Illustrations of this meaning are :
Pr. Bk. (1549J End o/ Communion, • Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most p-acious favour'; Art. X. 'We have no power to do good workea pleasaunt and acceptable to God, without the irrace of God by Christ* preventyng us ' ; Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism, fol. x\Ti, * We prevenit nocht God with our lufe. lutTand him first, bot he prevenit us first mtli his lufe ' ; Udall. Erasmus Paraphrase, fol. xcvii, ' Whereas the gospell of my death shall bee preached throujrhout all the worlde, this woman also shall be mencioned, whiche, with a godly and an holy duety hath prevented my sepulture and buriall'; Hall, Works, 466, 'He whose goodnesse is wont to prevent our desires will not give denialls to our importunities' ; Ro 1210 Rhem. ' With honour preventing one another.'
3. To get before or forestall so as to hinder:
2 S 22* II Ps 18' ' The snares of death prevented me' (LXX Trpo^<pda(xa.v fie (tk\t}p6tt]T€s [Ps IS' wayLd^s] dafirov, Vulg. prcsvenerunt [Ps 18° prmoccupaver- «nt] me laquei mortis, Wye. 'There wenten before me the gnaris of detli,' Dou. 'The snares of death have prevented me,' RV 'The sn.ares of death came upon me'); "22" || Ps 18'* 'They prevented me in tlie day of my calamity' (LXX TrpoicpBaadi' /te ri^iptxi 6\i\pnjL>s fxov [Ps 18'* ^v V^P<1^ KaKutaeus fiou], Vulg. Prievcnit [Ps 18" prwvcnerunt] vie in die ajfliitionis mete, Cov. in Ps 18"* 'They prevented me in the tyme of my trouble,' ChejTie [' Parch- ment' ed.] 'They surprised me in the day of my calamity,' RV 'They came upon me in the day of my cafamity'); Job 3'' 'Why did the knees prevent me?' (LXX Tea ri 6^ avvrivTj^ativ ^ol ra yifara ; Vulg. Quare exccptits genibus? Gen. ' Why did the knees prevent me ? ' RV ' Why did the knees receive me?'); 30'' 'The days of affliction prevented me' (LXX irpo^ipSaadf lu ri^^pai inaxlas, \\\\i^. prtEvenerunt me dies ajflittionis, Cov. 'The dayes of my trouble are come upon me,' Dou. ' The dayes of afliiction have prevented me,' RV ' Days of affliction are come upon me') ; Am 9'° 'The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us' (LXX ou ;t7j iyyia-Q oi)5^ tii] yivrirax 44* ^Mas rdi KaKd, Vulg. non veniet super nos malum. Driver 'come in front about us') ; 1 Mac 6-'' ' If thou dost not prevent them quicklj', they will do greater things
•The LXX is different, rit a,Tirr^rt*«ti fA*t uai i>reu«»i7; St. Paul therefore is nearer to the Heb. than to the L.\X in lie 113^
than these ' (^di' /nij wpoKaTaXi^ri airovs, Vulg. Nisi prcevencrvs cos, Cov. ' If thou dost not prevent them,' RV ' If ye are not beforehand with them') ; 10'^ ' What have we done that Ale.xander hath prevented us in making amity witli the Jews to strengthen himself?' (irpoitpOaKev rjiids, \il\". pros- occupavit nos, Cov. 'hath prevented U'*,' RV 'hath been beforehand with us ) ; 2 Mac 14^' ' Knowing that he was notably prevented by Judas' policy ' (Srt y^vvalia^ virb roO ivopbs iiyrpaTyjyqTai, A^ulg. fortiter se a viro prwventtim, Cov ' When he knewe that Machabeus had manfully prevented him,' RV ' When he became aware that he had been bravely defeated by the stratagem of Judas').
Take the following as illustrations :
Fuller, ilul;/ Warre, 214, ' Was he old? let him make the more speed, lest envious death should prevent him of this occasion of honour'; Hohj State, 154, 'Expect not, but prevent their craving of thee'; Adams, Expoiiitiun upon Slid Peter, 65, 'Satan's employment is prevented, when he finds thee well employed before he comes ' ; Knox, Wurks, iii. 319, ' Pet*r was synckinge downe, and loked for no other thyng but present death, and yet the hande of Christe prevented hym' ; Milton, Sonnets~~
' Doth God exact day-labour, light denied t I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies. God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts.'
J. Hastings.
PREY. — Prey, from hat. prceda, booty (perhaps irou\ prce-hendu, to seize beforehand), through Old Fr. praie, preie, is now narrower in meaning than formerly. In AV it includes booty or spoil. Heb. words properly denoting a wUd beast's prey are (1) IIP tereph, from r^-e? to tear, to rend (the verb itself is tr. ' prey ' in Ps 17" ' Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey,' fpa^ "jio;:, AVm ' that desireth to ravin,' Cheyne ' longing to tear in pieces '). Tereph is tr. ' prey ' in Gn 49', Nu 23-'', Job 4" 24' (RV 'meat'), Ps 76* 104-' 124", Is 5» 31*, Ezk 19'- " 22^--', Am 3*, Nah 2'-" 3'. This is also the proper meaning of (2) ^nn hethcph (from [ion] to seize), and it is so tr. in its only occurrence, Pr 23^ 'She also lieth in wait as for a mey,' AVra 'as a robber,' which is the RV text, RVm 'as for a prey.' Also (3) li 'ad (from .17:; to attack?), means 'prey,' and is so tr. in Gn 49", Is 33-'', Zeph 3', its only occurrences (against the view of Hitzig and others that it is ny in this sense that appears in tT'Z% of Is 9° •'>, .see DUl- mann, ad loc). And (4) S:i( 'ohhel, which means 'food,' is legitimately tr. 'prey' in Job 9'* 39®. But all the remaining words mean biiutij or spoil taken in war or snatched as one's share. The cliief word is 13 baz (from in to plunder, take as siioil ; the verb itself is rendered ' take for a prey' in Dt 2» 3', Jos S^- " 11'*, Est 3'^ 8"; ' make a prey ' in Ezk 26'- ; and ' prey upon ' in Jer 30"). A late form of baz, .113, is tr. 'prey' in Neh 4* ('give them for a prey,' RV 'give them up to spoiling,' Anier. RV 'for a spoil'). Est 9"-" (RV 'spoil'), Dn 11^ (so RV). The common word SSf* sA(Z2u/{fiom V'jy' to plunder, the Hithpolel is tr'' ' make oneself a prey ' in Is 59"), which over sixty times is rendered 'spoil,' is tr'' 'prey' in Jg S'"'"' 8-"--» (RV 'spoil'). Is 10- (RV 'spoil'), Jer 2P 38» 39'* 45' (so RV). The only remaining word is nipy? mal/cuah, which sinii)ly means something captured (from np"? to take), which is given as ' prey ' in AV and RV'in Nu 3 1 "• '»• -•«• ", Is 49«- " : in Nu 31» AV gives ' booty,' RV ' prey.'