Benjamin Blayney was an English divine and Hebraist

Hebraist

A Hebraist is a specialist in 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, at a time when Hebrew was little understood outside practicing...

.

He was educated at Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, took a master's degree in 1735, and became fellow and vice-principal of Hertford College

Hertford College, Oxford

Hertford College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is located in Catte Street, directly opposite the main entrance of the original Bodleian Library. As of 2006, the college had a financial endowment of £52m. There are 612 students , plus various visiting...

 in 1768. He was employed by the Clarendon Press to prepare a corrected edition of the Authorized Version of the Bible. This appeared in 1769, but most of it was destroyed by fire in the Bible warehouse, Paternoster Row

Paternoster Row

Paternoster Row was a London street in which clergy of the medieval St Paul's Cathedral would walk, chanting the Lord's Prayer . It was devastated by aerial bombardment in The Blitz during World War II. Prior to this destruction the area had been a centre of the London publishing trade , with...

, London. Blayney then studied Hebrew, and in 1787 took his degree as doctor of divinity.

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
  Book of Jeremiah
  The Book of Jeremiah is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the book of Isaiah and preceding Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve....
  
   and Lamentations
  Book of Lamentations
  The Book of Lamentations ) is a poetic book of the Hebrew Bible composed by the Jewish prophet Jeremiah. It mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in the 6th Century BCE....
  
  , 1784;
• an edition of the Samaritan Pentateuch
  Samaritan Pentateuch
  The Samaritan Pentateuch, sometimes called Samaritan Torah, , is a version of the Hebrew language Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, used by the Samaritans....
  
   in Hebrew characters, 1790;
• a new translation of Zechariah
  Book of Zechariah
  The Book of Zechariah is the penultimate book of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew and Christian Bible, attributed to the prophet Zechariah.-Historical context:...
  
  , 1797.

External links

• Blayney family webpage