English Versions (continued) – Ephesian; Ephesians

English Versions (continued)

The King James Version owed its origin to a chance remark regarding mistranslations in the existing versions made at the Hampton Court Conference, a meeting of bishops and Puritan clergy held (1604) in the interest of religious toleration before James was actually crowned. The meeting was ineffectual in all points raised by the Puritans, but it led to the production of the English Bible. Dr. Reynolds, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, probably with some reference to the rivalry between the Bishops' Bible and the Genevan version, remarked on the imperfections of the current Bibles. The remark was not very enthusiastically received except by the King, who caught eagerly at the suggestion of a fresh version, "professing that he could never yet see a Bible well translated in English," and blaming specially the Genevan version, probably on account of the pointed character of its marginal notes. Probably with the aid of the universities, the King without delay nominated the revisers to the number of fifty-four from among the best Hebrew and Greek scholars of the day. Only 47 actually took part in the work which, however--officially at least--they were in no hurry to begin; for, although named in 1604 and with all the preliminaries arranged before the end of that year, they did not begin their work till 1607. Their remuneration was to be by church preferment, for which the archbishop was to take measures. The immediate expenses, the King suggested, should be supplied by the bishops and chapters who, however, did not respond. "King James' version never cost King James a farthing," says Eadie (II, 153 f), who here gives some interesting information on this aspect of the revision. They wrought in six companies of which two met respectively in Westminster, Cambridge and Oxford. Elaborate rules, given in full in most histories of the Bible, were laid down for the revisers' guidance, the King being particularly insistent upon Rule 9, which provided for the revision of the work of each Company by the rest. When any Company had finished the revision of a book, it was to be sent to all the rest for their criticism and suggestions, ultimate differences of opinion to be settled at a general meeting of each Company. Learned men outside the board of revisers were to be invited to give their opinions in cases of special difficulty.

18. The Apocrypha:

One of the Cambridge Companies was specially appointed to revise the Apocrypha, in which considerable license was taken, as the seven members composing the Company had probably no very firm belief in the inspiration of its books. The marginal notes, too, are freer in character than those of the Old Testament. By the early translators, Tyndale and Coverdale, the Apocrypha was simply accepted as part of the heritage of the church; it had a place likewise in the Great Bible, the Bishops' Bible and most even of the Gentvan copies. But by the middle of the 17th century opinion even in the Church of England had changed regarding it, and it was about this time that Bibles began to be printed having the canonical books only. The Apocrypha is now hardly at all printed otherwise than separately (note also should be taken of the treatment of the Apocrypha in the Revised Version (British and American), as stated below).

Impressed with the importance of their task, the revisers worked strenuously at it for two years; and nine months more were devoted to revision by a special committee consisting of two members from each center, and in 1611 the result of the work appeared. It is not wonderful that the work was described by a contemporary entitled to give a judgment on it (Selden, Table Talk) as "the best translation in the world"--a verdict that later opinion has abundantly ratified. It was the copestone of a work on which 90 years of solid labor had by different hands been expended, and it was done by half a hundred of the foremost scholars of the day who knew Hebrew and Greek, and who also knew English For three centuries it has grown in popular esteem, and it is justly regarded as one of the best possessions and one of the most unifying influences of the widely scattered English-speaking race.

On the title-page as issued in 1611 the version is described as "newly translated out of the original tongues" and as "appointed to be read in churches," two statements not easy to reconcile with the actual facts. The first rule for the revisers' guidance provided that the work was to consist in a revision of the Bishops' Bible: it was not said that it was to be a new translation. There is, further, no sanction of the version by King, Parliament, Convocation or Privy Council. Like Jerome's version twelve centuries before, it was left to find acceptance as best it might by its own intrinsic merit.

