Bible Encyclopedias
Forbear

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

for -bâr ´ (חדל , ḥādhal ; ἀνέχομαι , anéchomai ): In the Old Testament ḥādhal , "to leave off," is the word most frequently translated "forbear" (Exodus 23:5 , etc.); dāmam , "to be silent," ḥāsakh , "to keep back," māshakh , "to draw or stretch out," occur once each; the Revised Version (British and American) renders Ezekiel 24:17 ( dāmam ), "Sigh, but not aloud," margin "Hebrew be silent,"; Proverbs 24:11 ( ḥāsakh ), "See that thou hold back," margin "or forbear thou not to deliver," the King James Version "if thou forbear to deliver"; Nehemiah 9:30 ( māshakh ), "bear" instead of "forbear"; 'aph literally, "breathing," the "nose," hence, from violent breathing, "anger" (ה , 'erekh , "long," understood), and kūl "to hold," are translated "forbearing" (Proverbs 25:15; Jeremiah 20:9 , respectively).

In the New Testament we have anechomai , "to hold self back or up," "with longsuffering, forbearing one another" (Ephesians 4:2 ,; Colossians 3:13 ); anı́ēmi "to send back," the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "forbear threatening" (Ephesians 6:9 ); pheı́domai , "to spare," "but I forbear" (2 Corinthians 12:6 ); mḗergázesthai , "not to work," "to forbear working" (1 Corinthians 9:6 ); stégō , "to cover," "conceal": "when I could no longer forbear" (1 Thessalonians 3:1 , 1 Thessalonians 3:5 ).