Business

BUSINESS [ISBE]

BUSINESS - biz'-nes: Is the rendering of four Hebrew words: (1) mela'khah, in Gen 39:11 (the American Standard Revised Version "work"); 1 Ch 26:29,30; 2 Ch 13:10 (the American Standard Revised Version "in their work"); 17:13 (the American Standard Revised Version "many works"); Neh 11:16,22; 13:30 (the American Standard Revised Version "in his work"); Est 3:9; Ps 107:23; Prov 22:29; Dan 8:27. (2) dabhar, literally "a word," is so translated in Dt 24:5; Josh 2:14,20; Jdg 18:7 (the American Standard Revised Version "dealings"); 18:28 (the American Standard Revised Version "dealings"); 1 Sam 21:2,8. (3) ma`aseh, "an action" (1 Sam 20:19). (4) `inyan, "employment" (Eccl 5:3; 8:16).

In the New Testament "business" in Lk 2:49 is the rendering of the phrase en, tois, tou patros mou, literally "in the things of my Father," which the American Standard Revised Version renders "in my Father's house," with "about my Father's business" as the marginal reading. "Business" is also used in the translation of chreia, literally "need," of Acts 6:3; as the translation of spoude, literally "haste" of Rom 12:11 (the American Standard Revised Version "diligence"); of pragma, literally "thing done," of Rom 16:2 (the American Standard Revised Version "matter"); of prassein ta idia, literally "tend to one's own business," of 1 Thess 4:11. In Acts 19:24,25 in Paul's account of the riot in Ephesus, ergasia, literally "working," "performing," is translated "little business" in 19:24 (the King James Version "small gain"), and "by this business" in Acts 19:25 (the King James Version "by this craft").

Arthur J. Kinsella