The meaning of Innocence; Innocency; Innocent in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
in'-o-sens, in'-o-sen-si, in'-o-sent (zakhu, niqqayon, chinnam, chaph, naqi; athoos): the King James Version and the American Standard Revised Version have innocency in Genesis 20:5; Psalms 26:6; Psalms 73:13; Daniel 6:22; Hosea 8:5. In Daniel the Hebrew is zakhu, and the innocence expressed is the absence of the guilt of disloyalty to God. In all the other places the Hebrew is niqqayon, and the innocence expressed is the absence of pollution, Hosea having reference to the pollution of idolatry, and the other passages presenting the cleansing under the figure of washing hands. the King James Version has innocent not fewer than 40 times. In one place (I Kings 2:31) the Hebrew is chinnam, meaning "undeserved," or "without cause," and, accordingly, the American Standard Revised Version, instead of "innocent blood .... shed," has "blood .... shed without cause." In another place (Job 33:9) the Hebrew is chaph, meaning "scraped," or "polished," therefore "clean," and refers to moral purity. In all the other places the Hebrew is naqi, or its cognates, and the idea is doubtless the absence of pollution. In more than half the passages "innocent" is connected with blood, as "blood of the innocent," or simply "innocent blood." In some places there is the idea of the Divine acquittal, or forgiveness, as in Job 9:28 : "I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent" (compare Job 10:14, where the same Hebrew word is used). The New Testament has "innocent" twice in connection with blood—"innocent blood," and "innocent of the blood" (Matthew 27:4, Matthew 27:24).
E. J. Forrester
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