Dictionaries :: Cheer; Cheerfulness

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Cheer; Cheerfulness:

cher, cher'-fool-nes: The English word "cheer" meant:

(1) originally face, countenance (Greek kara, "head," through Old French, chere, "face"),

(2) then the expression on the face, especially

(3) the expression of good spirits, and finally

(4) good spirits, without any reference to the facial expression.

The noun "cheer" in English Versions of the Bible is only found with adjective "good" (except 1 Esdras 9:54, "great cheer"), the word not having quite lost its earlier neutral character (any face expression, whether joyous or otherwise). In Old Testament, Tobh, is translated "cheer," "let thy heart cheer thee" (see GOOD); sameach, "to rejoice" is so translated in De 24:5, "shall cheer his wife" (the King James Version "cheer up his wife"), and Jud 9:13, "wine, which cheereth God ('elohim) and man." The phrase "of good cheer" occurs in Old Testament in Job 9:27 (the King James Version "comfort"); in Apocrypha, 1 Esdras 9:54; The Wisdom of Solomon 18:6; Baruch 4:5,30; Sirach 18:32 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "luxury"); in New Testament for Greek euthumeo, euthumos, in Ac 27:22,25,36, and for tharseo in Mt 9:2,22. (the King James Version "comfort"); Mt 14:27; Mr 6:50; 10:49 (RV; "comfort" in the King James Version); Joh 16:33; Ac 23:11. "Cheer" as verb transitive occurs in Ec 11:9; Deu 24:5; Jud 9:13.

Cheerful occurs in Pr 15:13,15 (the King James Version "merry"); Zec 8:19; 9:17 the King James Version; Sirach 30:25; 2Co 9:7.

Cheerfully, Ac 24:10.

Cheerfulness, Ro 12:8.

Written by D. Miall Edwards