Article December 17, 1938 Issue

Bible Notes

"The land of the shadow of death" (Isa. 9:2)—The original Hebrew consonants can be read to mean either "shadow of death" or "darkness, deep darkness, deep shadow," according to the vowels which are presupposed by the translator (see Brown, Drive and Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 853). Consequently the Margin of the Revised Version reads, as does Smith: "a land of deep darkness;" and Moffatt: "a land of shadows."

"Zerubbabel" (Zech. 4:6)—It is of interest to note that Zerubbabel belonged to the royal line of David, and, according to Matthew, he was a direct ancestor of the Messiah (Matt. 1:12). Zerubbabel became civil governor of Judah after the return of the Jews from exile (Hag. 1:1), and he and Jeshua, the high priest, sometimes referred to as Joshua, took charge of the building of the temple (Ezra 3:2, 8, etc.). Zerubbabel is also termed the "servant" of the Lord and His "signet," one whom He has specially chosen (cf.Hag. 2:23).

"Ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1)—This is a literal rendering of the Greek, but since the words translated "ye believe" and "believe" are identical in form—"pisteuete" in both cases—other renderings are possible. A number of modern translators take the verb as imperative in both instances, and so we find: "Trust in God: trust in me also" (Weymouth, fifth edition); "You must believe in God, and believe in me" (Goodspeed); "Believe in God and believe in me" (Murdock's rendering of the Syriac); and, "Believe in God, believe also in me" (American Standard Version). Moffatt, however, suggests the following translation: "You believe—believe in God and also in me."

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