The meaning of Grudge in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
gruj (naTar; stenazo, goggusmos): "Grudge" (perhaps a mimetic word, compare Greek gru) is "to grumble" or "murmur" at any person or thing, to entertain an envious or covetous feeling, to do or give anything unwillingly, etc. It occurs in the King James Version as the translation of naTar, "to keep (anger)" (Leviticus 19:18, "Thou shalt not .... bear any grudge against the children of thy people"); in Psalms 59:15, as the translation, in text, of Hebrew lun or lin, "to pass the night," "to tarry," Niphal, "to show oneself obstinate," "to murmur or complain" (of the enemies who were hunting David like dogs), "Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied," margin "If they be not satisfied then will they stay all night," the Revised Version (British and American) "And tarry all night if they be not satisfied"; but see Exodus 15:24; Exodus 16:2; Numbers 14:2; Joshua 9:18, etc., where the translation is "murmur"; may not the meaning be "and growl (or howl) if they be not satisfied"? "Grudge" formerly implied open expression of discontent, etc., e.g. Wyclif has in Luke 15:2, "The farisies and scribis grucchiden seiynge," etc.
In James 5:9, stenazo, "to groan," "to complain" (from affliction or from impatience or ill-humor), is translated "grudge," "Grudge not one against another, brethren," the Revised Version (British and American) "murmur not"; goggusmos, "a murmuring" (compare John 7:12 f.; Acts 6:1), is rendered "grudging" (I Peter 4:9), "Use hospitality one to another without grudging," the Revised Version (British and American) "murmuring"; compare Philippians 2:14; me ek lupes, "not out of grief," is "without grudging" (II Corinthians 9:7, the Revised Version (British and American) "not grudging" margin, Greek "of sorrow"); in Ecclesiasticus 10:25 we have "will not grudge" (gogguzo), the Revised Version (British and American) "murmur."
"Grudge" was frequent in the earlier VSS, but is changed in the King James Version for the most part into "murmur"; the Revised Version (British and American) completes the change, except Leviticus 19:18, and text of II Corinthians 9:7.
W. L. Walker
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