In AV, Nu 5">- 28- =» KV . and the verb Ro 6' ' For he that is dead is freed from sin ' {SeStKatwrai, RV ' is justihed '), i.e. is acquitted from the guilt of sin.
5. Voluntary, gratuitous. Ex SI"* 'then shall she go out free ^vithout money' (ojn, RV 'for nothing'). So the phrase 'free gift,' 1 Es 2" (er^xait, i.e. votive offerings, RV 'gifts that were vowed') ; Jth 4" (e/coi/o-ia 56p.aTa), 1 Mac W (56/no, RV 'a gift') ; Ro s"-"'" (x<i;'»rA«i [not in v."*, but understood tliere also], a word which is almost peculiar to St. Paul, occurring elsewhere only in 1 P 4'", and ' is used of those special endowments which come to every Christian as the result of God's free favour {x^pit) to men, and of tlie consequent gift of faith' — Sanday - Headlam, Jiomans, p. 358 ff. It is tr'' ' free gift ' only in Ro gi5. i6_ t,Q which RV adds 6*^ ; elsewhere simply ' gift '). So again we find ' free ottering ' for the usual 'freewill ofl'ering' in Ex 36^, Am 4», Jth 16".
6. Generous or even noble, the earliest meaning of the word according to Earle (as above), who quotes Shaks. Troil. and Cress. IV. v. 139 —
• I thank thee, Hector : I Thou art too gentle an') too free a man.'
FREE, FREEDOM, FREELY
FRET
67
This is Cliauoer's meaning also in Nonne Preestes Tale, 94—
• For certes, what so any woniman seitb. We alle desyren, if it niighte be, To han housboudea hardy, wyse, and free.'
This sense occurs twice in AV, 2 Ch 29" ' And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offer- ings ; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings' (RV 'willing'), and I's 51'- ' uphold me ■with thy free spirit' (RV 'with a free spirit,' Amer. RV and RVm ' willing ' ; both i-ii, which as a subst. means 'prince,' 'noble,' in Pr 25' and elsewhere).
On Pa 61>2 Earle (Tht Psalter of 1539, p. 290) says, 'So 1635 [Coverdale's Bible] after the Vulg. et sylritu principati coiifirma me ' — which, again, is after Sept. wtCput^i r,yifx^\iK^ rryipirov f^i. Here there can be no doubt that ' free ' was used, not in any of its lower senses, as when it is the equivalent of liber as opposed to seri-us ; or even in the sense of liberal, bounteous in ^fts ; but (inclusive perhaps of this latter) with special ej'e to that higher sense of lordly, noble, generous, princely, royal ; which is conspicuous in the best medi»val usage of the word, and which qualilied it to represent principalis and r,ytfMvtxir. Keble brought this out well —
• With that free Spirit blest. Who to the contrite can dispense The princely heart of innocence.'
Keble, it should be added, has also suggested the correct translation. W^hat the psalmist prays for is not, as AV, th.at he may be upheld by God's free Spirit, but, aa RV, that under the influence of the Spirit of God his own spirit may become willing or spontaneous in the right.
Freedom in Ac 22^ ' With a great sum obtained I this freedom,' is Roman citizenship (iroXiTefa, RV 'citizenship'). See Citizenship. RV has changed ' liberty ' of AV into ' freedom ' for Gr. iXevdepla in Gal 5'- •'"«, 1 P 2", though retaining ' liberty ' for the same Gr. word in Ro 8-', I Co 10=», 2 Co 3", Gal 2", Ja l-» 2'^ 2 P 2'^. In every case but the last it is the freedom of those who are not under law but under grace ; ' freedom ' is therefore the best word, and might have been used throughout. See Libertv.
Freely is found in the sense of (1) tinrestrainedbj, as in Lv 14°^ Wye. 'And whanne he had left the sparewe to fle in to the feeld frely ' ; and in AV Gn 2" ' Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat' (SrNB Sis, lit. 'eating thou shalt eat,' as AVm ; so 1 S U^) ; Ad. Est 16"* ' that the Jews may freely live after their own laws ' (xpnaSat, RV ' live ') ; Ac 2® ' let me freely speak unto you ' (i^bv tlirdv ficra. irapprialai, RV ' I may say unto yon freely'); 26^ 'I speak freely' (irappriaiaid/j.ei'oi XaXw) ; to which RV adds Jn 2'" 'when men hare drunk freely ' (Stok luBivBuxrip), lit. 'when they are drunken,' as Lk 12", and as Vulg. here 'cum ineb- riati fuerint.' Wyclif has 'whanne men ben fullillid' (1382 'filled'); Tind. 'when men be dronke,' so Matthew's and the Great Bibles ; Cov. 'whan they are dronken ' ; but the Geneva pre- ferred 'when men have wel droncke,' and it was followed by Bish., Rhem., and AV. RV is a com- promise between the two older translations.
(2) For nothing, gratnituusly : the most common meaning. It occurs in Nu 11° ' We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely' (o;n 'gratis,' or as RV 'for nought'). 'Freely Was Wydif's tr° [1388, but 1382 ' gladly'], and he no doubt used the word in the .sense of ' for nothing' after LXX luptdy and especially Vulg. gratis, which gave the Douay ' gratis ' ; ' freely ' is the Bishops' word also ; but all others ' for nought ' (Tind., Rog.), or 'for naught' (Cov., Gen.). Also in 1 Mac 10»' 'I freely set at liberty every one of the .lews ' (d0(r)/ii f\(v$ipaii Suipfiv, RV ' I set at liberty witiiout price'); cf. Lk 4'* Tind. 'frely to set at liberty them that are bruised' (an attempt to express the pregnant plirase dirotrretXa* rfSpavrfi^yovs iv itpfira, lit. ' to send away the shattered [so as to be] in release '). And in I^T dupedu ' as a gift,' from Sapei, a gift, is so rendered in Mt 10"''*, Ro 3",