• Stay, let us both intend To drive this cruel enemy from our dear aged friend.'
This verb is now rarely used with a direct object. In AV we tind Ps 21" ' For they in- tended evil against thee ' ('oj ' they stretched ' ; Perowne, either ' they have spread against thea evil,' like a net, Lat. tendere in.iidias ; or ' they have bent against thee,' etc., like a bow, Lat. tendere arcum ; Del. ' cause evil to impend over thee,' so Cheyne ; Wellh.-Furness, 'When they revolve evil against thee ' ; King, ' Though they plotted evU against thee ') ; Ad. Est IS'' (Karev- 0vv(ji) ; 2 Mac 14° ' being . . . asked how the Jewi stood affected and what they intended' (in rlr SiaBiaei Kal /SouXj KaOtarriKaD, RV 'what they pur
INTERCESSION
INTEKPKETATION
477
fMjsed ') ; and 14' ' even for that I intend the good of mine own coiintrvuien ' (kclI rHy ioiui' iroXiriy VToxaci/xepot, KV ' I fiave regard also to mine own fellow-citizens '). So Knox, JILst. 25, ' And thus did those cniell beasts intend nothing but murther in .ill the quarters of tliis Kealnie.'
Intent is always purpose, intention, as in Tin- dale, Ej-jiositions,v. 96 (on Mt 6'*"'"), ' But and if tlion thinlv that God delighteth in the work for the work itself, the true intent away, and in thy pain for thy pain itself, thou art as tar out of the way as from heaven to the earth ' ; and ii. 1 47 (on 1 .In P), ' To bring unto the fellowship of God and Christ, is the linal intent of all the scripture.' So Jer 44^ Cov. ' Purposely have ye set up youre owne good meanynges, and hastely have ye ful- filled youre owne intente'; and Knox, HUt. 149, 'They were minded to keep no point of the pro- mise longer than tliey had obtained their intent.' The phrase in AV is usually ' to the intent that,' but the plural occurs Jer 3(J-' 'until he have pertormed the intents of his heart' (ia'? nisio) ; lie 4'-' ' a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the lic.art ' (Kpirntds . . . ivvoiCiv icapSlat). Fuller says of the Crusaders (Holy Warre, I. xii. p. 18), ' We must in charitie allow that many of them were truly zealous, and went with pious intents' ; and on p. 243 (v. 9), ' Farre be it from us to con- demn all their works to be drosse, because debased and alloyed with superstitious intent.s.'
J. Hastings. INTERCESSION.— See Prayer.
INTERMEDDLE (from Old Fr. entre amon" and iirillcr to mix) meant formerly either literally to mix, as Malory, Morte Darthur, xvii. 15, ' liight so entered he into the chamber, and came toward the table of silver; and when he came ni^h he felt a breath that him thought it was inter- nii<ldled with fire' ; andHakluyt, Voyages, i. 572, ' lie hath intcrmedled iu his liistorie certaine things contrary to the trueth ' ; or else figura- tively to have to do with, take an interest in, which is the meai'ing in AV. It occurs twice, Pr 14'° ' The heart knoweth his own bitterness ; and a stranger doth not internicildle with his joy' (:'!<."i:, takes part in, sliares, not necessarily interferes in ; LXX infuyfirTat ; Vulg. * mis- cebitur ') ; and 18' ' Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom' (V^a.^: .n;yin-'?;3, RV ' rageth against all sound wisdom,' RVm 'quarrellcth with'; Del. ' Against all that is beneficial he showeth his teeth ' ; Oxf. Ileh. Lex. ' bursts out in strife against.' AV misunderstands the meaning, and takes the verb in a goo<l sense, ' have to do with,' • take an interest in,' after the tr. of the Gen. liible, ' For the desire thereof ho wil separate him self to seke it, and occui>ie him self in all wisdome,' with its margin, * lie that loveth wis- dowie, wil separate him self from all impediments, and give him self wholly to seke it ').
J. IIastino.s.
INTERMEDIATE STATE.— See Eschatolooy.
INTERPRETATION.— This subst. and iU verb are used in Scrijiture in a variety of senses.
1. Of dreams (i?? ' interpret, [iirs ' interpreta- tion'); the dreams of the diirf butler and the chief baker, Gn -Uf- »• "• »• '»- a41"- '»■ " ; Pharaoh's dream, 41''- "; Gideon's dream, .Ig 7" (where the word for ' interpretation ' is the iw. Xry. i;;^, lit. ' breaking up,' ».e. ' solution '). In Dn occur the Aramaic forms vp (verb) 'interpret' (Q'll in I)n 5", Pitel jttrp. ifts b"), and 1^9 (noun) ' interpreta- tion ' ; useU of the dream.s of Nebuchadnezzar (Dn V- 4'), of Panii'l himself (7") : of. the use of the same word for tlio interpretation to Kelshazzar
of the writing on the wall (5"-). and the similar use of -lys in Ec 8' (only).
Dreams being regarded as vehicles of divine communication and frequently as portending future events, it became a matter of great import- ance to discover their interpretation. This function was discharged at tlie court of Egypt by the C";=-irj ' sacred scriljcs' (Gn 41' ; cf. the comiifaint of tlie butler and the baker, while in prison, ' We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it,' 40*). With the reply of Jo.sepli (i6.), 'Do not interpretations belong to God?' compare the statement of Ilerodotus (ii. 83) regarding ths Egyptian opinion, 'Ay9piiirui> ixiv 0')Sevl xpc/js^fTai jj '■^X'"!i '■'i" ^^ flf i» tiereiere poiai. The ' wise men ' and ' Chaldamns' (the latter by a late conception) have similar functions attributed to them, in the Book of Daniel, at the court of Babylon.