Article March 25, 1939 Issue

Bible Notes

"What is the chaff to the wheat?" (Jer. 23:28)—The word which is here translated "chaff" is more exactly "straw." Hence, Smith has: "What has the straw to do with the wheat?" Moffatt suggests: "Why mix straw with wheat?"

"Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay" (Isa. 29:16)—The Hebrew word "haphkekem" is connected with a root which means "to overturn," hence the rendering of our Common Version: "your turning of things upside down;" but it is now generally conceded among scholars that the more correct and exact meaning of "haphkekem," as it is here used, is, "Oh! your contrariness," or, "Oh! your perversity" (compare Brown, Driver, and Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 246). Hence, Smith renders: "O the perversity of you! Is the potter of no more account than the clay?"

"In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book" (Isa. 29:18)—The translation as given in our Authorized Version would lead one to suppose that some specific book was intended, but, as a matter of fact, the original Hebrew refers simply to "the words of a book." So far from stressing "the book," Moffatt renders simply: "Even the deaf shall hear the word;" though Smith has: "On that day shall the deaf hear the words of a book."

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