Ezra 7:25 — Word Study

(help), called ESDRAS in the Apocrypha, the famous scribe and priest. He was a learned and pious priest residing at Babylon in the time of Artaxerxes Longimanus. The origin of his influence with the king does not appear, but in the seventh year of his reign he obtained leave to go to Jerusalem, and to take with him a company of Israelites. (B.C. 457.) The journey from Babylon to Jerusalem took just four months; and the company brought with them a large freewill offering of gold and silver, and silver vessels. It appears that Ezra’s great design was to effect a religious reformation among the Palestine Jews. His first step was to enforce separation upon all who had married foreign wives. (Ezra 10:1) ... This was effected in little more than six months after his arrival at Jerusalem. With the detailed account of this important…

A celebrated priest and leader of the Jewish nation. He was "a ready scribe in the law," a learned, able, and faithful man, and appears to have enjoyed great consideration in the Persian court. During the eighty years embraced in his narrative, most of the reign of Cyrus passed, and the whole reign of Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes, and eight years of Artaxerxes Longimanus. From this last king he received letters, money, and every desirable help, and went at the head of a large party of returning exiles to Jerusalem, B. C. 457. Here he instituted many reforms in the conduct of the people, and in the public worship, Ezr 8:1-10:44 Ne 8:1-18. After this he is generally believed to have collected and revised all the books of the Old Testament Scripture, which form the…

ov:

(1) In Anglo-Saxon, had the meaning "from," "away from" (as the strengthened form "off" has still), and was not used for genitive or possessive relations, these being expressed by special case-forms. In the Norman period, however, "of" was taken to represent the French de (a use well developed by the time of Chaucer), and in the Elizabethan period both senses of "of" were in common use. But after about 1600 the later force of the word became predominant, and in the earlier sense (which is now practically obsolete) it was replaced by other prepositions. In consequence the King James Version (and in some cases the Revised Version (British and American)) contains many uses of "of" that are no longer familiar--most of them, to be sure, causing no difficulty, but there still being a few responsible for real obscurities.

a-point': This word is used for the expression of a large variety of ideas and the translation of almost as many words. naqabh = "stipulate" (Ge 30:28). paqadh = "put into office" (Ge 41:34; Nu 1:50; Es 2:3); "select" (Jer 51:27); "put in charge" (Jer 49:19; 50:44); "assign" (Nu 4:27; Jer 15:3); "send" (Le 26:16); "designate," "select" (Ex 21:13;

The judges were temporary and special deliverers, sent by God to deliver the Israelites from their oppressors; not supreme magistrates, succeeding to the authority of Moses and Joshua. Their power only extended over portions of the country, and some of them were contemporaneous. Their first work was that of deliverers and leaders in war; they then administered justice to the people, and their authority supplied the want of a regular government. Even while the administration of Samuel gave something like a settled government to the south, there was scope for the irregular exploits of Samson on the borders of the Philistines; and Samuel at last established his authority as judge and prophet, but still as the servant of Jehovah, only to see it so abused by his sons as to exhaust the patience of the people, who at length demanded a king , after the pattern of the surrounding nations. The…

In Hebrew Shophetim, were the rulers, chiefs, or leaders of Israel, from Joshua to Saul. They were very different from the ordinary administrators of justice among the Hebrews, respecting whom, see JUSTICE. The Carthaginians, a colony of the Tyrians, had likewise governors, whom they called Suffetes, or Sophetim, with authority almost equal to that of kings.

The dignity of judge was for life; but the succession was not always constant. There were anarchies, or intervals, during which the commonwealth was without rulers. There were likewise long intervals of foreign servitude and oppression, under which the Hebrews groaned without deliverers. Although God alone regularly appointed the judges, yet the people, on some occasions, chose that individual who appeared to them most proper to deliver them from oppression; and as it often happened that the oppressions which occasioned recourse to…

The judges were temporary and special deliverers, sent by God to deliver the Israelites from their oppressors; not supreme magistrates, succeeding to the authority of Moses and Joshua. Their power only extended over portions of the country, and some of them were contemporaneous. Their first work was that of deliverers and leaders in war; they then administered justice to the people, and their authority supplied the want of a regular government. Even while the administration of Samuel gave something like a settled government to the south, there was scope for the irregular exploits of Samson on the borders of the Philistines; and Samuel at last established his authority as judge and prophet, but still as the servant of Jehovah, only to see it so abused by his sons as to exhaust the patience of the people, who at length demanded a king , after the pattern of the surrounding nations. The…

In Hebrew Shophetim, were the rulers, chiefs, or leaders of Israel, from Joshua to Saul. They were very different from the ordinary administrators of justice among the Hebrews, respecting whom, see JUSTICE. The Carthaginians, a colony of the Tyrians, had likewise governors, whom they called Suffetes, or Sophetim, with authority almost equal to that of kings.

