Article August 25, 1934 Issue

Bible Notes

"In knowledge and in all judgment" (Phil. 1:9)—The word "aisthesis," here translated "judgment," means literally "perception" (Souter: Greek Lexicon, p. 8); while "epignosis," rendered "knowledge," is often used in the sense of "discernment, recognition, intuition" (ibid., p. 92). The Revised Version has, "in knowledge and all discernment;" Goodspeed, "in knowledge and perfect insight;" Weymouth (5th Edition), "by clear knowledge and keen perception."

"I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper" (Jer. 23:5)—The word "Tsemach," here rendered "Branch," can also mean "sprout or fruit," and so, metaphorically, "descendant" (Feyerabend: Hebrew Dictionary, p. 288); while the verb translated "prosper" means more literally "to have insight, act prudently" (ibid., p. 332), or, as the Septuagint renders it in this passage, "understand"; moreover, an alternative translation of the Hebrew phrase represented by "a King shall reign" would be "he shall reign as king" (cf., the Revised Version). Hence we could render: "I will raise up a righteous descendant of David, and he shall reign as king and have understanding." Moffatt translates: "The day comes, the Eternal promises, when I raise up a true scion of David, to reign both royally and skilfully."

"Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4:17)—A literal translation of the Greek "metanoiein" (repent) is "to change one's mind," especially "to change one's mind for the better" (Thayer: op. cit., p. 405); while the word "basileia," here translated "kingdom," has the primary meaning of "royal power, kingship, dominion, rule" (ibid., p. 96f). Moffatt translates: "Repent, the Reign of heaven is near."