FORBID. — To forbid is to order one not to do a thing, and the proper construction is a pensonal object and an inlin., as 1 Th 2'* ' Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved.' But custom allows the omission of the person, as Lk 23^ ' We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Ca-sar ' ; or of the infin., as Nu 1 1-'* ' My lord Moses, forbid them,' Mt S'-" ' But John forbad him.' But when ' forbid ' is found with an iiiipers. object and that alone, the construction is quite irregular. There are two instances, 2 P 2'" 'a dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the propliet' (RV ' stayed '),* and Ac 10" ' Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized?' In both cases the Greek verb (KuXvtiv) is that usually translated ' forbid,' and in Greek writers it has the meanings of ' restrain ' (as 2 P 2") and ' refuse ' (as Ac 10^'), but the Eng. verb ' forbid ' ha.s not pro- perly these meanings, and should not have been used. In both places ' forbid ' is as old as Wyclif, who, following tlie Vulg. pruhibcre, used the word very freely; compare its use in Ac 11" ' WhowasY. that niyglite forbeede the Lord, that he gvue not the Hooli Goost to hem that bileueden in the name of .Ihesu Crist?'
From Wyclif also comes God forbid, the strong and striking translation of i^-'pn hdlildh and of /ii)
lldlUuh is a subst. formed from the verb hAlal to pollute oi (ee'reinoiii:iII,v) profiine, the futllx bcin;; locative. It il UMd
• Cf. raraphnise 021" (I77.'i>_
* The cuiitrite rac« he counts bu tnenas. Forbids the suppliftiit't fall.'
48
FORCE
FOREFRONT
only aa an exclamaiion, Ad pro/anum I Away with It I Far bo it I Twice it stands alone in the sentence, 1 8 14*» 20' (nji'^rr n'D^ ttS, EV * Qod forbid ; thou shalt not die '). Sometimea a pronoun accompanies it, I S 230 (^'^ *'^i'''?Ci ^^ * ^ '^ ^*' from me ■), so On ISi't, 1 8 20* 221». But most frequently it is con- nected with the sentence by a conjunction, p with infin. On 18» 447- ", Jos 2419, 1 8 12iO, 2 8 2317, 1 Ch 1}1», and (attached to the ' profane ' thing) Job 8410 (y^no Sk^ 'i/'?9, EV ' Fai be it from God that he should do wickedness ') ; or CX 1 8 14« 24', 2 8 20M, Job 276. The exclamation tended to assume the fonn of an oath, and in four places the name of J" is added, 1 S 24' 2«11, 2 3 231', i Oh 111". The shorter form nj^'jij is used Gn I8»M», Job S4io.
The LXX translates the word variously : by fi.v yi»ttrt On 44'- 1", Jos ai'-i" 24", 1 K 213 ; by ^rS«"-i( (with or williout ^0,, ,«) Gn ISii W>, 1 8 230 1223 202- » 22" 240 2G11 ; bv Taik /j^i [i Oiii] 2 S 2020 M» 2317, 1 Oh 1118 ; by C? Kif,ts 1 S 1445 ; and by i*ti fMt »;») Job 275.
The Vulg. is more uniform, rendering by Absit (hoc) a me ((«, etc-) in all places except Gn IS^^b ne4iua(]uani, 44^ where absit of Old Lat. may have aropped out, 1 S 14^ Uoc nefas est, and PnpUhu sit mihi Domimw in 1 S 24* 20", 2 S 23", 1 K 213.
Wyclif followed the Vulgate, the later version having * Fer be it fro me, tliee,' etc., wherever Vulg. has Absit (hoc) a im, te, etc., and ' The Lord be merciful to me ' in 1 S 248 2611, 2 S 231?, 1 K 213 ; while Gn 44' Is ' \Vhi apeketh oure Lord so,' and 1 8 1443 • This is unleueful.* The earlier version is less uniform, thus Jos 2229 • God shilde fro us this hidows gilt," 1 Ch 1119 • Ood sheelde,' 1 S 14-13 ■ that is felony.' So, wherever ft^ yivoiro occurs in NT the earlier Wye. vers, has * Fer be it,' but the later has always *God forbede.' And this phrase was accepted by Tindale, and after him by nearly all the Versions both in OT for hdlUdh and in NT for uh y=*oire.
aV and R V translate hdlUdh by ' God forbid ' (' The Lord forbid '1 8 240 2611,1 K 213, and ' Mv God forbid it me' 1 Ch 1119) everywhere except On 1825 Ms, i s 230 2O0 2215, 2 S 2020 bis 231', where the WycUflte phrase * Far be it from' or 'Be it far from' has been retamed. Tiiia phrase Amer. RV prefers throughout OT.
As we have seen, ^li yiteir» is only one of the r3nderings of fydliidh in LXX. Of the others fj^ixij^t occurs twice in NT, Ac 1014 lis (EV ' Not so. Lord '), and i'Xiit ro, once, Mt lO*" (EV ' Be it far from thoCj Lord '). But ,«r yivcno is found fifteen times, all but Lk 20io bemg in St. Paul's Ejiistlea, and in twelve of St. Paul's fourteen instances it is used to express the apostle's abhorrence of an inference which he fears may be falsely drawn from his argument. See Burton, NT Muods arid Teiue8\ p. 79. EV translates everJ^vhe^e by ' God forbid,' a phrase which is undoubtedly more forcible than the original, and for wiiich Lightfoot suggests ' Nay, verily,* or ' Away with the thought.'