Words of Current Interest

The words in this issue are related to the Lesson-Sermon in the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE QUARTERLY designated to be read in Christian Science churches on February 2, 1969.

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever (Ps. 89:1)

The Hebrew term chesed, here used in the plural, has a wide variety of meanings, including "goodness, kindness, loving-kindness, love," in addition to "mercy." Moffatt translates, "I will sing always of the Eternal's love."

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out Of my lips (Ps. 89:34)

Moffatt suggests, "My compact I will never violate, my spoken word I will not change."

Children that will not lie (Isa. 63:8)

The literal meaning of the Hebrew word is not so much "to speak falsely" (and so "to lie") as "to deal or act falsely." Bearing this in thought, the Revised Standard Version translates, "sons who will not deal falsely"; and Smith, "sons who will not play me false."

Tomorrow is the new moon (I Sam. 20:18)

Dummelow notes that "many nations of antiquity appear to have observed the day of the new moon as a religious festival." A similar observance is mentioned even among the Israelites (compare II Kings 4:23).

Thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel (I Sam. 20:19)

Moffatt suggests, "You must go to the spot where you had yon day, and sit down there beside the stone-heap."

Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world (Acts 15:18)

This represents a rendering of the Greek as found in the later manuscripts of the New Testament. In most of the earliest codices, generally considered of special importance by modern scholars, are found words which Phillips translates thus: "Saith the Lord who maketh these things known from the beginning of the world." The New English Bible has, "Thus says the Lord, whose work it is, Made known long ago."

Dwelleth (I John 4:16)

The Greek meno (dwell) can also mean "abide" or "remain." Thayer observes, "Christians are said to menein en to theo (to abide in God), to be rooted, as it were, in him, knit to him by the spirit they have received from him"; while, by the same token, God is said to abide in them.

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