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Saturday, December 21st, 2024
the Third Week of Advent
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Esteem
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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es -tēm ´ (חשׁב , ḥāshabh ; ἡγέομαι , hēgéomai ): "To esteem" means sometimes simply "to think" or "reckon"; in other connections it means "to regard as honorable" or "valuable." We have examples of both senses in the Bible. The word most often so translated in the Old Testament is ḥāshabh , meaning perhaps originally, "to bind," hence, "combine," "think," "reckon" (Job 41:27 the King James Version; Isaiah 29:16 , Isaiah 29:17; Isaiah 53:4; Lamentations 4:2 ). In Isaiah 53:3 we have the word in the higher sense, "We esteemed him not." This sense is expressed also by ‛ārakh , "to set in array," "in order" (Job 36:19 , the King James Version "Will he esteem thy riches?" the English Revised Version "Will thy riches suffice?" margin "Will thy cry avail?" which the American Standard Revised Version adopts as the text); also by cāphan , "to hide," "to conceal" (Job 23:12 , the King James Version "I have esteemed the words of his mouth," the Revised Version (British and American) "treasured up"); ḳālāh , "to be light," is translated "lightly esteemed" (1 Samuel 18:23 , "I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed"), also ḳālal , same meaning (1 Samuel 2:30 , "They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed"). In the New Testament, hēgeomaı̄ , "to lead out," is used in the sense of "counting honorable," etc. (Philippians 2:3 the Revised Version (British and American) "counting"; 1 Thessalonians 5:13; perhaps Hebrews 11:26 , but the Revised Version (British and American) has simply "accounting"); krı́nō , "to judge," is used in the sense of "to reckon" (Romans 14:5 twice); also logı́zomai , "to reckon" (Romans 14:14 , the Revised Version (British and American) "accounteth"); hupsēlós , "high," "exalted," is rendered "highly esteemed" in Luke 16:15 the King James Version, but in the Revised Version (British and American) "exalted"; exouthenéō , "to think nothing of," is translated "least esteemed" (1 Corinthians 6:4 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "of no account").
The following changes in the Revised Version (British and American) are of interest: for "He that is despised and hath a servant, is better than he that honoreth himself and lacketh bread" ( Proverbs 12:9 ), "Better is he that is lightly esteemed"; for "Better is he than both they, which hath not yet been" ( Ecclesiastes 4:3 ), "Better than them both did I esteem him," margin "Better than they both is he"; for "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay" ( Isaiah 29:16 ), "Ye turn things upside down!" (margin, "Oh your perversity!"), "Shall the potter be esteemed (the English Revised Version "counted") as clay," etc. - in this connection a forcible assertion of the necessary possession of knowledge by the Creator of man.
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Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Esteem'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/e/esteem.html. 1915.
