Deceivableness

DECEIVABLENESS; DECEIVE [ISBE]

DECEIVABLENESS; DECEIVE - de-sev'-a-b'-l-nes, de-sev' (nasha', "to lead astray"): "The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee" (Jer 49:16), i.e. "Thy stern mountain fastnesses have persuaded thee that thou art impregnable." In Jer 20:7, "O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived," pathah, signifies "to be enticed," "persuaded," as in the American Standard Revised Version and the Revised Version, margin.

In the Old Testament most often, and in the New Testament regularly, the various words rendered in the King James Version "deceive" denote some deliberate misleading in the moral or spiritual realm. False prophets (Jer 29:8), false teachers (Eph 5:6) and Satan himself (Rev 12:9) are deceivers in this sense. In the gospels, the King James Version "deceive" (planao, 9 times Mt 24:4,5 parallel Mk 13:5,6 parallel Lk 21:8; Mt 24:11,24; Jn 7:12,47) becomes in the Revised Version (British and American) "lead astray"; the same change is made in 1 Jn 2:26; 3:7; but elsewhere (13 t) both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) render planao by "deceive."

"Deceivableness" (apate), only in 2 Thess 2:10, signifies power to deceive, not liability to deception; the Revised Version (British and American) "deceit."

F. K. Farr