Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
Bible Encyclopedias
Still
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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stil : "To be still" is "to keep silence" ( Psalm 4:4 , etc.) and so "to be quiet" (Psalm 107:29 , etc.) or "inactive" in any way (Judges 18:9; 1 Kings 22:3; Zechariah 1:11 , etc.). So "be still" in Psalm 46:10 means "desist from your war" (compare the Revised Version margin "let be"). The "still small voice" of 1 Kings 19:12 (the Revised Version margin "sound of gentle stillness") is due to taking the Hebrew demāmāh in its literal force of "silent," but the word here means "whisper" - "a whispering, little voice." This familiar passage, however, has made "still voice" good English, and the combination is used in Job 4:16 by the Revised Version margin. In Psalm 23:2 the translation "still waters" takes "waters of rest" (so literally for מנוּחה , menūḥāh ; compare the Revised Version margin) to mean "waters with little motion." But the meaning is either "wells by which the flocks rest" or "wells that give refreshing water." As an adverb "still" is perhaps more emphatic than in modern English; compare "power to keep still the kingdom," 2 Chronicles 22:9 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "to hold the kingdom").
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Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Still'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/s/still.html. 1915.
