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

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

and Hebraist, best known for his editorial revision of the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

of the Bible.

Life

Blayney was educated at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

(B.A. 1750), and became fellow and later vice-principal of Hertford College. He was awarded B.D. in 1768. He was employed by the

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press 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 is 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 call ...

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

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

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

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

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 ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

and Lamentations, 1784; *an edition of the

Samaritan Pentateuch The Samaritan Pentateuch, also called the Samaritan Torah (Samaritan Hebrew: , ), is the Religious text, sacred scripture of the Samaritans. Written in the Samaritan script, it dates back to one of the ancient versions of the Torah that existe ...

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