OBELISK.—Hos 3‘RVm. See PILLAR.
OBETH (B Οὐβήν, A 0870), 1 Es 8"=Ebed, Ezr 8°.
OBIL (3κ; B ᾿Αβίας, A Οὐβίας; Luc. ὨΒΩΔ.--- Che overseer of David’s camels, 1 Ch 27”. The
5 aame is probably Arabic (cf. J! ‘able to manage
camels’; see Oxy. Heb. Lex. a.v.).
OBLATION.—See OFFERING and SACRIFICE.
OBJECT.—This verb occurs twice in AV: Wis 2" «He upbraideth us with our offending the law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our education’ (ἐπιφημίζει ἡμῖν ἁμαρτήματα παιδείας ἡμῶν, Vulg. ‘diffamat in nos peccata aie hs nostre,’ Gen. ‘blameth us as transgressors of dis- cipline’; RV ‘layeth to our charge sins against our discipline’); and Ac 24% ‘Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if the: had ought against me,’ where the verb so translated is κατη- γορέω (κατά and ἀγορεύω, to speak against one in open court), which is rendered ‘accuse’ in Ac 24%,
e verb was also used transitively in the same sense of public accusation, as Mk 14” Rhem., *Answerest thou nothing to these things that are objected to thee of these?’ and Adams on 2 P 14, ‘The masters of the pythoness objected this against Paul and Silas.’ J. HASTINGS.
OBOTH (nsk; '2840, B has Σωβώθ in Nu 3395 4), —A station in the journeyings of the children of Israel, mentioned both in the itinerary of Nu 33 and in Nu 21°" as preceding Iye-abarim, and therefore in the neighbourhood of Moab. Nothing definite is known as to its position.
A. T. CHAPMAN.
OBSCURITY.—After the Lat. obscuritas and the Fr. obscurité, ‘obscurity’ is used literally in AV for darkness, gloom. There is no difference recog- nized between the two words ‘darkness’ and ‘obscurity.’ Obscurity is the tr. of b»x 'dphel, in Is 298, and of an hoshek, in Is 58” 599. When both words occur, RV translates ’éphel by ‘obscurity’ and hoshek by ‘darkness.’ The use of ‘gloom’ (instead of AV ‘dimness’) for mi'aph or ma'‘tph (Is 83 9} Frokeney prevented the employment of that word. Obscurity also occurs in Ad. Est 118 (Gr. γνόφος, RV ‘gloomineas’). This literal use of the word is rare in English. The adj. oceurs only in P1 20” ‘his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness,’ Heb. vn pwxa (Kéré for pe'x2, which means ‘in the pupil [of the eye] of darkness’: cf. 7° ‘in the Blase and dark night,’ lit. ‘in the pupil of the night and of darkness,’ the pupil being the darkest part of the eye), RV ‘in the blackest darkness.’ See APPLE OF THE EYE. J. HAsTINGs.
OBSERVE, OBSERVATION.— The verb to observe is used throughout the AV in the sense of ‘give heed to.’ Thus Pr 2375 ‘My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways’ (RV ‘delight in,’ the translation of the ΝΣ Ne Gn 37" ‘his father observed the eaves (RV ‘kept the saying in mind’); Hos 148 ‘I have heard him, and observed him’ (3yws) ΠΝ Ἢ; RV ‘I have answered and will regard him’; ef. Shaks. Hamlet, Il. i. 162, ‘the observed of all observers’); Jon 28 ‘They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy’ (RV ‘regard,’ as in Ps 815 AV and RY); Sir 4” ‘Observe the opportunity and beware of evil’ (συντήρησον καιρόν); Mk 6” ‘For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him’ (συνετήρει, AVm ‘kept him,’ or ‘saved him’; RV ‘kept him safe’), the last passage ‘observed him’ means ‘gave him reverence,’ which is the tr. of Tind. followed b Cran., Gen., and the Bishops; ef. Shaks. 71 Henry IV. tv. iv. 30, ‘He is gracious, if he be observed.’ But the Greek verb means either to
keep (laws, ete.) or else to preserve, and the latter is plainly the meaning here. See Swete in loc. Wyclif and the Rhem. Version have ‘kept him after Vulg. custodiebat eum.
‘Observation’ in Lk 17”, ‘the kingdom of God cometh not with observation,’ means at‘ertive
OBSTINACY
watching (Gr. παρατήρησις), as in Walton, Compleat Angler, 99, ‘I told you Angling is an art, either by practice or a long observation or both.’ The word also occurs in Neh 134 AVm (text ‘ office,’ RV ‘observance’), where it means ‘ceremony,’ ‘rite,’ or to use the modern word in RY ‘obsery- ance.’ In this sense ‘observation’ was once com- mon. Thus, Rhem. NT on Ac 1733, ‘Paul calleth not them superstitious for adoring the true and only God with much devotion . . . or any other Christian observation.’
Observer of Times—See DIVINATION, SOOTH- SAYING. J. HASTINGS.
OBSTINACY.—See HARDENING.
OCCUPY.—The verb to occupy has become much restricted in meaning since 1611. Following the Lat. occupare (ob-capere?) it expresses in AV usually the idea of being ‘taken up with’ any- thing. (1) A good example, and not far removed from mod. use, is He 13° ‘meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein’ (TR ol περιπατήσαντες, edd. οἱ περιπατοῦντες, ‘they that occupied themselves,’ RVm ‘ walked’). Cf. Erasmus, Commune Crede, fol. 14, ‘ The science of physike ... treateth and is occupied about thynges which do helpe or hurte the helthe of the body’; Rhem. NT on Mk 3, ‘ He so oceupieth him selfe for soules, that his kinne thinke him madde.’ (2) Still nearer the mod. use is 1 Co 1416 ‘how shall he that oceupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks?’ (ὁ ἀναπληρῶν τὸν τόπον τοῦ ἰδιώτου, RV ‘filleth the lace’). Cf. again Erasmus, Com. Crede, fol. 17, ‘The mystycall ΣΟΙ therefore of Christe, occupieth the iii. parte