Dictionaries :: Hitherto

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Hitherto:

hith'-er-too (to this): Used of both place and time. It is the translation of various words and phrases:

(1) Of place, ‘adh halom (2Sa 7:18, "Thou hast brought me hitherto," the Revised Version (British and American) "thus far"; 1Ch 17:16; perhaps 1Sa 7:12, ‘adh hennah, "Hitherto hath Yahweh helped us" (in connection with the setting up of the stone Ebenezer)) belongs to this head; hennah is properly an adverb of place; it might always be rendered "thus far."

(2) Of time, ‘adh koh, "unto this" (Ex 7:16, "Hitherto thou hast not hearkened"; Jos 17:14, "Hitherto Yahweh hath blessed me"); me'az, "from then" (2Sa 15:34, the Revised Version (British and American) "in time past"); hale'ah, "beyond," etc. (Isa 18:7, "terrible from their beginning hitherto," the Revised Version (British and American) "onward"); ‘adh kah, Aramaic (Da 7:28, the Revised Version (British and American) "here," margin "hitherto"); ‘adh hennah, "unto here" (Jud 16:13; 1Sa 1:16; Ps 71:17, etc.); achri tou deuro (Ro 1:13, "was let (the Revised Version (British and American) "hindered") hitherto"); heos arti, "until now" (Joh 5:17, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" the Revised Version (British and American) "even until now," that is, "on the Sabbath as well as on other days', and I do as He does"; Joh 16:24, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive," that is "up till now"; "now ask in my name and ye shall receive"); oupo, "not yet" (1Co 3:2, "Hitherto ye were not able to bear it," the Revised Version (British and American) "not yet").

Written by W. L. Walker

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Hitherto:

Notes:

(1) The phrase Heos arti, "until now," is rendered "hitherto" in Jhn 16:24, AV, and RV; in Jhn 5:17, RV, "even until now," which more definitely express the meaning that the AV, "hitherto;" the rest of the Father and the Son having been broken by man's sin, they were engaged in the accomplishment of their counsels of grace with a view to redemption.

(2) The phrase achri tou deuro, lit., "until the hither," or "the present," is used of time in Rom 1:13, "hitherto."

(3) In 1Cr 3:2, AV, oupo, "not yet," is translated "hitherto... not," RV, "not yet."