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Fine
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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fı̄n (adj., from Latin finire , "to finish"): Indicates superior quality. Only in a few instances does "fine" represent a separate word: (1) ṭōbh , "good," qualifies gold (2 Chronicles 3:5 , 2 Chronicles 3:8 , "fine gold"; compare Genesis 2:12 , "good"); fine gold (Lamentations 4:1 , the King James Version "most fine gold," the Revised Version (British and American) "most pure gold," literally, "good fine gold"), copper (Ezra 8:27 , the Revised Version (British and American) "fine bright brass"); ṭabh , Aramaic (Daniel 2:32 , "fine gold"). (2) pāz , "refined" (Song of Solomon 5:11 , "the most fine gold"). (3) ḥēlebh , "fatness," "the best of any kind"; compare Genesis 45:18; Deuteronomy 32:14 , etc. (Psalm 81:16 , "the finest of the wheat," the Revised Version, margin Hebrew "fat of wheat"). (4) sārı̄ḳ , "fine combed" (Isaiah 19:9 , "fine flax," the Revised Version (British and American) "combed flax").
In other places it expresses a quality of the substantive: kethem , "fine gold" (Job 31:24; Daniel 10:5 , the Revised Version (British and American) "pure gold"); pāz , used as a noun for refined gold (Job 28:17; Psalm 19:10; Proverbs 8:19; Isaiah 13:12; Lamentations 4:2 ); ḥārūc , "fine gold" (Proverbs 3:14; compare Psalm 68:13 , "yellow gold"); ṣōleth , "flour," rendered "fine flour," rolled or crushed small (Leviticus 2:1 , Leviticus 2:4 , Leviticus 2:5 , Leviticus 2:7 , etc.); semı́dalis , "the finest wheaten flour" (Revelation 18:13 ); ḳemaḥ ṣōleth , "fine meal" (Genesis 18:6 ); ṣādhı̄n , "linen garment" (Septuagint σινδον , sindō̇n , Proverbs 31:24 the King James Version; Isaiah 3:23 ); shēsh , "white," "fine linen" (Genesis 41:42; Exodus 25:4 , etc.); in Proverbs 31:22 the King James Version has "silk"; shēshı̄ (Ezekiel 16:13 , "fine flour"); 'ēṭūn , "what is twisted or spun," "yarn" (Proverbs 7:16 the King James Version, "fine linen of Egypt" the Revised Version (British and American) "yarn of Egypt"); būc , "fine white cloth," "cotton or linen," "fine linen" (1 Chronicles 4:21; Ezekiel 27:16 , etc.; 2 Chronicles 5:12 , King James Version "white," the Revised Version (British and American) "fine"); bússos , "byssus," "linen" from būc Septuagint for which, 2 Chronicles 2:14; 2 Chronicles 3:14 ), deemed very fine and precious, worn only by the rich (Luke 16:19; Revelation 18:12 ); bússinos , "byssine" made of fine linen, Septuagint for būc (1 Ch 5:27) (Revelation 18:16 , "clothed in fine linen," the Revised Version (British and American) "arrayed," Revelation 19:8 , Revelation 19:14 ); sindōn , "fine linen" (Mk 5:46, "He bought fine linen," the Revised Version (British and American) "a linen cloth"; compare Mark 14:51 , Mark 14:52; Matthew 27:59; Luke 23:53 ); it was used for wrapping the body at night, also for wrapping round dead bodies; sindōn is Septuagint for ṣādhı̄n (Judges 14:12 , Judges 14:13; Proverbs 31:24 ); chalkolı́banon (Revelation 1:15; Revelation 2:18 , the King James Version "fine brass").
The meaning of this word has been much discussed; chálkos is "brass" in Greek (with many compounds), and libanos is the Septuagint for lebhōnāh , "frankincense," which word was probably derived from the root lābhan , "to burn"; this would give glowing brass , "as if they burned in a furnace"; in Daniel 10:6 it is nehōsheth ḳālāl , the King James Version "polished brass," the Revised Version (British and American) "burnished" (ḳālal is "to glow"). Plumptre deemed it a hybrid word composed of the Greek chalkos , "brass," and the Hebrew lābhān , "white," a technical word, such as might be familiar to the Ephesians; the Revised Version (British and American) has "burnished brass"; Weymouth, "silver-bronze when it is white-hot in a furnace"; the whiteness being expressed by the second half of the Greek word. See Thayer's Lexicon (s.v.).
In Apocrypha we have "fine linen," bussinos (1 Esdras 3:6), "fine bread"; the adjective katharós , separate (Judith 10:5, the Revised Version, margin "pure bread"); "fine flour" (Ecclesiasticus 35:2; 38:11); semı́dalis (Bel and the Dragon verse 3; 2 Macc 1:8, the Revised Version (British and American) "meal offering").
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Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Fine'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/f/fine.html. 1915.
