Thursday, September 2, 2010

Avoid This Imagining

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5

Imagination, in the Bible, does not denote a mental faculty or activity, but an evil purpose, plan, scheme, device, or argument. One Hebrew word, sheriruth, is translated "lust" in Psalms 81:12 and "imagination" in Deuteronomy 29:19 and in eight passages in Jeremiah (3:17; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12; 23:17). These are mistranslations, for the word means firmness in an evil course.

"Imagine" as used in the Bible, means to purpose, plan, contrive. Its object is action; and, rather oddly, it is always directed to action that is evil or futile.

Except for Acts 4:25, where "imagine" translates a verb quoted from the Greek Septuagint, the RSV uses other words: "think" (Job 6:26), "meditate" (Psalms 38:12), "propose" (Genesis 11:6), "plan" (Psalms 140:2), "plot" (Psalms 2:1; Nahum 1:9, 11), "devise" (Psalms 10:2; 21:11; Hosea 7:15; Zechariah 7:10; 8:17).


(The Bible Word Book
, Bridges & Weigle, pg 183)

1 comment:

  1. This gives new thoughts in regards to the vain imaginations of the large and spacious building.

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