The meaning of Forfeit in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
for'-fit (charam): "Forfeit" (from forisfacere, "to act beyond") implies loss through transgression or non-observance of some law or rule. The word occurs only once as the translation of charam, "to shut in," frequently to devote or consecrate a person or thing to God beyond redemption (compare Leviticus 27:28-29; Micah 4:13; Ezra 10:8, "That whosoever came not within three days, .... all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity," King James Version margin, the American Revised Version, margin and the Revised Version (British and American) "devoted"; compare 1 Esdras 9:4, "Their cattle should be seized to the use of the temple" (anieroo, "to consecrate," "devote"); 6:32, "all his goods seized for the king" (ta huparchonia autou einai (eis) basilika)).
The Revised Version (British and American) has "forfeited" (qadhesh, "consecrated,'; "devoted") for "defiled" (Deuteronomy 22:9), margin "Hebrew consecrated"; "forfeit his life" for "lose his own soul" (psuche) (Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36); "lose or forfeit his own self" for "lose himself or be cast away" (Luke 9:25, heauton de apolesas e zemiotheis; zemioo is the Septuagint for 'anash, "to be mulcted," or "fined," Exodus 21:22; Deuteronomy 22:19; Proverbs 17:26 m; Proverbs 19:19; Proverbs 21:11; Proverbs 22:3); Weymouth renders Luke 9:25, "to have lost or forfeited his own self" (or "had to pay his own self—his own existence—as a fine"); in the other instances of zemioo (I Corinthians 3:15; Philippians 3:8), the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) render "suffer loss," "suffered .... loss"; II Corinthians 7:9 the King James Version, "receive damage."
W. L. Walker
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