Article May 19, 1934 Issue

Bible Notes

"If therefore thine eye be single ... but if thine eye be evil" (Matt. 6:22, 23)—The Greek adjective "haplous," rendered "single," is an interesting one. It means literally "simple" or "single," in the sense of "not complicated or confused," but it can also mean "whole," or, "when used of the eye, good, fulfilling its office, sound" (Thayer: Greek Lexicon, p. 57). The word "poneros," rendered "evil," means literally "harassed by labours" and then "bad," whether in bad physical or moral condition (ibid., p. 530). Consequently we find: "If then your eye is sound ... but if your eye is unsound" (Goodspeed). Moffatt suggests the interesting rendering: "If your Eye is generous ... but if your Eye is selfish."

"Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (II Cor. 4:16)—A more literal translation would be: "Though our outward man is being destroyed, yet our inward (man) is being renewed day by day." Thus Goodspeed has: "Though my outer nature is wasting away, my inner is being renewed every day."

"Early will I seek thee" (Ps. 63:1)—The verb which is here rendered "seek early" means literally to "look for dawn" (compare the reference in Ps. 130:6, "watch for the morning"); hence it was often used in the metaphorical sense of "to seek earnestly or eagerly" or "to yearn for" (Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 1007). Kent has: "Earnestly I seek thee;" and Moffatt: "I yearn for thee."

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