2. When the Infinitive of the verb is wanting:
.
……………(a) After the Hebrew יׇכֹל (yahkōl) able.
.
Psa. 21:11—“They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform”
Psa. 101:5—“Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer,”
i.e., I am not able to bear.
Isa. 1:13—“The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies,
I cannot away with,”
i.e., I am not able to endure. See Jer. 44:22.
Psa. 139:6—“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”
Here the Ellipsis is properly supplied: i.e., I am not able to attain unto it.
Hos. 8:5—“How long will it be ere they attain to innocency?”
i.e., how long ere they are able to practise innocency?
1 Cor. 3:2—“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat:
for hitherto ye were not able to bear it,”
i.e., to eat, or partake of it, or, to digest it.
.
.
.
…………………(b) After the verb to finish.
1 Sam. 16:11—“Are here all thy children?”
Here the Ellipsis is avoided by a free and idiomatic translation.
The Heb. reads, “Are the young men finished?”
i.e., “Are the young men finished passing by?” or done passing before me?
Matt. 10:23—“Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.”
Lit. “Ye will not have finished going over the cities,” etc., referring to verses 6 and 7.
Matt. 13:53—“When Jesus had finished these parables,”
i.e., when Jesus had finished speaking these parables.
..
.
………………….(c). When the INFINITIVE is wanting after another verb,
. personal or impersonal.
Gen. 9:20—“And Noah began to be an husbandman,” or,
“And Noah the husbandman began and planted, etc.”
1 Kings 7:47—“And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because they were exceeding many,”
i.e., and Solomon omitted to weigh, etc.
Prov. 21:5— “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness:
but of every one that is hasty only to want.”
Here plenteousness is מוֹתָר (mōthar) that which is over and above, excess,
(from יָתַר (yahthar) to be superfluous).
“The thoughts of the diligent tend only to excess, and [the thoughts] of every one that hasteth [to get riches tend] only to want.”
The R.V. supplies the Ellipses thus. “But every one that is hasty hasteth only to want”; “hasting: to want” is very obscure, but the “hasting to get riches” tending to want is clear.
Mark 15:8 — “And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them,” i.e., that he should do.
Luke 13:33—“Nevertheless I must walk today, and tomorrow, and the day following,” etc.
The R.V. has “Howbeit I must go on my way.”
But the Greek is “Howbeit it behoves me today, and tomorrow, and the day following, to go on [to work],” i.e., to continue working.
Rom. 4:25—“Who was delivered [to die] for our offences.”
From “Figures Of Speech Used In The Bible” by Dr. E. W. Bullinger,
(Public Domain) pages 35-37. Amended for website compatibility.
See original at link.
figuresofspeechinthebible.net © 2013-2022. All rights reserved. Material in public domain may be freely copied and distributed without charge for educational, non-commercial purposes. This website, and those referenced by this site as sources of public domain material, are to be referenced. Material that is not in public domain, and indicated as such, is the property of its rightful owner(s), and/or originator.