The dignity of judge was for life; but the succession was not always constant. There were anarchies, or intervals, during which the commonwealth was without rulers. There were likewise long intervals of foreign servitude and oppression, under which the Hebrews groaned without deliverers. Although God alone regularly appointed the judges, yet the people, on some occasions, chose that individual who appeared to them most proper to deliver them from oppression; and as it often happened that the oppressions which occasioned recourse to…

pe'-p'-l: In English Versions of the Bible represents something over a dozen Hebrew and Greek words. Of these, in the Old Testament, `am, is overwhelmingly the most common (about 2,000 times), with le'om, and goy, next in order; but the various Hebrew words are used with very little or no difference in force (e.g. Pr 14:28; but, on the other hand, in Ps 44 contrast verses 12 and 14). Of the changes introduced by the Revised Version (British and American) the only one of significance (cited explicitly in the Preface to the English Revised Version) is the frequent use of the plural "peoples" (strangely avoided in the King James Version except Re 10:11; 17:15), where other nations than Israel are in question. So, for instance, in Ps…

be-yond': Found in the Hebrew only in its application to space and time, and for these ideas three words are employed: hale'ah (Ge 35:21) = "to the distance"; `abhar = "to go beyond" "to cross" derivative `ebher (Chald. `abhar) = "across," "beyond" (De 30:13; Jos 18:7; Jud 3:26; 1Sa 20:36; 2Ch 20:2; Ezr 4:17,20; Jer 25:22); and `al (Le 15:25) = "beyond the time." In the New Testament peran, is used to…

riv'-er:

(1) The usual word is nahar (Aramaic nehar (Ezr 4:10, etc.)), used of the rivers of Eden (Ge 2:10-14), often of the Euphrates (Ge 15:18, etc.), of Abana and Pharpar (2Ki 5:12), the river of Gozan (2Ki 17:6), the river Chebar (Eze 1:1), the rivers (canals?) of Babylon (Ps 137:1), the rivers of Ethiopia (Isa 18:1; Ze 3:10). Compare nahr, the common Arabic word for "river."

In the sense in which we employ the word viz. for a perennial stream of considerable size, a river is a much rarer object in the East than in the West. With the exception of the Jordan and the Litany, the streams of the holy land are either entirely dried up in the summer months converted into hot lanes of glaring stones, or else reduced to very small streamlets, deeply sunk in a narrow bed, and concealed from view by a dense growth of shrubs. The perennial river is called nahar by the Hebrews. With the definite article, "the river," it signifies invariably the Euphrates. (Genesis 31:21; Exodus 23:31; Numbers 24:6; 2 Samuel 10:16) etc. It is never applied to the fleeting…

This word answers in our Bible to various Hebrew terms, of which the principal are the following:

1. Yeor, an Egyptian word signifying river. It is always applied to the Nile and its various canals, except in Job 28:10 Da 12:5,6,7 2. Nahar, applied, like our word river, to constantly flowing streams, such as the Euphrates. In our version this word is sometimes rendered "flood," Jos 24:2,3, etc.

3. Nahal, a torrent-bed, or valley through which water flows in the rainy season only, Nu 34:5, etc; frequently rendered "brook," Nu 13:28 Job 6:15, etc. Such streams are to the…

ov:

(1) In Anglo-Saxon, had the meaning "from," "away from" (as the strengthened form "off" has still), and was not used for genitive or possessive relations, these being expressed by special case-forms. In the Norman period, however, "of" was taken to represent the French de (a use well developed by the time of Chaucer), and in the Elizabethan period both senses of "of" were in common use. But after about 1600 the later force of the word became predominant, and in the earlier sense (which is now practically obsolete) it was replaced by other prepositions. In consequence the King James Version (and in some cases the Revised Version (British and American)) contains many uses of "of" that are no longer familiar--most of them, to be sure, causing no difficulty, but there still being a few responsible for real obscurities.