19. Further Revisions:

Already in the days of the Commonwealth proposals were made for a new version; but though several meetings were held of a committee appointed by Parliament for the purpose in 1657, nothing came of the movement (Lewis, History of Translations, 354). For nearly half a century the chief rival of the King James Version was the Geneva Bible which was in wide private use. Formal revision was not undertaken again till the reign of Queen Victoria. But between 1611 and the date of the recent revision not a few small alterations had been silently introduced into the King James Version, as was indeed only to be expected if the changes in the orthography of the language were to be correctly represented on the printed page. Advancing literary criticism, too, and minute linguistic study showed that since the days of the revisers many words had changed their meaning, and that verbal inaccuracies and a few less venial errors could be proved in the revisers' work. But what probably weighed most with scholars in inducing them to enter upon a new version was the extraordinary increase that since the last revision had taken place in our knowledge of the Hebrew text and more especially of the Greek text of Scripture. Important manuscripts had been brought to light of which the 17th-century revisers knew nothing, and scholars had with minute care examined and compared all the early copies of the Scripture studies which, without altering the main import of the gospel story, were shown to have considerable importance on the actual words' and sometimes on the meaning of the text. After much discussion of the subject in special volumes and in the leading magazines and reviews of Britain and America, there was a general agreement among scholars that a fresh version was advisable.

20. English Revised Version:

The history of the English revision is given at length in the preface to the English Revised Version of the New Testament. It originated with the Convocation of Canterbury of the Church of England in the year 1870, when a committee of 16 members was appointed with power to add to its numbers. By this committee invitations to join it were issued to the outstanding Hebrew and Greek scholars of the country, irrespective of religious denomination, and eventually two Companies were formed, one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament, consisting each of 27 members, in which all the churches of the country were represented, the Roman Catholics alone excepted, and Dr. Newman had been invited to join the New Testament committee. The churches of America were also invited to cooperate, and this they did by forming two Companies corresponding to the British with due provision for the mutual comparison of results and suggestions. Where the suggestions from America were not accepted by the British revisers, they were recorded in an appendix to the published volume. The names of the revisers and the rules and principles laid down for the procedure of both Companies will be found in Eadie (II, 481 ff). The New Testament was published in May, 1881; the work occupied the Company for about 40 days in each year for 10 years. The Old Testament revision occupied the Company for 792 days in a period of 14 years. The entire Bible was published in May, 1885. It did not include the Apocrypha, a revision of which was issued separately in 1895.

21. American Revised Version:

This was undertaken, not by Convocation, but by the University Presses, a special Company being formed for the purpose from the Old Testament and New Testament Companies. For AMERICAN REVISED VERSION see separate article.

On REVISED VERSION see also BIBLE.

22. Has the Revised Version (British and American) Displaced the American Version?:

The Revised Version (British and American) has been before the English-speaking world for a quarter of a century and it can hardly be said with safety that it has as yet made any progress in displacing the King James Version in public esteem. Of course as much could be said for the King James Version in its day. It was very slow in gaining acceptance with the people: and yet unreasoning affection for its very words and phraseology is now one of the main obstacles to the acceptance of an admittedly more scientifically based original text and a more correct and not displeasing rendering of the same. A large number of the changes are certainly not such as appeal strongly to popular sympathy. "The Greek text of the New Testament of 1881 has been estimated to differ from that of 1611 in no less than 5,788: readings, of which about a quarter are held notably to modify the subject-matter; though even of these only a small proportion can be considered as of first-rate importance" (Kenyon, 239). On the other hand Hebrew, and especially the cognate Semitic languages, are now a great deal better known than before 1611, and considerable improvement is noticeable in the bringing out of the meaning in the poetical and prophetical books. The Revised Version (British and American) contains the best results of the scholarship of the Victorian age and cannot fail to be regarded as of the greatest utility to the reader and student of the King James Version. In the religious life the mind is essentially conservative, and nothing but time will show whether the undoubted merits of the Revised Version (British and American) are such as to outweigh the claims of sentiment and affection with which the King James Version is held.

See further AMERICAN REVISED VERSION.

