The meaning of Fine in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
fin (adj., from Latin finire, "to finish"): Indicates superior quality. Only in a few instances does "fine" represent a separate word: (1) Tobh, "good," qualifies gold (II Chronicles 3:5, II Chronicles 3:8, "fine gold"; compare Genesis 2:12, "good"); fine gold (Lamentations 4:1, the King James Version "most fine gold," the Revised Version (British and American) "most pure gold," literally, "good fine gold"), copper (Ezra 8:27, the Revised Version (British and American) "fine bright brass"); Tabh, Aramaic (Daniel 2:32, "fine gold"). (2) paz, "refined" (Song of Solomon 5:11, "the most fine gold"). (3) chelebh, "fatness," "the best of any kind"; compare Genesis 45:18; Deuteronomy 32:14, etc. (Psalms 81:16, "the finest of the wheat," the Revised Version, margin Hebrew "fat of wheat"). (4) sariq, "fine combed" (Isaiah 19:9, "fine flax," the Revised Version (British and American) "combed flax").
In other places it expresses a quality of the substantive: kethem, "fine gold" (Job 31:24; Daniel 10:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "pure gold"); paz, used as a noun for refined gold (Job 28:17; Psalms 19:10; Proverbs 8:19; Isaiah 13:12; Lamentations 4:2); charuts, "fine gold" (Proverbs 3:14; compare Psalms 68:13, "yellow gold"); coleth, "flour," rendered "fine flour," rolled or crushed small (Leviticus 2:1, Leviticus 2:4-5, Leviticus 2:7, etc.); semidalis, "the finest wheaten flour" (Revelation 18:13); qemach coleth, "fine meal" (Genesis 18:6); cadhin, "linen garment" (Septuagint sindon, Proverbs 31:24 the King James Version; Isaiah 3:23); shesh, "white," "fine linen" (Genesis 41:42; Exodus 25:4, etc.); in Proverbs 31:22 the King James Version has "silk"; sheshi (Ezekiel 16:13, "fine flour"); 'eTun, "what is twisted or spun," "yarn" (Proverbs 7:16 the King James Version, "fine linen of Egypt" the Revised Version (British and American) "yarn of Egypt"); buts, "fine white cloth," "cotton or linen," "fine linen" (I Chronicles 4:21; Ezekiel 27:16, etc.; II Chronicles 5:12, King James Version "white," the Revised Version (British and American) "fine"); bussos, "byssus," "linen" from buts Septuagint for which, II Chronicles 2:14; II Chronicles 3:14), deemed very fine and precious, worn only by the rich (Luke 16:19; Revelation 18:12); bussinos, "byssine" made of fine linen, Septuagint for buts ( 5:27) (Revelation 18:16, "clothed in fine linen," the Revised Version (British and American) "arrayed," Revelation 19:8, Revelation 19:14); sindon, "fine linen" ( 5:46, "He bought fine linen," the Revised Version (British and American) "a linen cloth"; compare Mark 14:51-52; Matthew 27:59; Luke 23:53); it was used for wrapping the body at night, also for wrapping round dead bodies; sindon is Septuagint for cadhin (Judges 14:12-13; Proverbs 31:24); chalkolibanon (Revelation 1:15; Revelation 2:18, the King James Version "fine brass").
The meaning of this word has been much discussed; chalkos is "brass" in Greek (with many compounds), and libanos is the Septuagint for lebhonah, "frankincense," which word was probably derived from the root labhan, "to burn"; this would give glowing brass, "as if they burned in a furnace"; in Daniel 10:6 it is nehosheth qalal, the King James Version "polished brass," the Revised Version (British and American) "burnished" (qalal is "to glow"). Plumptre deemed it a hybrid word composed of the Greek chalkos, "brass," and the Hebrew labhan, "white," a technical word, such as might be familiar to the Ephesians; the Revised Version (British and American) has "burnished brass"; Weymouth, "silver-bronze when it is white-hot in a furnace"; the whiteness being expressed by the second half of the Greek word. See Thayer's Lexicon (s.v.).
In Apocrypha we have "fine linen," bussinos (1 Esdras 3:6), "fine bread"; the adjective katharos, separate (Judith 10:5, the Revised Version, margin "pure bread"); "fine flour" (Ecclesiasticus 35:2; 38:11); semidalis (Bel and the Dragon verse 3; 2 Macc 1:8, the Revised Version (British and American) "meal offering").
W. L. Walker
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