ok'-u-pi: Is in the King James Version the translation of 7 different words: (1) nathan; (2) cachar; (3) `arabh; (4) `asah, either with or without the added word, mela'khah; (5) anapleroun; (6) peripatein; (7) pragmateuein. In almost every case the meanings of "to occupy" as used in the King James Version in harmony with the common usage of the time have become obsolete. (1) In Ezekiel 27:16,19,22, nathan meant "to trade," and the Revised Version (British and American) reads "traded." (2) From cachar, "to go about," was derived a designation of "merchants" (Revised Version) (Ezekiel 27:21). (3) `Arabh (Ezekiel 27:9) signifies "to exchange" (the English Revised Version and the American Revised Version margin, but the American Standard Revised Version "deal in"). (4) `asah (Exodus 38:24) means simply "to use" (Revised Version), and the same word in Judges 16:11, with mela'khah ("work") added, signifies that work had been done (Revised Version). (5) In 1 Cor 14:16, "occupy," the King James Version rendering of anapleroun, would still be as intelligible to most as the Revised Version (British and American) "fill." (6) "Occupy" in Hebrews 13:9, in the sense of "being taken up with a thing," is the translation (both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)) of peripatein, literally, "to walk." Finally (7) pragmateuein (Luke 19:13) is rendered in the King James Version "occupy" in its obsolete sense of "trade" (Revised Version).

David Foster Estes

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

Are you a good person? Try the good person test.