23. LITERATURE.

Perhaps the most complete work on the subject in all its aspects is that by Dr. John Eadie, The English Bible: an External and Critical History of the Various English Translations of Scripture, 1876. Eadie was himself one of the revisers of 1870, and some of his concluding chapters contain "Remarks on the Need of Revision of the English New Testament." He is also highly appreciative but judiciously critical of his predecessors in the same field, eg. of Lewis, Complete History of Several Translations of the Holy Bible and New Testament into English, 1731, 1818; and Christopher Anderson, The Annals of the English Bible, 2 volumes, 1845, 1 volume rev. edition, 1862. An earlier and also very good book is Westcott's General View of the History of the English Bible, 1868. Westcott was also one of the revisers of 1870 and criticizes the work of the various translators as well as narrates the succession of the translations. A good discussion of the internal history of the text will also be found in the History of the English Bible by Dr. Moulton, another of the revisers. Kenyon, Our Bible and Ancient manuscripts, 1895, considers specially the text on which the successive English versions were based. He writes judiciously also on the Wycliffe period and on the Revised Version (British and American). The Wycliffe period should also be studied in Forshall and Madden, 4 volumes, 4to, Oxford, 1850; England in the Age of Wycliffe, by G. M. Trevelyan; Dr. Gasquet's Our Old English Bible and Other Essays, 1908; and Lechler's John Wycliffe and His English Precursors, translated and edited by Lorimer. For the Reformation period generally Foxe's History of the Ac and Monuments of the Church still deserves to be studied. "Foxe's story is doubtless substantially true, although disfigured by credulity and bitter prejudice." For Tyndale's special work see William Tyndale, a Biography, by R. Demaus, new edition by Lovett, 1886; and Fry's Bibliographical Descriptions of the Editions of the New Testament, Tyndale's Version in English Fry has also written special works on the Great Bible, Cranmer's Bible and the Genevan Version. The King James Version is very fully described in the works above mentioned, and in this connection notice is due to Scrivener, The Authorised Edition of the English Bible, 1884, and more especially to his careful and thorough "Introduction" to the Quarto Paragraph Bible, 1873. More popular histories of the Bible are those of Stoughton, Pattison, 1874, and Professor Milligan of Glasgow, 1895. General histories of England and of English literature may also be profitably consulted on the history of the Bible and its translation into the vernacular, such as those of Hume, Burnet, Hallam, Froude, Green and Gardiner. The revision of the King James Version called forth a large literature, either in the way of preparation for it or of criticism of it when carried through. To this literature many of the revisers themselves contributed, among whom may be mentioned Eadie, Ellicott, Westcott, Humphry, Newth and Kennedy; nor should the important contributions of Archbishop Trench and Dean Alford, though of a slightly earlier generation, be overlooked. The American revisers also republished a series of Essays written by some of their number on Biblical Revision: Its Necessity and Purpose, 1879; and account should be taken also of the Documentary History of the American Committee on Revision prepared by that committee for the use of its members.

J. Hutchison

Engraft

en-graft' (James 1:21 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) IMPLANT).

Engraving

en-grav'-ing.

See CARVING; CRAFTS.

Enigma

e-nig'-ma.

See GAMES.

Enjoin

en-join':

Its usual sense is "to impose something," as a command, a charge or a direction. In this last sense it is used in Job 36:23, i.e. "Who hath directed?" In Esther 9:31 it means "to command"; in Philemon 1:8, "to order" or "direct."

Enlarge; Enlargement

en-larj', en-larj'-ment:

"To enlarge" is very frequently used figuratively: "God enlarge Japheth" (Genesis 9:27), i.e. "make him a great nation"; or "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me" (2 Samuel 22:37), i.e. "Thou hast given me success." A very peculiar use of "enlarge" is found in the King James Version Psalms 4:1: "Thou hast enlarged me" (the Revised Version (British and American) "set me at large"), i.e. "Thou hast given me freedom, deliverance from distress." "Our heart is enlarged" (platuno; 2 Corinthians 6:11), and "Be ye also enlarged" (2 Corinthians 6:13), express great love of one party to another. See also 1 Samuel 2:1, "My mouth is enlarged," i.e. "full of praise." Ezekiel 41:7, "were broader" (the King James Version "an enlarging").

Enlargement, the King James Version, Esther 4:14 from rawach, "to enlarge," "to respite," is rendered "relief" by the Revised Version (British and American) in better harmony with "deliverance" with which the word is paired.

