The meaning of Excellency in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
ek'-se-len-si (ga-on, ga'awah; huperbole): "Excellency" in the Old Testament is chiefly the translation of ga'on, "mounting," "swelling" (Exodus 15:7; Job 37:4 the King James Version; Psalms 47:4 the King James Version; Isaiah 13:19 the King James Version, etc.); [ga'awah], rising, is thrice so rendered (Deuteronomy 33:26, Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalms 68:34); se'eth, "rising" (twice) (Job 13:11 the King James Version; Psalms 62:4 the King James Version); yether, "superabundance" (twice) (Genesis 49:3 the King James Version; Job 4:21 the King James Version), and chadhar, "honor," "beauty," "majesty" (twice) (Isaiah 35:2); gobhah, "uplifted" (Job 40:10); yithron, "advantage" (Ecclesiastes 7:12); si', "elevation" (Job 20:6, the Revised Version (British and American) "height"). In the New Testament huperbole, "surpassing," "a casting beyond," occurs (II Corinthians 4:7, "that the excellency of the power may be of God," the Revised Version (British and American) "exceeding greatness"); huperoche, "a holding over" or "beyond," is translated "excellency" (I Corinthians 2:1), and to huperechon, "the pre-eminence" (Philippians 3:8), "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ."
Instead of "excellency" the Revised Version (British and American) has "pride" (Isaiah 13:19; Ezekiel 24:21), "majesty" (Job 37:4 and the American Standard Revised Version Job 13:11; Job 31:23), the American Standard Revised Version has "pre-eminence" (Genesis 49:3-4), "glory" (Psalms 47:4), "dignity" (Psalms 62:4); for "the fat of lambs" (Psalms 37:20), the English Revised Version has "the excellency of the pastures," with margin, "the fat of lambs"; the American Standard Revised Version retains the King James Version rendering with the English Revised Version in the margin; instead of "Doth not their excellency which is in them go away?" (Job 4:21), the Revised Version (British and American) has "Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them?" margin, "Is not their excellency which is in them removed?"
W. L. Walker
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