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Bible Dictionaries
Malice
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or MALICE
1. (i) OT. All in Pr.-Bk. [Note: Prayer Book.] version: Psalms 94:23; Psalms 119:150 Psalms 119:150; Psalms 10:17 (adj.) Psalms 59:5 (adj.) and Psalms 55:3 (adv.).
(ii.) Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] All in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] : Wis 12:10; Wis 12:20; Wis 16:14 (and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), * Sir 27:30; Sir 28:7 , * 1Ma 9:51; 1Ma 13:6 , 2Ma 4:50 .
(iii) NT. In RV [Note: Revised Version.] : 1 Corinthians 5:8; 1 Corinthians 14:20 , Ephesians 4:31 , Colossians 3:8 , Titus 3:6 , James 1:21 mg., 1 Peter 2:1 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ); ‘maliciousness’ Romans 1:29 , 1 Peter 2:16 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘malice’); ‘malicious’ * 3 John 1:10 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] .
2. Discussion is needless as to (i.), for the Heb. is clear. (See RV [Note: Revised Version.] .) All the other instances, however, except those marked * represent a Gr. word ( kakia ) which has a much wider meaning than ‘malice’ as now used. It may be ‘wickedness,’ as Acts 8:22 , James 1:21; or ‘evil’ = ‘trouble,’ Matthew 6:34 .
3. The point is important, because ‘malice’ has acquired its exclusive meaning ‘spitefulness’ only since the 17th century. It indicated evil of any sort (cf. Pr.-Bk. [Note: Prayer Book.] as cited above, and for some striking examples see art. in Hastings’ DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] ). This change accounts for RV [Note: Revised Version.] renderings of Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] , and would perhaps have justified further emendation of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] .
4. The modern usage is a return to the classical malitia . Its relation to kakia was discussed by Cicero, who coined vitiositas as the nearest rendering; for whereas ‘malice’ indicated a particular fault, ‘vitiosity’ stood for all ( Tusc. Disp . iv. 34).
H. F. B. Compston.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Malice'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/m/malice.html. 1909.
