The meaning of Imagination in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)i-maj-i-na'-shun (yetser, sheriruth; dianoia): "Imagination" is the translation of yetser, properly "a shaping," hence, "a thought" (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Deuteronomy 31:21; I Chronicles 28:9; I Chronicles 29:18). In Isaiah 26:3 yetser is translated "mind" (King James Version margin "thought" or "imagination"), "whose mind is stayed on thee" (the Revised Version margin "or imagination"); in Psalms 103:14 it is "frame"; of sheriruth, "obstinacy," "stubbornness" (Deuteronomy 29:19; Jeremiah 3:17; Jeremiah 7:24; Jeremiah 9:14; Jeremiah 11:8; Jeremiah 13:10; Jeremiah 16:12; Jeremiah 18:12; Jeremiah 23:17); in Psalms 81:12 the King James Version it is, "lust," margin "hardness or imaginations"; 3 times of machashebheth, "thought" or "purpose" in the King James Version (Proverbs 6:18; Lamentations 3:60-61); once of dianoia, "mind," "understanding" (Luke 1:51); of logismos, "reasoning" (II Corinthians 10:5); and of dialogismos, "reasoning through" (Romans 1:21 the King James Version).
The Revised Version (British and American) gives "stubbornness" in each instance where sheriruth is in the King James Version translated "imagination"; in Proverbs 6:18 the American Standard Revised Version has "purposes"; the Revised Version (British and American) has "devices" (Lamentations 3:60-61) and "reasonings" (Romans 1:21), "imagination" for "conceit" (Proverbs 18:11), and (English Revised Version) for "device" (Lamentations 3:62).
"Imagination" is frequent in Apocrypha, e.g. Ecclesiasticus 22:18 (dianoema); 37:3 (enthumema, "wicked imagination"); 40:2 (dialogismos, the Revised Version (British and American) "expectation").
W. L. Walker
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