Article June 10, 1939 Issue

Bible Notes

"To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him" (I Cor. 8:6)—The preposition which is here rendered "of" means literally "from"; while that translated "in" can also mean "unto" or "for" (cf. Souter: Greek Lexicon, pp. 73f.). Moffatt translates: "But for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all comes, and for whom we exist." Similarly, Goodspeed has: "For us there is just one God, the Father, who is the source of all things, and for whom we live;" and Weymouth: "For us there is but one God, the Father, who is the source of all things, and for whom we exist."

"Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord?" (Isa. 40:13)—It is of interest to note that the Hebrew verb "takan," which is here translated "directed," is the same as that rendered "meted out" in the twelfth verse. Its literal meaning is "to regulate, measure, estimate;" and since "ruach" (Spirit) can also be translated "mind" (Brown, Driver and Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 925, col. 2), we would be justified in rendering: "Who has measured the Mind of the Lord?" Moffatt renders: "Who ever moved the mind of the Eternal?" And Smith suggests: "Who has directed the mind of the Lord?"

"Vanity" (Isa. 40:17)—The term translated "vanity" in this passage is the Hebrew word "tohu," which is translated "without form" in Genesis 1:2, and means more specifically "formlessness, confusion, unreality, emptiness" (Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 1062). Kent translates Isaiah 40:17 as follows: "All nations are as nothing before him, they are reckoned by him as void and 'nothingness';" and Moffatt has: ...to him they are but empty and inane;" while Smith suggests: "All the nations are as nothing before him, blank ciphers he counts them."