Bible Encyclopedias
Haste

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

hāst ( חפז , ḥāphaz , חוּשׁ , ḥūsh , מהר , māhar ; σπεύδω , speúdō ): "Haste" (from a root meaning "to pursue") implies "celerity of motion."

(1) The noun occurs as translation of māhar , "to hasten," etc. ( Exodus 10:16; Exodus 12:33 , "in haste"); of ḥāphaz , "to make haste" (2 Kings 7:15; Psalm 31:22; Psalm 116:11 , "I said in my haste (the Revised Version margin "alarm"), All men are liars"); of ḥippāzōn , a "hasty flight" (Exodus 12:11; Deuteronomy 16:3; Isaiah 52:12 ); of nāḥac , "to be urgent" (1 Samuel 21:8 , "The king's business required haste").

(2) "Haste" as a verb is transitive and intrans; instances of the transitive use are, 'ūc , "to hasten," "press" ( Exodus 5:13 , "And the taskmasters hasted them," the Revised Version (British and American) "were urgent"); ḥūsh , "to make haste" (Isaiah 5:19 ); māhar (2 Chronicles 24:5 twice); shāḳadh , "to watch," "to fix one's attention" on anything (Jeremiah 1:12 the King James Version, "I will hasten my word"); māhı̄r , "hasting" (Isaiah 16:5 , "hasting righteousness," the Revised Version (British and American) "swift to do"). The intransitive use is more frequent and represents many different words.

Hasty also occurs in several instances ( Proverbs 21:5; Proverbs 29:20 , 'ūc , etc.); in Isaiah 28:4 , bikkūr , "first-fruit," is translated "hasty fruit," the Revised Version (British and American) "first-ripe fig."

The Revised Version (British and American) has "Haste ye" for "assemble yourselves" (Joel 3:11 margin, as the King James Version); "make haste" for "speedily" ( Psalm 143:7 ); "and hasted to catch whether it were his mind" (for 1 Kings 20:33 the King James Version); "and it hasteth toward the end," margin (Hebrew) "panteth," for "but at the end it shall speak" ( Habakkuk 2:3 ); "hastily" for "suddenly" (1 Timothy 5:22 ); for "and for this I make haste" (Job 20:2 ), "even by reason of my haste that is in me," margin "and by reason of this my haste is within me"; for "hasten after another god" (Psalm 16:4 ), the American Standard Revised Version has "that give gifts for another god," the English Revised Version "exchange the Lord for"; for "hasten hereunto" (Ecclesiastes 2:25 ), "have enjoyment"; for "hasten hither" (1 Kings 22:9 ), "fetch quickly"; for "and gather" (Exodus 9:19 ), "hasten in"; for "hasteneth that he may" (Isaiah 51:14 ), "shall speedily"; for "hasteth to" (Job 9:26 ), "swoopeth on"; for "and hasteth" (Job 40:23 ), "he trembleth"; for "hasty" (Daniel 2:15 ), "urgent."