A. L. Breslich

Enlighten

en-lit'-'-n:

(1) 'or, "illumination" in every sense, used in the ordinary sense of giving natural light (Psalms 97:4 the King James Version; see also Ezra 9:8) or as a sign of health and vigor (1 Samuel 14:27,1 Samuel 14:29). "His eyes were enlightened," literally, "became bright." He had become weary and faint with the day's exertions and anxieties, and now recovers (see Job 33:30 and compare Psalms 13:3). Thus in sickness and grief, the eyes are dull and heavy; dying eyes are glazed; but health and joy render them bright and sparkling, as with a light from within.

(2) In Psalms 18:28 the King James Version, The word naghah, figuratively describes the believer's deliverance from the gloom of adversity and the restoration of joy in the knowledge of God.

(3) Most frequently the terms so translated mean the giving of spiritual light to the soul (Psalms 19:8; Ephesians 1:18, photizo; Hebrews 6:4; Hebrews 10:32). This spiritual enlightening the Spirit of God brings about through the Divine word (Psalms 119:130; 2 Timothy 3:15; 2 Peter 1:19). Sin mars the intellectual discernment; "but he that is spiritual discerneth all things" (1 Corinthians 2:15 King James Version, margin).

M. O. Evans

Enmity

en'-mi-ti ('ebhah; echthra):

"Enmity" (hate) occurs as the translation of 'ebhah in Genesis 3:15, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed," and in Numbers 35:21,Numbers 35:22, where the absence of enmity on the part of the man-slayer modifies the judgment to be passed on him.

In the New Testament "enmity" is the translation of echthra: Luke 23:12; Romans 8:7, "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God." James 4:4, "The friendship of the world is enmity with God" (because "the world" is preferred to God); in Ephesians 2:15,Ephesians 2:16, Christ is said to have "abolished in his flesh the enmity," by His cross to have "slain the enmity," that is, the opposition between Jew and Gentile, creating in Himself "one new man, (so) making peace."

See also ABOLISH; HATE.

W. L. Walker

Ennatan

en'-a-tan (Ennatan; the King James Version Eunatan (a misprint)):

One of Ezra's messengers to fetch Levites for the temple service ( /APC 1Esdras 8:44); called "Elnathan" in Ezra 8:16.

Enoch

e'-nok (chanokh, "initiated"; Henoch):

(1) The eldest son of Cain (Genesis 4:17,Genesis 4:18).

(2) The son of Jared and father of Methuselah, seventh in descent from Adam in the line of Seth (Jude 1:14). He is said (Genesis 5:23) to have lived 365 years, but the brief record of his life is comprised in the words, "Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him" (Genesis 5:24). The expression "walked with God" denotes a devout life, lived in close communion with God, while the reference to his end has always been understood, as by the writer of He, to mean, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him" (Hebrews 11:5).

See further, APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, sec. II, i, 1.

A. C. Grant

Enoch (City)

In Genesis 4:17 it is narrated that Cain, who had taken up his abode in the land of Nod, East of Eden (verse 16), built there a city, and called it after the name of his firstborn son Enoch. It is impossible to fix more definitely the locality of this first of cities, recorded, as Delitzsch says (Genesis, in the place cited.), as registering an advance in civilization. The "city" would be a very simple affair, a place of protection for himself, wife and household, perhaps connected with the fear spoken of in Genesis 4:14.

Enoch, Book Of

see ENOCH, ETHIOPIC, BOOK OF; ENOCH, SLAVONIC, BOOK OF

Enoch, Ethiopic, Book Of

e-thi-op'-ik.

See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.

Enoch, Slavonic, Book Of

sla-von'-ik.

See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.

Enoch; The Book Of The Secrets Of

See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.

Enormity

e-nor'-mi-ti:

The marginal rendering in the King James Version of Hosea 6:9 for "lewdness," and in the Revised Version (British and American) of Leviticus 18:17; Leviticus 19:29; Leviticus 20:14 for "wickedness." In each case it is the translation of zimmah, meaning originally, "thought" or "plot," mostly in a bad sense, lewdness, wickedness; in Le it is unnatural wickedness--incest.

