a-lou', a-lou'-ans: The verb "to allow" is used in the King James Version to translate four different Greek words: (1) suneudokeo, "to approve together" (with others) (the Revised Version (British and American) "consent unto"), Luke 11:48. (2) prosdechomai, "to receive to oneself," "admit" (the Revised Version (British and American) "look for," margin "accept"); Acts 24:15. (3) ginosko, "to know," "recognize": "That which I do, I allow not" (the Revised Version (British and American) "I know not"), i.e. "I do not understand what I am doing, my conduct is inexplicable to me" (Grimm-Thayer); Romans 7:15. (4) dokimazo, "to prove," "approve." "Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing which he alloweth" (the Revised Version (British and American) "approveth," i.e. in practice), i.e. who is not troubled with scruples; Romans 14:22. Thus the Revised Version (British and American) has removed the verb "allow" in each case in which it occurs in the King James Version, it being somewhat ambiguous in meaning (its original sense, as derived from Latin allocare, "to place," "assign," "grant," being influenced by another word, Latin allaudare, "to praise"). The noun "allowance" occurs in the sense of quantity of food allowed, in 2 Kings 25:30 (King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American)) and the parallel passage Jeremiah 52:34 (RV; "diet" in the King James Version).

D. Miall Edwards

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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