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Bible Dictionaries
End
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or A. Nouns.
'Ephes (אֶפֶס, Strong's #657), “end; not; nothing; only.” The 42 occurrences of this word appear in every period of biblical literature. It has a cognate in Ugaritic. Basically, the noun indicates that a thing “comes to an end” and “is no more.”
Some scholars suggest that this word is related to the Akkadian apcu (Gk. abuccoc), the chasm of fresh water at the edge of the earth (the earth was viewed as a flat surface with four corners and surrounded by fresh water). But this relationship is highly unlikely, since none of the biblical uses refers to an area beyond the edge of the earth. The idea of the “far reaches” of a thing is seen in passages such as Prov. 30:4: “Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends [boundaries] of the earth?” (cf. Ps. 72:8). In other contexts, 'ephes means the “territory” of the nations other than Israel: “… With them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth …” (Deut. 33:17). More often, this word represents the peoples who live outside the territory of Israel: “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the [very ends] of the earth for thy possession” (Ps. 2:8). In Ps. 22:27, the phrase, “the ends of the world,” is synonymously parallel to “all the [families] of the nations.” Therefore, “the ends of the earth” in such contexts represents all the peoples of the earth besides Israel.
'Ephes is used to express “non-existence” primarily in poetry, where it appears chiefly as a synonym of ‘ayin (“none, nothing”). In one instance, 'ephes is used expressing the “non-existence” of a person or thing and is translated “not” or “no”: “Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him?” (2 Sam. 9:3). In Isa. 45:6, the word means “none” or “no one”: “That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me” (cf. v. 9).
In a few passages, 'ephes used as a particle of negation means “at an end” or “nothing”: “And all her princes shall be nothing,” or “unimportant” and “not exalted” to kingship (Isa. 34:12). The force of this word in Isa. 41:12 is on the “non-existence” of those so described: “… They that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.”
This word can also mean “nothing” in the sense of “powerlessness” and “worthlessness”: “All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and [meaningless]” (Isa. 40:17).
In Num. 22:35, 'ephes means “nothing other than” or “only”: “Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shall speak” (cf. Num. 23:13). In such passages, 'ephes (with the Hebrew particle ki) qualifies the preceding phrase. In 2 Sam. 12:14, a special nuance of the word is represented by the English “howbeit.”
In Isa. 52:4, 'ephes preceded by the preposition be (“by; because of”) means “without cause”: “… And the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.”
Qêts (קֵץ, Strong's #7093), “end.” A cognate of this word occurs in Ugaritic. Biblical Hebrew attests qêts about 66 times and in every period.
First, the word is used to denote the “end of a person” or “death”: “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me …” (Gen. 6:13). In Ps. 39:4, qêts speaks of the “farthest extremity of human life,” in the sense of how short it is: “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.”
Second, qêts means “end” as the state of “being annihilated”: “He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection …” (Job 28:3).
Third, related to the previous meaning but quite distinct, is the connotation “farthest extremity of,” such as the “end of a given period of time”: “And after certain years [literally, “at the end of years”] he went down to Ahab to Samaria …” (2 Chron. 18:2; cf. Gen. 4:3—the first biblical appearance).
A fourth nuance emphasizes a “designated goal,” not simply the extremity but a conclusion toward which something proceeds: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie …” (Hab. 2:3).
In another emphasis, qêts represents the “boundary” or “limit” of something: “I have seen an end of all perfection” (Ps. 119:96).
In 2 Kings 19:23, the word (with the preposition le) means “farthest”: “… And I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.”
Qâtseh (קֵצֶה, Strong's #7097), “end; border; extremity.” The noun qâtseh appears 92 times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew.
In Gen. 23:9, qâtseh means “end” in the sense of “extremity”: “That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field.…” The word means "[nearest] edge or border” in Exod. 13:20: “And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in the Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.” At other points, the word clearly indicates the “farthest extremity”: “If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee” (Deut. 30:4).
Second, qâtseh can signify a “temporal end,” such as the “end of a period of time”; that is the use in Gen. 8:3, the first biblical occurrence of the word: “… After the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.”
One special use of qâtseh occurs in Gen. 47:2, where the word is used with the preposition min (“from”): “And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh” (RSV; cf. Ezek. 33:2). In Gen. 19:4, the same construction means “from every quarter (or “part”) of a city”: “… The men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter.” A similar usage occurs in Gen. 47:21, except that the phrase is repeated twice and is rendered “from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other.” In Jer. 51:31, the phrase means “in every quarter” or “completely.”
Qâtsâh (קָצָה, Strong's #7098), “end; border; edge; extremity.” The noun qâtsâh appears in the Bible 28 times and also appears in Phoenician. This word refers primarily to concrete objects. In a few instances. however, qâtsâh is used of abstract objects; one example is of God’s way (Job 26:14): “These are but the fringe of his power; and how faint the whisper that we hear of him!” (NEB).
'Achărı̂yth (אַחֲרִית, Strong's #319), “hind-part; end; issue; outcome; posterity.” Akkadian, Aramaic, and Ugaritic also attest this word. It occurs about 61 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods; most of its occurrences are in poetry.
Used spatially, the word identifies the “remotest and most distant part of something”: “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea …” (Ps. 139:9).
The most frequent emphasis of the word is “end,” “issue,” or “outcome.” This nuance is applied to time in a superlative or final sense: “… The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year” (Deut. 11:12). A slight shift of meaning occurs in Dan. 8:23, where 'achărı̂yth is applied to time in a relative or comparative sense: “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.” Here the word refers to a “last period,” but not necessarily the “end” of history. In a different nuance, the word can mean “latter” or “what comes afterward”: “O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” (Deut. 32:29). In some passages, 'achărı̂yth represents the “ultimate outcome” of a person’s life. Num. 23:10 speaks thus of death: “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!”
In other passages, 'achărı̂yth refers to “all that comes afterwards.” Passages such as Jer. 31:17 use the word of one’s “descendants” or “posterity” (KJV, “children”). In view of the parallelism suggested in this passage, the first line should be translated “and there is hope for your posterity.” In Amos 9:1, 'achărı̂yth is used of the “rest” (remainder) of one’s fellows. Both conclusion and result are apparent in passages such as Isa. 41:22, where the word represents the “end” or “result” of a matter: “Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.”
A third nuance of 'achărı̂yth indicates the “last” or the “least in importance”: “Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold. the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert” (Jer. 50:12).
The fact that 'achărı̂yth used with “day” or “years” may signify either “a point at the end of time” or “a period of the end time” has created considerable debate on fourteen Old Testament passages. Some scholars view this use of the word as noneschatological— that it merely means “in the day which follows” or “in the future.” This seems to be its meaning in Gen. 49:1 (its first occurrence in the Bible): “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.” Here the word refers to the entire period to follow. On the other hand, Isa. 2:2 uses the word more absolutely of the “last period of time”: “In the last days, … the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established [as the chief of the mountains].…” Some scholars believe the phrase sometimes is used of the “very end of time”: “Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days” (Dan. 10:14). This point, however, is much debated.
B. Adverb.
'Ephes (אֶפֶס, Strong's #657), “howbeit; notwithstanding; however; without cause.” This word’s first occurrence is in Num. 13:28: "Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land.…”
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'End'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/e/end.html. 1940.