Enos; Enosh

e'-nos, e'-nosh ('enosh, "mortal"; 'Enos):

In the New Testament (the Revised Version (British and American) and the King James Version) and the Old Testament (the King James Version except 1 Chronicles 1:1), the form is Enos; in the Old Testament (the Revised Version (British and American) and 1 Chronicles 1:1 the King James Version), the form is Enosh. The son of Seth and grandson of Adam (Genesis 4:26; Genesis 5:6 1 Chronicles 1:1; Luke 3:38). Enosh denotes man as frail and mortal. With Enosh a new religious development began, for "then began men to call upon the name of Yahweh" (Genesis 4:26). There seems to be an implied contrast to Genesis 4:17 ff which records a development in another department of life, represented by Enoch the son of Cain.

S. F. Hunter

Enquire

en-kwir':

This is an Old English word now obsolescent. It is common in the King James Version. In the American Standard Revised Version it is nearly always replaced by the more modern "inquire," a few times by "seek" and "ask," once by "salute" (1 Chronicles 18:10). With this one exception in the Old Testament the change does not affect the meaning. In Acts 23:15, "enquire something more perfectly" is substituted by "judge more exactly." In Matthew 10:11, "search out" replaces it. In Matthew 2:7,Matthew 2:16, "learned exactly" replaces "inquired diligently."

See INQUIRE.

Enrolment

en-rol'-ment.

See QUIRINIUS; TAX.

Ensample

en-sam'-p'-l.

See EXAMPLE.

Ensign

en'-sin.

See BANNER.

Ensue

en-su':

Synonymous with "to pursue," "ensue" is found in 1 Peter 3:11 the King James Version as a translation of dioko, "to follow after," "to pursue."

Also in /APC Judith 9:5, "such as ensued after" (ta metepeita, "the things that follow").

Entangle

en-tan'-g'-l:

Found but 5 times in the Scriptures (the King James Version), once in the Old Testament, yet most significant as illustrating the process of mental, moral and spiritual confusion and enslavement.

(1) Physical:

Used of physical entanglement, as in the mazes of a labyrinth (bukh, to involve, "be perplexed"). At Moses' command the children of Israel, before crossing the Red Sea, took the wrong way in order to give Pharaoh the impression that they were lost in the wilderness and cause him to say "They are entangled in the land" (Exodus 14:3).

(2) Mental:

pagideuo, "to entrap," "ensnare," with words, as birds are caught in a snare; compare Ecclesiastes 9:12. The Pharisees sought to "entangle" (the Revised Version (British and American) "ensnare") Jesus in His talk (Matthew 22:15).

(3) Moral:

`empleko, "to inweave," hence, intertwine and involve. "A god soldier of Jesus Christ," says Paul, does not "entangle himself," i.e. become involved, "in the affairs of this life" (2 Timothy 2:4). Having "escaped the defilements of the world," Christians are not to be "again entangled therein" (2 Peter 2:20).

(4) Spiritual:

enecho, "to hold in," hence, to hold captive, as a slave in fetters or under a burden. Having experienced spiritual emancipation, freedom, through Christ from bondage to sin and false religion (Galatians 5:1; compare Galatians 4:8), the Gentiles were not to become "entangled again in a yoke of bondage" by submission to mere legal requirements, as the external rite of circumcision.

With reference to the thoroughness and irresistibleness of God's judgments, we read in Nahum 1:10, "For entangled like thorns" (the King James Version "while they be folden together as thorns"), damp, closely packed and intertwined, "they are consumed utterly as dry stubble" (the King James Version "devoured as stubble fully dry").

Dwight M. Pratt

Entreat

en-tret'.

See INTREAT.

Envy

en'-vi (qin'ah; zelos, phthonos):

