' Blessed art thou, O God our Lord, King of the universe, God of our Fathers, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sanctifler, the
MOUTH
MULTITUDE
209
Holy One of Jacob, the KiTi<^ of Life, who art good and doest good : the God of truth, the righteous Judge who judgest in righteousness, who takestthe soul in judgment, and rulest alone in the universe, who doest in it according to His will, and all His wa\s are in Judgment, and we are His people and His servants, and in everything we are bound to praise Him and lo bless Hiui, who shields all the calamities of Israel and will shield us in ihis calamity, and from this mourning will bring us to life and peace. Comfort, O God our Lord, all the mournei-s of Jerusalem, and all the mourners that mourn in our sorrow. Comfort them in their mourning, and make them rejoice in their agony as a man is comforted by his mother. Blessed art Thou, V God, the Comforter of Zion, and that buildest again Jerusalem ' (Jewish prayer-books from n^T niv).
The practice of luring mourners was common witli sucli as could atibrd it, and, as in the story of J aims' daughter, these hired mourners used flutes to inciease the sounds of woe. The ajjostasy of a member of the fanulj" was the occasion of mourn- ing as for the dead, and a blasphemy spoken in the presence of the high priest was also a reason for a demonstration of mourning. See also Flute- Playeks, Re>{DIXg of Gaements.
Literature. — See under Rexdi.xg of Garments.
W. H. Raxkixe.
MOUTH (Mt 4^ 12« 15" 18>« 2P«, and Lk 1'^').— In conformity with Oriental usage, ' mouth,' con- sidered as the organ of speech, is used in the NT, as in the OT, in the sense of ' language,' ' utter- ance,' etc. — a notable instance of the primitive employment of the concrete for the abstract. In- deed, among the ancient Hebrews ' mouth ' 'vas even personified, c.j. in such expressions as ' The mouth of the Lord has spoken it,' etc. — a usage that helped not a little to i^repare the Jewish mind at last to apprehend the meaning of the Word made ^csh. ^lost passages of the Gospels Avhere ' mouth ' IS found are quotations from the OT (LXX), e.g. ' Everj- word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God' [OLo. (XTo/xaros 0€ov, Dt S'') ; 'in the mouth of two or three witnesses ' {eirl ffrofiaros, Dt 17*' 19^^) ; 'out of the mouth of babes and sucklings' (eV (TTou.., Ps 8- etc.) ; cf. Zacharias' words, Lk 1'" 'as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets ' ((5ia o-rj.aaros) ; and Jesus' words to His disciples, ' I will give you a mouth (o-ro/xa) and wisdom ' {2V^).
Geo. B. Eager.
MULTITUDE. — This word is used in EV to translate ox>^os and irX-^^os.
(1) i^Xo? is defined by Grinim-Thayer as ' a casual collection of people, a multitude of men who have flocked together in some place, a throng.' The plural ol ox^ct, which often occurs in Mt. and Lk., is found twice in Mk., viz. 63a [TR ; all the best MSS omit] and \(fl without the article; once only in Jn. ("i- where nD Vulg. give sing.), meaning probably the various groups or companies (cf. Lk 2-h) which had come up to the feast. In AV it is rendered ' multitude ' and frequentlv 'people,' also 'press' (Mk 2^ 527.30, Lk 819 193) and 'company' (Lk y29 &' OsS [but ' people ' in v.3"] 1213, jn 6-5). RV usually gives ' multitude,' but in some passages prefers 'crowd,' from A.S. crudan, 'to push,' 'throng,' apparently in cases where the iyJ.o; would cause in- convenient pressure, cf. Mk 2,^ (J;i rot oy/.ov i-.a tii 8>.ifiuinr ccirci). also Mt 923, Mk 2^ 527. 30, Lk S19 193 ; yet in Mk 531 where (r:,iW..,5mTa is used of o^Xov (tr. 'crowd' in the previous verse), and in Lk 51 where the »;t>.o? is described as pressing upon Him (l-rixiia-Oxi), RV rather inconsistentl.v uses ' multitude.' The fol- lowing phrases may be noted— (fl) oz>^' Ixxtit, which RVin Mk 10-16 translates 'great multitude' (AV a 'great number of people'), yet in Lk 712 renders, as AV, 'much people," probably because in the preceding verse ' great multitude ' is used for a different collection of persons ; (h) o toXW cx>'>; or o iyj.e; To>.i; forming almost a composite term ' the common people ' (Mk 1237, Jn 12« and 1212 RVm) ; (c) i -rXsro-ro? ix^«?, Mt 218 rv ' the most jiart of the multitude,' AV 'a very great multitude,' Vulg. iilniiina turba; in Mk 4i ox>.o; TXiirro; is read by nB, al. ; {d) r-Z> u.vsiahiuv raZ «x>.e", Lk 121 ' the many thousands of the multi- tude' (RV), 'an innumerable multitude of people' (AV), midtix turhh (Vulg.) ; this ix^.o; appears to be the largest mentioned in the Gosjiels, and the words 'in the mean time' (s> ol;) at the beginning of the verse suggest that it was drawii to'.rether by the conflict between Christ and His adversaries which is narrated n the previous chapter.
,'2) TV.rftK occurs 12 times in the Gospels, of which 8 ;re in Lk. (110 213 51; gn $37 I9t7 231-27), 2 in Mk. (37. »), and 2 in Jn. (53 21B) ; in only two cases is it used otherwise than of a collection of persons (Lk 06, Jn 21*> a ' multitude of fishes'). AV renders the word by ' multitude ' in all passages except Lk 2327 where it gives 'company.' There is more variety in RV, which VOL. II. — 14