The meaning of Empty; Emptier in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

emp'-ti, emp'-ti-er (kenos): "Empty," adjective meaning void, etc., as the translation of req, riq, reqam, etc., occurs in the literal sense of "with nothing" (Genesis 31:42; Job 22:9); in II Samuel 1:22, it is equivalent to "in vain," "hungry" (Isaiah 29:8); in some instances the meaning is comparative only; baqaq, "to gush out," "to pour out," "to empty" is used adjectivally (Hosea 10:1, "Israel is an empty vine"; but the Revised Version (British and American) takes the Hebrew word in its original sense of "pouring out," rendering "Israel is a luxuriant vine"); tohu, "emptiness" (Job 26:7); kenos, "empty" is so translated (Mark 12:3); in Matthew 12:44, the Greek word is scholazo, "to be free," "unoccupied"; "to empty" (verb) is the translation of baqaq (Nahum 2:2), of dalal, "to become poor," etc. (Isaiah 19:6, the English Revised Version "minished," the American Standard Revised Version "diminished"). the Revised Version (British and American) has "empty" for "vain" (Ephesians 5:6), "emptied himself" for "made himself of no reputation" (Philippians 2:7), "emptied out" for "gathered" (II Kings 22:9; II Chronicles 34:17, margin "poured out").

W. L. Walker

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