160 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
Fromthis,itisevidentthatthetranslatorswerenot
willingtotakethefirstandmostobviousmeaningof
the word. The scripture was too far ahead of the
scienceofastronomyforthetranslators tograspthe
highmeaningoftheoriginal,andsoitwastranslated
inaccordancewiththeprevailingnotionsofthetimes.
But under the light of advancing science, man's
knowledgeofthestarshasincreased. TheAmerican
Revised Versiongivesthelanguage veryclearly. It
readsasfollows: "Canstthoubindtheclusterofthe
Pleiades,orloosethebandsofOrion?" Amarginal
translation is suggested that would make it read,
"CanstthoubindthechainofthePleiades?"
ReadingthescriptureasthusgivenintheAmerican
RevisedVersion,oneseesthatitassumestheknowl-
edgethatthePleiadesandOrionareeachagroup,a
familyof stars, bound together. The Pleiades is a
cluster. Itisboundtogetheraswithaninvisibleband.
Likewisethepowerthatholdsthegreatconstellation
ofOrionintoagreatfamilyofunitedstarsisspoken
ofasits"bands."
AtoncethemindofthestudentoftheWordrests
intheassurancethatsciencewillfindsomethinghere
toverifythis scripture. He is socertainofthein-
fallibilityoftheBible,thathe doesnotquestionfor
amomentthetruthofthislanguage, butlookswith
confidencetoscienceforitsverification. Ifsciencehas
not advanced far enough to dothis work, he waits
forthefactstobe developedthatwillelucidate and
confirmtheWord, thoughtheymay notcomeinhis
time.