Have you ever wondered why your Bible put loving with kindness without a space (i.e. lovingkindness)? I often wondered if it was a typo or if the space/hyphen was left out.
Sometimes it's a good thing to remember that the Bible was originally
written in Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek. We are reading a translation and as
such, sometimes studying the original Hebrew or Greek word is very
beneficial.
Well, I wondered that and I checked it out. The Old Testament word for Lovingkindness is Strong's Number H2617. This word has also been translated as mercy, kindness, goodness, kindly, merciful, favour, good, goodliness, pity, reproach, and wicked thing. It's definition may mean goodness, kindness, faithfulness, or it may mean a reproach or shame.
This word especially comes up in the Psalms a lot. It shows up 6 times in different books of the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea), but 23 times it occurs in the Psalms.
Lovingkindness is a characteristic of God. He is full of goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and love, so much the word can't be separated.
Now you know a little bit more about lovingkindness!!
No comments:
Post a Comment