Dictionaries :: Midst

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Midst:

an adjective denoting "middle, in the middle or midst," is used in the following, in which the English requires a phrase, and the adjectival rendering must be avoided: Luk 22:55, "Peter sat in the midst of them," lit., "a middle one of (them):" Luk 23:45, of the rending of the veil "in the midst;" here the adjective idiomatically belongs to the verb "was rent," and is not to be taken literally, as if it meant "the middle veil;" Jhn 1:26, "in the midst of you (standeth One)," RV (lit., "a middle One"); Act 1:18, where the necessity of avoiding the lit. rendering is obvious. Cp. the phrases "at midday," "at midnight" (see MIDDAY,MIDNIGHT, above).

Notes:

(1) Mesos is used adverbially, in prepositional phrases,

(a) ana m., e.g., 1Cr 6:5, "between;" Mat 13:25, "among;" Rev 7:17, "in the midst;"

(b) dia m., e.g., Luk 4:30; 17:11, "through the midst;"

(c) en m., Luk 10:3, RV, "in the midst," AV, "among;" so Luk 22:27; 1Th 2:7; with the article after en, e.g., Mat 14:6, RV, "in the midst," AV, "before;"

(d) eis m., Mar 14:60, "in the midst;" with the article, e.g., Mar 3:3, "forth" (lit., "into the midst");

(e) ek m., "out of the way," lit., "out of the midst," Col 2:14; 2Th 2:7, where, however, removal is not necessarily in view; there is no accompanying verb signifying removal, as in each of the other occurrences of the phrases; with the article, e.g., 1Cr 5:2; 2Cr 6:17; see WAY;

(f) kata m., Act 27:27, "about mid(night)."

(2) The neuter, meson, is used adverbially in Mat 14:24, in some mss., "in the midst (of the waves);" in Phl 2:15 in the best mss. (where some mss. have en m.... ).

(3) For Rev 8:13, see HEAVEN, A, No. 2.

Midst:

"to be in the middle," is used of time in Jhn 7:14, translated "when it was... the midst (of the feast)," lit., "(the feast) being in the middle."