Article July 16, 1938 Issue

Bible Notes

"Unite my heart to fear thy name" (Ps. 86:11)—In the original Hebrew, which consisted solely of consonants, the form "YCHD" could be taken to mean either "unite" as in our Common Version, or "rejoice"; and the Septuagint Version suggests the latter alternative, reading: "Let my heart rejoice, that I may fear thy name." Similarly Moffatt has: "May reverence for thee rejoice my heart." (Cf. Kittel: Biblia Hebraica.)

"Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates" (Zech. 8:16)—In Old Testament times it was customary to administer justice at the "gate" of the city (cf. Wright: Zechariah, p. 189); indeed, the law of Deuteronomy 16:18 said: "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates;" while it was to the city gate that a man was brought to be judged by the elders (Deut. 21:19f., etc.). Thus the "gate" of the city is often used as practically a synonym for its "court house" or "judgment hall"; while the Hebrew "shalom" (peace) can also mean "welfare, prosperity, friendship" (Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 1022f.) Consequently Moffatt translates: "Let your decisions in court be true and for the common good;" and Smith: "Give true and just decisions in your courts."

"Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour" (Zech. 8:17)—The Hebrew verb "chasab" can mean "imagine, think," but it is often used in a more definitely purposive sense to mean "devise, plan, impute, charge" (cf. Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 363). Hence Smith has: "Let none of you devise evil in your thoughts against your friend;" and Moffatt: "Plot no evil in your hearts against one another."