FORM
form (yatsar, to'ar; morphe):

(1) To form is "to fashion," "create," "produce." In the Old Testament it is for the most part the translation of yatsar, "to form," "to fashion" (Ge 2:7, etc., "Yahweh God formed man of the dust of the ground," etc.); also of chul and chil, "to be twisted" "turned round" "to bring forth (in pain)" (compare Isa 13:8; Mic 4:10; De 32:18 the King James Version, "God that formed thee"; Job 26:13 the King James Version; Ps 90:2, "or ever thou hadst formed the earth" etc.; Pr 26:10 the King James Version). In the New Testament we have morphoo, "to form" (Ga 4:19, "until Christ be formed in you"); plasso, "to form," "to mold" (Ro 9:20, "him that formed it"; 1Ti 2:13, "Adam was first formed"; /APC 2Macc 7:23, "the Creator .... who formed the generation of man," the Revised Version (British and American) "fashioned"; 7:22, "that formed the members (diarrhuthmizo)," the Revised Version (British and American) "brought into order").

(2) Form (noun) is used for

(a) appearance, mar'eh, "sight," "appearance" (Job 4:16, "I could not discern the form thereof" the Revised Version (British and American) "appearance" with "form" for "image" (temunah) in next sentence); tselem, Aramaic "image" (Da 3:19, "The form of his visage was changed"); rew, "form," "likeness" (Da 2:31; 3:25, the Revised Version (British and American) "aspect"); to'ar, "visage," "form" (1Sa 28:14, "What form is he of?");

(b) the fixed or characteristic form of anything, tabhnith, "model," "form" (Eze 8:3; 10:8, "the form of a hand"; Eze 8:10, "every form of creeping things"); morphe, characteristic form as distinguished from schema, changing fashion (Php 2:6, "in the form of God"; Php 2:7, "the form of a servant"; less distinctly Mr 16:12, "in another form");

(c) shape, model, pattern, mold, tsurah, "shape," from tsur, "to cut or carve" (Eze 43:11, ter, "the form of the house," etc.); mishpat, "rule" (2Ch 4:7 the King James Version); tupos, "type," "impress" (Ro 6:17, the Revised Version, margin "pattern"); hupotuposis, "outline," pattern (2Ti 1:13, the Revised Version (British and American) "pattern"); morphosis, "form," "appearance" (Ro 2:20, "the form of knowledge");

(d) orderly arrangement, giving shape or form (Ge 1:2; Jer 4:23, the earth was "without form," tohu, the Revised Version (British and American) "waste"; The Wisdom of Solomon /APC Wis 11:17, amorphos); "form of speech" (2Sa 14:20, aspect, panim, "face," the Revised Version (British and American) "to change the face of the matter"); as giving comeliness or beauty, to'ar (Isa 52:14; 53:2, "He hath no form nor comeliness"; compare Ge 29:17; 39:6, etc.; The Wisdom of Solomon /APC Wis 15:5, "desiring the form (eidos) of a dead image," the Revised Version (British and American) "the breathless form");

(e) Show, without substance, morphosis, "form" (2Ti 3:5, "holding a form of godliness").

ARV has "didst form" for "hast possessed" (Ps 139:13, so the English Revised Version, margin; both have "formed" for "made" (Ps 104:26), the American Standard Revised Version for "framed" twice (Isa 29:16); both for "formed thee," "gave birth" (De 32:18); "pierced" (Job 26:13); "woundeth" (Pr 26:10); "fastened" (Isa 44:10); for "are formed from" (Job 26:5), "tremble"; for "their form" (2Ch 4:7), "the ordinance concerning them"; "form" for "similitude" (Nu 12:8; De 4:12,15); for "size" (1Ki 6:25; 7:37); for "shape" (Lu 3:22; Joh 5:37); "in the form" for "similitude" (De 4:16); for "or the like" (De 4:23,15); the American Standard Revised Version "(beholding) thy form" for "thy likeness" (Ps 17:15, the English Revised Version, margin); "every form" for "all appearance" (1Th 5:22; so the English Revised Version, margin "appearance").

W. L. Walker

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