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.

"All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it" (Eccl. 1:8)—The word here translated "things" is "debarim," a term which is employed in Hebrew in a very wide variety of senses. In the singular, its primary meaning is "speech or word," while, in addition, it often denotes "story, matter, affair, business; case or cause" (see Brown, etc., op. cit., pp. 182–4). Then, too, the term which is translated "full of labour" means more exactly "weary" (Barton: Commentary on Ecclesiastes, p. 74; Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 388). Moffatt suggests the rendering: "All things are aweary, weary beyond words;" while Smith's translation is: "All things are wearisome; one cannot recount them;" and the American Standard Version has: "All things are full of weariness; man cannot utter it."