make him a public exhibition. Rather he meant, "I thought I would tell you". When we

understand these facts the contexts become clear and intelligible.

AFFINITY. Today this word means to join with anything, whereas in the Authorized

Version of the Bible it is only used in the primitive sense of the Latin affinitas,

relationship by marriage. In I Kings 3: 1 "And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh

King of Egypt", means "Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh King of

Egypt".  Likewise II Chron. 18: 1 "Jehoshaphat . . . . . joined affinity with Ahab",

means Jehoshaphat made a marriage alliance with Ahab. In the prayer of Ezra (9: 14)

"join in affinity with the people of these abominations" means more than making contact

with them, rather it means intermarrying with them.

AGAINST. Today this means opposite or confronting. Generally this word is used

understandably in the A.V., but there are one or two obsolete usages. In Gen. 43: 25

we read "And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon". This does not

make sense in modern English, but in the A.V. `against' means "for" and should read "for

Joseph's coming".  Exod. 7: 15 also sounds puzzling. The Lord said to Moses "Get

thee unto Pharaoh in the morning . . . . . and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against

he come". This latter phrase means "for him" and the sense is "stand and wait for him by

the river's brink".

ALL TO BREAK. Judges 9: 53 records the fact of "a certain woman cast a piece

of millstone upon Abimelech's head and all to break his skull". Does this phrase state

the woman's purpose, or the result of her action? Does it mean `almost broke' or `quite

broke'? The Hebrew means `crushed his skull' and this is what the Middle English

meant. The prefix `to' expressed separation and `to-break' meant break asunder or in

pieces and with verbs of separation it simply emphasized or intensified their meaning.

"All to" began to be regarded as an adverb meaning completely or entirely. In Bunyan's

Pilgrim's Progress, Christina tells the interpreter about the efforts of Mrs. Timorous to

persuade her not to make the journey, and she says `She all-to-be-fooled me'.

AMAZE, AMAZAMENT.  These were all stronger words than they are now. To

amaze was to stun or stupefy by a blow, or to terrify by fear. Thus warriors were said to

fall to the ground `amazed' i.e. stunned. The statement in the N.T. (Mark 14: 33) that

the Lord "began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy" in the garden of Gethsemane is

not nearly strong enough in modern English. "He began to be greatly distressed and

troubled." "Horror and dismay came over Him" (N.E.B.). Let us never forget that here

He was confronting Satan and the powers of darkness (Luke 22: 53). In I Pet. 3: 6,