Excellency - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

EXCELLENCY

ek'-se-len-si (ga-on, ga'awah; huperbole):

"Excellency" in the Old Testament is chiefly the translation of ga'on, "mounting," "swelling" (Exodus 15:7; Job 37:4 the King James Version; Psalms 47:4 the King James Version; Isaiah 13:19 the King James Version, etc.); ga'awah, rising, is thrice so rendered (Deuteronomy 33:26,29; Psalms 68:34); se'eth, "rising" (twice) (Job 13:11 the King James Version; Psalms 62:4 the King James Version); yether, "superabundance" (twice) (Genesis 49:3 the King James Version; Job 4:21 the King James Version), and chadhar, "honor," "beauty," "majesty" (twice) (Isaiah 35:2); gobhah, "uplifted" (Job 40:10); yithron, "advantage" (Ecclesiastes 7:12); si', "elevation" (Job 20:6, the Revised Version (British and American) "height"). In the New Testament huperbole, "surpassing," "a casting beyond," occurs (2 Corinthians 4:7, "that the excellency of the power may be of God," the Revised Version (British and American) "exceeding greatness"); huperoche, "a holding over" or "beyond," is translated "excellency" (1 Corinthians 2:1), and to huperechon, "the pre-eminence" (Philippians 3:8), "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ."

Instead of "excellency" the Revised Version (British and American) has "pride" (Isaiah 13:19; Ezekiel 24:21), "majesty" (Job 37:4 and the American Standard Revised Version Job 13:11; 31:23), the American Standard Revised Version has "pre-eminence" (Genesis 49:3,4), "glory" (Psalms 47:4), "dignity" (Psalms 62:4); for "the fat of lambs" (Psalms 37:20), the English Revised Version has "the excellency of the pastures," with margin, "the fat of lambs"; the American Standard Revised Version retains the King James Version rendering with the English Revised Version in the margin; instead of "Doth not their excellency which is in them go away?" (Job 4:21), the Revised Version (British and American) has "Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them?" margin, "Is not their excellency which is in them removed?"

W. L. Walker

Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'EXCELLENCY'". "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". 1915.