"Envy," from Latin in, "against," and video, "to look," "to look with ill-will," etc., toward another, is an evil strongly condemned in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is to be distinguished from jealousy. "We are jealous of our own; we are envious of another man's possessions. Jealousy fears to lose what it has; envy is pained at seeing another have" (Crabb's English Synonyms). In the Old Testament it is the translation of qin'ah from kana', "to redden," "to glow" (Job 5:2, the Revised Version (British and American) "jealousy," margin "indignation"; in Isaiah 26:11 the Revised Version (British and American) renders "see thy zeal for the people"; Proverbs 27:4, etc.); the verb occurs in Genesis 26:14, etc.; Numbers 11:29 the King James Version; Psalms 106:16; Proverbs 3:31, etc.; in the New Testament it is the translation of phthonos, "envy" (Matthew 27:18; Romans 1:29; Galatians 5:21, "envyings," etc.); of zelos, "zeal", "jealousy," "envy" (Acts 13:45), translated "envying," the Revised Version (British and American) "jealousy" (Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 12:20; James 3:14,James 3:16); the verb phthoneo occurs in Galatians 5:26; zeloo in Acts 7:9; Acts 17:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "moved with jealousy"; 1 Corinthians 13:4, "charity (the Revised Version (British and American) "love") envieth not."

The power of envy is stated in Proverbs 27:4: "Who is able to stand before envy?" (the Revised Version (British and American) "jealousy"); its evil effects are depicted in Job 5:2 (the Revised Version (British and American) "jealousy"), in Proverbs 14:30 (the Revised Version, margin "jealousy"); it led to the crucifixion of Christ (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10); it is one of "the works of the flesh" (Galatians 5:21; compare Romans 1:29; 1 Timothy 6:4); Christian believers are earnestly warned against it (Romans 13:13 the King James Version; 1 Corinthians 3:3 the King James Version; Galatians 5:26; 1 Peter 2:1). In James 4:5 "envy" is used in a good sense, akin to the jealousy ascribed to God. Where the King James Version has "The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy," the Revised Version (British and American) reads "Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?"; the American Revised Version, margin "The spirit which he made to dwell in us he yearneth for even unto jealous envy"; compare Jeremiah 3:14; Hosea 2:19 f; or the English Revised Version, margin "That spirit which he made to dwell in us yearneth (for us) even unto jealous envy." This last seems to give the sense; compare "Ye adulteresses" (Hosea 2:4), the American Revised Version, margin "That is, who break your marriage vow to God."

W. L. Walker

Epaenetus

ep-e'-ne-tus (Epainetos, "praised"):

One of the Christians at Rome to whom greetings are sent by Paul (Romans 16:5). All that is known of him is told here. Paul describes him as

(1) "my beloved,"

(2) "who is the firstfruits of Asia unto Christ."

Textus Receptus of the New Testament has "firstfruits of Achaia" but this wrong reading is due to 1 Corinthians 16:15. He was one of the first Christians in the Roman province of Asia.

This salutation brings up the question of the destination of Romans 16:3–16, for it is argued that they are addressed to the church in Ephesus owing to the fact that Prisca and Aquila and Epenetus are known to have dwelt in Asia. On the other hand, there are more than 20 others in this list who are not known to have spent any time in Asia. Prisca and Aquila had once dwelt in Rome (Acts 18:2), and there is nothing unusual in an Ephesian dwelling in the capital of the empire. An interesting discovery was made in Rome of an inscription in which was the name of Epenetus, an Ephesian.

S. F. Hunter

Epaphras

ep'-a-fras (Epaphras):

A contracted form of Epaphroditus. He must not, however, be confounded with the messenger of the Philippian community. He was with Paul during a part of his 1st Roman imprisonment, joining in Paul's greetings to Philemon (Philemon 1:23). Epaphras was the missionary by whose instrumentality the Colossians had been converted to Christianity (Colossians 1:7), and probably the other churches of the Lycus had been founded by him. In sending his salutation to the Colossians Paul testified, "He hath much labor for you, and for them in Laodicea, and for them in Hierapolis" (Colossians 4:13). Epaphras had brought to Paul good news of the progress of the gospel, of their "faith in Christ Jesus" and of their love toward all the saints (Colossians 1:4). Paul's regard for him is shown by his designating him "our beloved fellow-servant," "a faithful minister of Christ" (Colossians 1:7), and "a bondservant of Christ Jesus" (Colossians 4:12 margin) . The last designation Paul uses several times of himself, but only once of another besides Epaphras (Philippians 1:1).

