Article September 23, 1939 ISSUE

Bible Notes

"They shall not be ashamed in the evil time" (Ps. 37:19)—The verb which is here translated "ashamed" can also mean "be confounded or disappointed," renderings which are preferred by some scholars in view of the fact that they appear to be more suited to the context. Moffatt renders the passage positively, in the words: "In a calamity they keep their share;" though Smith's rendering corresponds more nearly to that of the Authorized Version: "They shall not be put to shame in bad times."

"Vanity of vanities" (Eccl. 1:2)—The Hebrew word "chebel," which is here translated "vanity," means literally "vapour or breath," and then, figuratively, what is "evanescent, insubstantial, worthless" (Brown, Driver, and Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 210). The repetition of the term in the phrase "vanity of vanities," gives, in Hebrew idiom, a superlative sense.

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