The meaning of Godless in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
god'-les: This word is not found in the text of the King James Version. It is found, however, in Apocrypha (2 Macc 7:34, "O godless (the Revised Version (British and American) "unholy") man"). the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes the word "godless" for the word "hypocrite" in the following passages: Job 8:13; Job 13:16; Job 15:34; Job 17:8; Job 20:5; Job 27:8; Job 34:30; Job 36:13; Proverbs 11:9; Isaiah 33:14. the Revised Version (British and American) does not seem to be consistent in carrying out the idea of "godless" for "hypocrite," for in Isaiah 9:17; Isaiah 10:6; Psalms 35:16 this same Hebrew word chaneph is translated "profane." The principal idea lying at the root of the word is that of pollution and profanity; a condition of not merely being without God but assuming an attitude of open and blatant opposition toward God. The godless man is not merely the atheistic, unbelieving or even irreligious, but the openly impious, wicked and profane man. Indeed it can hardly be rightly claimed that the idea of hypocrisy is involved in the meaning of the word, for the "godless" man is not the one who professes one thing and lives another, but the one who openly avows not only his disbelief in, but his open opposition to, God. Doubtless the idea of pollution and defilement is also to be included in the definition of this word; see Jeremiah 3:9; Numbers 35:33; Daniel 11:31.
William Evans
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