Obsolete Scripture Words.
Few persons are aware of the number of words in our common English Bibles which have now become obsolete, and are usually unintelligible to those who read them. While the great body of King James' Version is plain and perspicuous, the following words might be displaced by others which all may understand. The usual meaning of tempt is to solicit to evil. But God does not solicit any one to do evil. The meaning is, God tried Abraham. This is the old plural for the word cow, "cowen," as swine in the old plural for sow, "sowen." Not one in a thousand would understand kine as meaning cows. "Joseph dieth and is chested." Gen. L. Who would suppose that this means that Joseph dying, was put in his coffin? The word chest was by some of the old writers, used for coffin. But, in any sense, chest, as a verb, is becoming obsolete. Earing means ploughing, or tilling. Though much used by old English writers, it is now entirely obsolete. The word here rendered amerce, means to punish by a fine, pecuniary or otherwise, taking from him a portion of his goods. Amerce is entirely obsolete. One is at a loss to see the connection here. How could the host be routed if it was secure? The old sense of the word secure appears to have been without care, or careless. The present meaning is safe, as needing no care, according to which the passage should evidently read: Gideon smote the host, because it was careless. "And a certain woman cast a piece of millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his skull." Judges ix, 53. This obsolete expression, all to, was formerly used as an adverb, for entirely. This explanation gives to the passage a meaning clear to every reader. The millstone entirely broke his skull. The effect is stated, instead of the design of the act in casting the stone upon the head. "And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years," Judges x, 8. How an oppression could be visited for eighteen years in one year, passes all ordinary understanding. The phrase that year obviously is synonymous with at that time. The word sodden occurs in the Bible repeatedly in different forms. It is the old word for boil. Thus in 1 Sam. ii. 15: "He will not have sodden15flesh of thee," should read "boiled flesh." "David feigned himself mad, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate." In the margin of the larger Bibles this word is explained by, "he made marks," as by writing. Johnson's definition of scrabble is to paw with the hands, which is quite a different thing from making marks as by writing. The old word poll, from the French polle, signifies to lop or cut off the hair. This use of the word is obsolete. The word attire would suggest the true meaning. She dressed her hair. "He dwelt in a several house," i. e., separate house. 2 Kings xv, 5. But the word several is not now used for separate, except in rare cases in some legal documents. Calves literally were offered as sacrifices. Hence calves of the lips were used for sacrifices of the lips; that is, the offerings of confession of sin, of praise and thanksgiving, which are made by the lips. Bruit is an entirely obsolete expression for report, or fame. — N. Y. Chronicle.