Article May 15, 1937 Issue

Bible Notes

"If therefore thine eye be single, ... but if thine eye be evil" (Matt. 6:22f.)—The Greek adjective "haplous," here translated "single," means literally "simple" or "single" in the sense of "not complicated or confused;" then, too, it can mean "whole," or, "when used of the eye,—good, fulfilling its office, sound" (Thayer: Greek Lexicon, p. 57). The literal meaning of the word "poneros," translated "evil," is "harassed by labours" and then "bad," whether in bad physical or moral condition (ibid., p. 530). Weymouth (fifth edition) suggests the rendering: "If your eye is sound, ... but if your eye is diseased;" Goodspeed: "If then your eye is sound, ... but if your eye is unsound;" while Moffatt has: "If your Eye is generous, ... but if your Eye is selfish."

"Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24)—"Mammon" is properly an Aramaic word which has the meaning of "riches," and some scholars contend that it is derived from the root "aman"—denoting "to be firm or steadfast, to trust or put confidence in;" hence, "what is trusted in" (see Thayer: op. cit., p. 388; and Hastings' Bible Dictionary: Vol. III, p. 224). One might well translate: "You cannot serve God and gold." The early Wycliffe and Genevan Versions had the rendering, "riches"; Goodspeed and Weymouth prefer the translation, "money"; while, on the other hand, we find that Moffatt and the Revised Version retain the word "mammon."

"Jesurum" (Isa. 44:2)—This term, which is sometimes spelled "Jeshurun," is thought by commentators to be simply a poetical name for Israel, perhaps "designating its ideal character" (Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 449), though there remains some doubt as to its etymology.

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