SOTTISH.  Up to the 17th century a `sot' was a foolish person and then the word

`besotted' became restricted to drunkards. "Sottish" occurs once in our old English

translation, "For My people is foolish, they have not known Me;  they are sottish

children: they have none understanding" (Jer. 4: 22). "Stupid" would be the modern

equivalent here.

STILL. The old sense of this word meant continually, constantly. In Psa. 84: 4

we read "Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee"

meaning "they will be ever singing Thy praise". May this constant attitude of praise and

thanksgiving be ours!

STOMACHER.  This old word means an ornamental covering for the chest which

was worn by women under the bodice. The word in the original means a rich rope, so its

one occurrence in Isa. 3: 24 should read ". . . . . instead of a rich rope, a girding of

STRAIN AT.  "Strain at a gnat" (Matt. 23: 24) does not represent what the Greek

actually says, which should read "strain out a gnat", and was thus correctly rendered by

Tyndale and all the other sixteenth century versions. There is the possibility that this

"strain at" was a printer's error which was never corrected. This was the opinion of

Bishop Lightfoot and Archbishop French (Trench). If this was not true, it is difficult to

see how the A.V. translators made this mistake. "Strain out a gnat" is correct and

STRAWED.  This is the past tense of the obsolete verb `straw', which means the

same as `strew'. We read in Exod. 32: 20 that Moses burnt the golden calf which

Aaron had made, "and ground it to powder and strawed it upon the water, and made the

children of Israel drink it". II Chron. 34: 4 tells us that king Josiah "brake in pieces"

the images Israel had been worshipping "and made dust of them and strowed it upon the

graves of them that had sacrificed unto them".  In Matt. 21: 8 we read of those who

cut down branches of trees and "strawed them in the way" of the Lord Jesus as He came

to Jerusalem. In Matt. 25: 24-26 a different word is used in the Greek and means "to

winnow": ". . . . . An hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where

thou hast not strawed". The last phrase should read "gathering where you did not