S. F. Hunter

Epaphroditus

e-paf-ro-di'-tus (Epaphroditos, "lovely"):

Mentioned only in Philippians 2:25; Philippians 4:18. The name corresponds to the Latin Venustus (= handsome), and was very common in the Roman period. "The name occurs very frequently in inscriptions both Greek and Latin, whether at full length Epaphroditus, or in its contracted form Epaphras" (Lightfoot, Philippians, 123). Epaphroditus was the delegate of the Christian community at Philippi, sent with their gift to Paul during his first Roman imprisonment. Paul calls him "my brother and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier." "The three words are arranged in an ascending scale: common sympathy, common work, common danger and toil and suffering" (Lightfoot, l. c.). On his arrival at Rome, Epaphroditus devoted himself to "the work of Christ," both as Paul's attendant and as his assistant in missionary work. So assiduously did he labor that he lost his health, and "was sick nigh unto death." He recovered, however, and Paul sent him back to Philippi with this letter to quiet the alarm of his friends, who had heard of his serious illness. Paul besought for him that the church should receive him with joy and hold him in honor.

S. F. Hunter

Ephah (1)

e'-fa `ephah, "darkness"; Gephar (Genesis 25:4), Gaipha (Isaiah 60:6):

The name of three persons in the Old Testament, both masculine and feminine

(1) The son of Midian, descended from Abraham by his wife Keturah (Genesis 25:4; 1 Chronicles 1:33), mentioned again in Isaiah 60:6 as a transporter of gold and frankincense from Sheba, who shall thus bring enlargement to Judah and praise to Yahweh. According to Fried. Delitzsch, Schrader, and Hommel, `Ephah is an abbreviation of `Ayappa, the Kha-yappa Arabs of the time of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon. See treatment of this view in Dillmann's Commentary on Ge (Genesis 25:4).

(2) A concubine of Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:46).

(3) The son of Jahdai, a descendant of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:47).

Charles B. Williams

Ephah (2)

e'-fa ('ephah):

A dry measure of about one bushel capacity. It corresponds to the bath in liquid measure and was the standard for measuring grain and similar articles since it is classed with balances and weights (Leviticus 19:36; Amos 8:5) in the injunctions regarding just dealing in trade. In Zechariah 5:6–10 it is used for the utensil itself.

See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Ephai

e'-fi, e'-fa-i (`ephay, in Qere, `ophai, in Kethibh; Iophe, Ophe, "gloomy," "obscuring," in the Septuagint, Septuagint):

"The Netophathite," whose sons were numbered among "the captains of the forces" left in Judah after the carrying away to Babylon (Jeremiah 40:1–16 Jeremiah 47:1–7). His sons assembled at Mizpah with Gedaliah, governor of the scattered Jews, and with him were slain by Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah (Jet 41:3).

Epher

e'-fer `epher, "calf," "young deer"; Apher, Opher:

(1) The second son of Midian, descended from Abraham by his wife Keturah (Genesis 25:4; 1 Chronicles 1:33). See further Dillmann's Commentary on Genesis (Genesis 25:4).

(2) The third son of Ezra, descended from the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 4:17).

(3) The first of five heads of their fathers' houses, "mighty men of valor, famous men," in the halftribe of Manasseh, who dwelt between Bashan and Mt. Hermon (1 Chronicles 5:23,1 Chronicles 5:14).

Ephes-Dammim

e-fes-dam'-im ('ephec dammim):

Some spot between Socoh and Azekah (1 Samuel 17:1) where the Philistines were encamped; called in 1 Chronicles 11:13, "Pas- dammin." Ephes" end of" or "boundary" and the whole word may mean the "boundary of blood." The deep red color of the newly plowed earth in this situation is noticeable and may have given origin to the idea of "blood" (compare ADUMMIM). Cheyne suggests that from 'adhummin, to dammim, is an easy step, and that the former, meaning "red brown earth," may have been the original. No other satisfactory locality has been found to explain the name or fix the site.

E. W. G. Masterman

Ephesian; Ephesians

e-fe'-zhan (Ephesios), e-fe'-zhanz:

A term which, as in Acts 19:28,Acts 19:34,Acts 19:35 and Acts 21:29, was applied to those natives or residents of the city of Ephesus who were adherents of the cult of the goddess Diana. A Jew or a Christian, though a native of Ephesus, would probably have been designated as such, rather than as an Ephesian.