Article December 29, 1934 Issue

Bible Notes

"The only wise God" (I Tim. 1:17)—In a number of the earliest and most authoriative manuscripts of the New Testament, such as the Sinaitic, Alexandrian, and Bezan Codices, the word for "wise" is omitted in this verse. Its inclusion in some manuscripts has been explained as an effort to bring this into conformity with Paul's reference to "the only wise God" in Romans 16:27 (Rev. Ver. See Souter: Novum Testamentum Graece). In I Timothy 1:17 Moffatt and the Revised Version render simply, "the only God"; Goodspeed, "the one God"; and Weymouth (5th edition), "who alone is God."

"All his works are done in truth" (Ps. 33:4)—It is of interest to note that the Hebrew term "'emunah," which is here rendered "truth," is translated "faith" in Habakkuk 2:4. The literal meaning of "'emunah" is "firmness, steadfastness, fidelity," while it also suggest "trust and stability" (cf. Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 53), in addition to "honesty, security, conscientiousness" (Feyerabend: Hebrew Dictionary, p. 20). "'Emunah" comes from the same Hebrew root as our word "Amen." Smith suggests: "All his work is faithful;" and Moffatt: "All he does is loyally done."

"The goodness of the Lord" (Ps. 33:5)—"Goodness" represents "chesed," a Hebrew term which is translated in various different ways in our Common version of the Old Testament. Thus in verses 18 and 22 of this same Psalm "chesed" is rendered "mercy"; in Psalms 17:7, "loving—kindness"; and is Isaiah 54:10, "kindness"; while this significant word has also been taken to mean "favor, love, loyalty, loveliness" (cf. Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 338, and Feyerabend: op. cit., p. 104).

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