, best known for his revision of the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

of the Bible.

Life

Blayney was educated at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, took a master's degree in 1753, and became fellow and vice-principal of Hertford College in 1768. He was employed by the

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

to prepare a corrected edition of the

of the Bible. This appeared in 1769, but most of it was destroyed by fire in the Bible warehouse,

Paternoster Row Paternoster Row was a street in the City of London that was a centre of the London publishing trade, with booksellers operating from the street. Paternoster Row was described as "almost synonymous" with the book trade. It was part of an area cal ...

, London. Blayney then studied Hebrew; he received the degree of D.D., was appointed regius professor of Hebrew in 1787, and was made canon of

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. On 20 September 1801, he died at his rectory of Poulshot,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

Principal works

*''A Dissertation by Way of Inquiry into the True Import . . . of Daniel ix. 24 to the End''," etc., 1775–97, which was translated into German by J. D. Michaelis; *a new translation of

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish ...

and Lamentations, 1784; *an edition of the

Samaritan Pentateuch The Samaritan Torah ( Samaritan Hebrew: , ''Tōrāʾ''), also called the Samaritan Pentateuch, is a text of the Torah written in the Samaritan script and used as sacred scripture by the Samaritans. It dates back to one of the ancient version ...

in Hebrew characters, 1790; *a new translation of Zechariah, 1797.

References

;Attribution

External links

*
Blayney family webpage
1728 births 1801 deaths Christian Hebraists Regius Professors of Hebrew (University of Oxford) 18th-century Anglican theologians 19th-century Anglican theologians {{Christian-theologian-stub