the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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Bible Dictionaries
Hour
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words
whence Lat., hora, Eng., "hour," primarily denoted any time or period, expecially a season. In the NT it is used to denote (a) "a part of the day," especially a twelfth part of day or night, an "hour," e.g., Matthew 8:13; Acts 10:3,9; 23:23; Revelation 9:15; in 1 Corinthians 15:30 , "every hour" stands for "all the time;" in some passages it expresses duration, e.g., Matthew 20:12; 26:40; Luke 22:59; inexactly, in such phrases as "for a season," John 5:35; 2 Corinthians 7:8; "for an hour," Galatians 2:5; "for a short season," 1 Thessalonians 2:17 , RV (AV, "for a short time," lit., "for the time of an hour"); (b) "a period more or less extended," e.g., 1 John 2:18 , "it is the last hour," RV; (c) "a definite point of time," e.g., Matthew 26:45 , "the hour is at hand;" Luke 1:10; 10:21; 14:17 , lit., "at the hour of supper;" Acts 16:18; 22:13; Revelation 3:3; 11:13; 14:7; a point of time when an appointed action is to begin, Revelation 14:15; in Romans 13:11 , "it is high time," lit., "it is already an hour," indicating that a point of time has come later than would have been the case had responsibility been realized. In 1 Corinthians 4:11 , it indicates a point of time previous to which certain circumstances have existed.
Notes: (1) In 1 Corinthians 8:7 , AV, "unto this hour," the phrase in the orginal is simply, "until now," as RV (2) In Revelation 8:1 , hemioron, "half an hour" (hemi, "half," and hora), is used with hos, "about," of a period of silence in Heaven after the opening of the 7th seal, a period corresponding to the time customarily spent in silent worship in the Temple during the burning of incense.These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Hour'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​ved/​h/hour.html. 1940.