Dictionaries :: Enlarge; Enlargement

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Enlarge; Enlargement:

en-larj', en-larj'-ment:

"To enlarge" is very frequently used figuratively: "God enlarge Japheth" (Ge 9:27), i.e. "make him a great nation"; or "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me" (2Sa 22:37), i.e. "Thou hast given me success." A very peculiar use of "enlarge" is found in the King James Version Ps 4:1: "Thou hast enlarged me" (the Revised Version (British and American) "set me at large"), i.e. "Thou hast given me freedom, deliverance from distress." "Our heart is enlarged" (platuno; 2Co 6:11), and "Be ye also enlarged" (2Co 6:13), express great love of one party to another. See also 1Sa 2:1, "My mouth is enlarged," i.e. "full of praise." Eze 41:7, "were broader" (the King James Version "an enlarging").

Enlargement, the King James Version, Es 4:14 from rawach, "to enlarge," "to respite," is rendered "relief" by the Revised Version (British and American) in better harmony with "deliverance" with which the word is paired.

Written by Arthur L. Breslich