Article October 14, 1939 Issue

Bible Notes

"Here is the patience of the saints" (Rev. 14:12)—While the Greek "hupomone" can mean "patience," and is thus translated by Moffatt and others, Souter renders it "stedfast endurance," adding that it is "the virtue shown by martyrs" (Greek Lexicon, p. 27). Goodspeed renders: "On this fact rests the endurance of God's people;" while Weymouth suggests: "Here is an opportunity for endurance on the part of the saints." The Twentieth Century New Testament has: "There is need for endurance on the part of Christ's People."

"What I am afraid, I will trust in thee" (Ps. 56:3)—Literally, "The day I am afraid, I trust—or will trust—in thee;" and so Moffatt renders: "The day I am afraid, I put my trust in thee." Smith, however, translates: "Far away is the day when I fear, for I trust in thee;" while the Septuagint translators, evidently rendering from a variant text, suggest: "They shall be afraid; but I will trust in thee."

"In God I will praise his word" (Ps. 56:4)—The Hebrew term "dabhar," which is often translated "word," as here, has a rather wide variety of meanings, which include "matter, affair, business," besides "cause, case for legal investigation" (Brown, Driver, and Briggs: Hebew Lexicon, p. 183), while the preposition rendered "in" can mean "with, through, by means of, by the aid of" (ibid., p. 89). Hence Moffatt is justified in rendering: "By God's help I will maintain my cause"—reading "my" instead of "his" on the evidence presented by the Septuagint. Smith, however, suggests: "In God—I praise his word—In God I trust."

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