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transgressed against me.…” The preposition , “against,” before the name of God occurs
about 10 times. In each case the act is an expression of an apostate way of life: “In
transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking
oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood” (Isa.
59:13).
The Septuagint translators are not consistent in the translation of
. The most
common translations are:
(“to act unpiously”);
(“to go away,
withdraw”);
(“lawless”); and
(“sin”). The
KJV
gives these senses:
“transgress; revolt; rebel.”
B. Noun.
(
#
, 6588), “transgression; guilt; punishment; offering.” A cognate of this
word appears in Ugaritic.
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appears 93 times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew.
Basically, this noun signifies willful deviation from, and therefore rebellion against,
the path of godly living. This emphasis is especially prominent in Amos 2:4: “For three
transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments,
and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked.” Such a
willful rebellion from a prescribed or agreed-upon path may be perpetrated against
another man: “… Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my
sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?” (Gen. 31:36—the first occurrence of the
word). Jacob is asking what he has done by way of violating or not keeping his
responsibility (contract) with Laban. A nation can sin in this sense against another nation:
“For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four … because they have threshed
Gilead with threshing instruments of iron” (Amos 1:3). Usually, however,
has
immediate reference to one’s relationship to God.
This word sometimes represents the guilt of such a transgression: “I am clean,
without [guilt of] transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me” (Job 33:9).
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can signify the punishment for transgression: “And a host was given him
against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression …” (Dan. 8:12); “How long shall be
the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and [punishment for] the transgression of
desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?” (Dan. 8:13).
Finally, in Mic. 6:7
signifies an offering for “transgression”: “Shall I give my
first-born for my transgression [
NASB
, “for my rebellious acts”] …?”
TREE
(
0
, 6086), “tree; wood; timber; stick; stalk.” This word has cognates in Ugaritic,
Akkadian, Phoenician, Aramaic ( ), and Arabic. It occurs about 325 times in biblical
Hebrew and in all periods.
In its first biblical appearance
is used as a collective noun representing all trees
bearing fruit (Gen. 1:11). In Exod. 9:25 the word means “tree” indiscriminately: “… And
the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.” God forbids
Israel to destroy the orchards around besieged cities: “When thou shalt besiege a city a