"A daily provision of the king's meat" (Dan. 1:5)—The rare word which is translated "meat" in this verse is in reality a term which is borrowed from the Persian, and appears to be used in the sense of "delicacies" such as would naturally be found at the royal table (cf. Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 834). Consequently, Moffatt translates: He "ordered them a daily share of the delicacies he ate and of the wine he drank."

"Prove thy servants ... ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink" (Dan. 1:12)—The word "zeroim," which is here translated "pulse," means more literally "vegetables" (Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 283); while the verb which is rendered "prove" has the primary signification of "test or try" (op. cit., p. 650). Consequently, Moffatt renders: "Try your servants for ten days, I pray you. Let us have vegetables to eat and water to drink;" and Smith: "Pray, try your servants for ten days, letting us have vegetables to eat, and water to drink."

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebr. 11:1)—The Greek term "hupostasis," which is here translated "substance," is used in a very wide variety of meanings. Its literal signification is "a setting, or placing" (stasis) "under" (hupo), and so, in a wider sense, "that which is a foundation, is firm ... substance, real being, courage, resolution, confidence, firm trust, assurance" (Thayer: Greek Lexicon, p. 645). In papyrus documents which date from the early centuries of our era, it is often used in the sense of "title-deeds," a rendering which is suggested by Professors Moulton and Milligan when commenting on this verse (Vocabulary of the Greek New Testamentm p. 660). If this latter rendering be accepted, "faith" would then appear to be considered as the guarantee or proof of possession of the things for which we hope. It may be added that the word "elegchos" can mean either "evidence" (as in our Common Version) or, alternatively, "proof, conviction" (Thayer: op. cit., p. 202). Weymouth (fifth edition) translates: "Now faith is a confident assurance of that for which we hope, a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see;" and Goodspeed: "Faith means the assurance of what we hope for; it is our conviction about things that we cannot see." Those who prepared the early Genevan Version have this rendering: "Now faith is the ground of things which are hoped for, and the evidence of things which are not seene."

"Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebr. 11:3)—It may be observed that the verb translated "see" often means, as it does in English also, "to discern mentally, or to understand," in addition to the literal reference to physical sight (cf. Thayer: op. cit., p. 103). Then, too, it may be noted that the Greek term rendered "things which do appear" is to all intents and purposes identical with the English word "phenomena," and, like it, refers properly to things which are perceived by the senses (Meyer: Commentary on Hebrews, p. 398), the "objects of experience" (Webster's (Collegiate) Dictionary). In the original, the negative can be read either with the word "made" (as in our Authorized Version) or with "things which do appear." In the latter case, the sense would be: "Things which are seen were made of things not perceived by the senses." Weymouth suggests: "What is seen does not owe its existence to that which is visible;" and Goodspeed has: "The world we see did not simply arise out of matter."

"What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?" (Eccl. 1:3)—The verb rendered "take" means more literally "to labour or toil" (Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 765); hence, Moffatt translates the verse: "Man labours at his toil under the sun; what does he gain?" while Smith has: "What does a man gain from all his toil at which he toils beneath the sun?"

"Vanity and vexation of spirit" (Eccl. 2:11)—The Hebrew word which is here rendered "vanity" has the literal meaning of "vapour or breath," and came to be used in a figurative sense with reference to that which is "evanescent, unsubstantial, worthless" (cf. Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 210). Then the term translated "spirit" can also mean "wind," and so a literal rendering would be: "All was vapour and the pursuit of wind." The Septuagint had "vanity and waywardness of 'pneuma' " (a word which means either "spirit" or wind"); while Moffatt suggests: "It was all vain and futile;" and the American Standard Version: "All was vanity and a striving after wind."

"They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee" (Ps. 40:5)—It is true that the Hebrew word "arak" has the literal meaning of "to arrange or to set in order," but it is also used in the sense of "to compare," as the result of setting in order (see Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 789); while the negative term "en," translated "they cannot," is constantly employed in the sense of "there is not" (ibid., p. 34f.). Hence, we would be justified in translating: "There is nothing (or 'no one') comparable to thee." Smith renders: "There is none to compare with thee;" and Moffatt: "There is no one like thee."

"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat" (Luke 12:22)—A literal translation would be: "Do not worry about your life;" for the verb which is employed in this context comes from the Greek "merimna," which means "care, anxiety" (Thayer: op. cit., p. 400). Then it may be noted that the term "psuche" (literally "breath"), used in this verse, can be rendered either "life" (as here) or "soul" (in the lower sense of these terms). Souter well points out that "it comes near to the modern conception of 'self' " (Greek Lexicon: p. 287), and it should not be confounded with the word "life" (Greek: "zoe") mentioned in John 1:4, and employed both "of physical and spiritual existence" (op. cit., p. 105).