mis'-chif: The word, in the sense of "hurt" or "evil" befalling, plotted against, or done to, anyone, represents a variety of Hebrew terms (e.g. 'acon, the King James Version Genesis 42:4; 44:29; Exodus 21:22; ra`, 1 Samuel 23:9; 2 Samuel 16:8; 1 Kings 11:25, etc.; `amal, Psalms 7:14,16; 10:7,14; Proverbs 24:2, etc.). Sometimes the Revised Version (British and American) changes the word, as to "evil" (Exodus 32:12,22); in Acts 13:10, to "villany" (rhadiourgia).

In the Revised Version (British and American) Apocrypha the word is used for kaka, "evils," Additions to Esther 13:5 (compare Sirach 19:28); kakia, "evil," 1 Macc 7:23; and Latin malum, "evil," 2 Esdras 15:56. "Mischievous" is used, Additions to Esther 14:19, for ponereuomai, "to be evil." The use in the King James Version Apocrypha is considerably more extended (Sirach 11:33; 19:27; 27:27, etc.).

James Orr

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

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