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be guilty.” The verb may also refer to the result of wrongdoing, as in Gen. 43:9: “… Then
let me bear the blame for ever.” Deut. 24:1-4, after forbidding adulterous marriage
practices, concludes: “… For that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not
cause the land to sin …” (
KJV
); the
RSV
renders this passage: “You shall not bring guilt
upon the land.” Similarly, those who pervert justice are described as “those who by a
word make a man out to be guilty” (Isa. 29:21,
NIV
). This leads to the meaning in Lev.
9:15: “And he … took the goat … and slew it, and offered it for sin.…” The effect of the
offerings for sin is described in Ps. 51:7: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean …”
(cf. Num. 19:1-13). Another effect is seen in the word of the prophet to evil Babylon:
“You have forfeited your life” (Hab. 2:10
RSV
,
NIV
;
KJV
,
NASB
, “sinned against”).
The word is used concerning acts committed against men, as in Gen. 42:22: “Spake I
not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child …?” and 1 Sam. 19:4: “Do not let the
king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you …” (
NASB
; NlV,
“wrong, wronged”).
The Septuagint translates the group of words with the verb
and derived
nouns 540 times. They occur 265 times in the New Testament. The fact that all “have
sinned” continues to be emphasized in the New Testament (Rom. 3:10-18, 23; cf. 1 Kings
8:46; Ps. 14:1-3; Eccl. 7:20). The New Testament development is that Christ, “having
made one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of God.… For by one
offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:12- 14,
NASB
).
TO SING
A. Verbs.
(
, 7442), “to sing, shout, cry out.” Found in both ancient and modern
Hebrew, this word is used in modern Hebrew in the sense of “to chant, sing.” It occurs
approximately 50 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, with about half of these uses being
in the Book of Psalms, where there is special emphasis on “singing” and “shouting”
praises to God.
is found for the first time in Lev. 9:24 at the conclusion of the
consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. When the fire fell and consumed
the sacrifice, the people “shouted, and fell on their faces.”
is often used to express joy, exultation, which seems to demand loud singing,
especially when it is praise to God: “Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great
is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee” (Isa. 12:6). When Wisdom calls, she cries
aloud to all who will hear (Prov. 8:3). To shout for joy (Ps. 32:11) is to let joy ring out!
(
, 7891), “to sing.” This word appears frequently in ancient and modern
Hebrew, as well as in ancient Ugaritic. While it occurs almost 90 times in the Hebrew
Old Testament, it is not used until Exod. 15:1: “Then sang Moses and the children of
Israel this song unto the Lord.…” One might wonder if it took the miracle of the Exodus
from Egypt to give the Israelites something “to sing” about!
Over one quarter of the instances of
are found in the Book of Psalms, often in the
imperative form, calling the people to express their praise to God in singing. One such
example is found in Ps. 96:1: “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all
the earth.” Frequently
is found in parallelism with
, “to sing” (Ps. 68:4, 32).