Article September 24, 1938 Issue

Bible Notes

"Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence" (Job 15:31)—The Hebrew term "shav," which is here translated "vanity," is used in various senses, including "inanity, falsehood, sin, wickedness, calamity" (cf. Feyerabend: Hebrew Dictionary, p. 342f.). Dr. A. B. Davidson (Commentary on Job, p. 115), bearing in mind the structure of the Hebrew original, points out that "the verse reads 'Let him not trust in vanity: he is deceived: For vanity shall be his recompence;'" and goes on to contend that in the first clause, the word rendered "vanity," means "wickedness," while in the second, the same Hebrew word is rather to be understood in the alternative sense of "calamity or trouble." Smith suggests: "Let him not trust in emptiness, being misled, For his reward will be emptiness;" and the American Standard Version: "Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense."

"Their delectable things shall not profit" (Isa. 44:9)—The Hebrew word here represented by the term "delectable" is formed from a verb which means literally "to desire, covet or long for" (Feyerabend: op. cit., p. 101), and it appears to have the general sense of "desirable or costly things." Smith suggests: "Their precious products are good for nothing;" and Moffatt: "Their adored images are futile;" while the American Standard Version has: "The things that they delight in shall not profit."

"That frustrateth the tokens of the liars" (Isa. 44:25)—The term translated "tokens" might rather be rendered "omens" (cf. Feyerabend: op. cit., p. 9); while that rendered "liars" can also mean "praters or braggarts," and was sometimes used in the sense of "soothsayers." Compare Moffatt's rendering: "I confound soothsayers and their omens;" and that of Smith: "who frustrates the omens of soothsayers." Whitehouse adds the comment that the "soothsaying of the Babylonians, whether by omen or dream, was of a most elaborate character;" and continues: "These omens ('signs' or 'portents') on which the Babylonians relied, are to be frustrated by the nonoccurrence of the event in the way that the diviners prognosticated" (Commentary on Isaiah, Vol. II, p. 116).