"I passed by, and beheld your devotions" (Acts 17:23)—The word "sebasmata" refers properly to "objects of worship or devotion" rather than to "devotions" in the sense of "prayer or worship"; and was "used of temples, altars, statues, etc." (Thayer: Greek Lexicon, p. 572), being applied, indeed, to whatever things were "religiously honored." Goodspeed has: "I was going about and looking at the things you worship;" and Moffatt: "I passed along and scanned your objects of worship;" while a similar rendering is offered by the Revised Version.

"[He] hath made of one blood all nations of men" (Acts 17:26)—The word translated "blood" is not found in the original Greek of this passage and is omitted by the Revised Version. Weymouth suggests the rendering: "He caused to spring from one forefather people of every race;" and Good-speed: "From one forefather he has created every nation of mankind;" while Moffatt has: "All nations he has created from a common origin."

"The Godhead" (Acts 17:29)—More literally: "the divine" or "the divine nature" (to theion). Goodspeed has: "the divine nature"; and Weymouth: "His nature."

"The Lord of hosts" (Isa. 44:6)—It is interesting to remember that this phrase is represented in the New Testament (Rom. 9:29 and James 5:4) by "Lord of Sabaoth"; for "Sabaoth" was simply an attempt to put the Hebrew word for "hosts" first into Greek, and then into English letters, without translating it.

"Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out" (Job 37:23)—There is some difference of opinion among scholars both as to the original text and as to the meaning of this verse. Moffatt renders it: "The Almighty is beyond our minds. Supreme in power and rich in justice, he violates no right."

"Grace and truth" (John 1:17)—The Greek term "aletheia," usually rendered "truth" (as in this verse), can also mean "fact, reality, sincerity" (Thayer: op. cit., p. 26); while "doxa" (grace) may be alternatively translated "dignity, excellence, majesty, glory" (ibid., p. 186). Moffatt has "grace and reality"; and Goodspeed: "blessing and truth."

"Moses in the law commended us, that such should be stoned" (John 8:5)—The passages referred to are doubtless Leviticus 20:10, which laid down death as the punishment for adultery; and Deuteronomy 22:21–22, which prescribed that the execution was to be carried out by stoning (see John 8:7).

"Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground" (John 8:6)—The words that follow in the Authorized Version, "as though he heard them not," are not found in the original Greek (as indicated by the fact that they are printed in italics). There are many traditions as to what Jesus "wrote on the ground," but they are not upheld by early manuscript authority. Many scholars contend, with considerable plausibility, that in the early centuries of our era, stooping down and writing on the ground was recognized as an action suggesting dismissal of the subject on hand, or sometimes, lack of interest in it. (Compare: Loisy: Quatrième Évangile, p. 546; Plummer: St. John, p. 178; Bernard: St. John; McGregor: St. John, p. 212.)

"For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things" (Rom. 11:36)—In the original language of the New Testament, as in the familiar rendering of the King James' translators, this statement is set down in a somewhat condensed form, and modern translators usually expand it, in an effort to clarify the sense. Thus Goodspeed suggests: "For from him everything comes, through him everything exists; and in him everything ends!" Weymouth: "For all proceeds from Him, and exists by Him and for Him;" and Moffatt: "All comes from him, all lives by him, all ends in him."

"A spirit of infirmity" (Luke 13:11)—The word rendered "infirmity" in this, as in the following verse, is literally "weakness, lack of strength" (Thayer: op. cit., p. 80). Moffatt translates: "weakness from an evil spirit;" Goodspeed: "a sickness caused by a spirit;" and the Twentieth Century New Testament: "a woman who for eighteen years had suffered from weakness, owing to her having an evil spirit in her."

"Thou ... dost weigh the path of the just" (Isa. 26:7)—The Hebrew root "palas" has the primary sense of "to be even," and from this spring its two chief meanings: (1) "to even the scales of a balance," and so "to weigh" (as in our Common Version); and (2) "to make even or smooth," which would seem to provide a somewhat more appropriate sense in this verse. Smith suggests: "The track of the righteous thou levelest;" and Moffatt: "For honest men thou makest the way straight."

"Yea ... will I seek thee early" (Isa. 26:9)—The Hebrew verb used in this passage comes from a root which means "dawn," hence, originally, "to look for dawn," and so, in a metaphorical sense, "to look eagerly or diligently" for anyone or anything. Moffatt has: "We have been yearning for thee ... our spirits eagerly in search of thee;" and Smith: "I have yearned for thee in the night, with all my heart I seek thee."

"And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation" (Isa. 33:6)—It may be noted that the word "'emunah," here rendered "stability," is connected with our English word "amen," and is identical with the term translated "faith" in Habakkuk 2:4. Other translations of "'emunah" are "security" and "honesty" (Feyerabend: Hebrew Dictionary, p. 20). The American Revised Version gives the interesting alternative rendering: "And there shall be stability in the times, abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge."