In the A])OcaIypse 4iuvq is found very frequently. The formula 'I heard a voice 'or 'a creat voice ' or ' the voice that I heard ' (l'" 4' 5" 6«- ' 9'3 lO''- ^ 1210 142.13 Kji 184 191 2P) applies to the voice of God, or of the Lamb, or of the angel of Christ, or of one of the angels of the Presence or of the whole concourse of angels. The voice nearly always implies a personality, even when it is compared to ' a trumpet sjieaking' (4') ; but it is applied to the utterance of the beasts (6'') as well as their riders (6"). It is to be noted that in the Apocalypse the voices of the unseen world frequently, though not invariably, convey a distinctive and intelligible message or aspiration or doxology.
In the NT tpuvri deov, ' the voice of God,' which is equivalent to the command of God, is an expres- sion found in He 3'' '° 4", all passages being quota- tions from the LXX (Ps 94[9oP) ; cf. Barn. viii. 7. The phrase ' the voice of the Lord ' used in Ps 29 metaphorically of thunder is quoted in Ac 7^' by Stephen of God's self-revelation to Moses.
For Bath I,vol see art. 'Voice 'in DCG, art. 'Bat ^vol' in JE, art. 'Bath Kol' in PRE^ ii. 443 f., and G. Dalman, The Words of Jesus, Eng. tr., Edinburgh, 1902, p. 204 f.
'The voice of God' — the command or call of God — to the soul is not in either OT or NT an audible message, but rather an inward impression wrought within the consciousness of the recipient by the operation of the Divine Spirit. The objec- tivity or otherwise of the accompanying phenomena, whether of vision or of sound, is to be determined by the evidence of the conte.xt. Take the classical example of the narratives of St. Paul's conversion in Ac 9'"-° 2'2^''^ 26*'''. Here we have an intense realization of the ju'esence of the Risen Christ, of the actual words He addressed to the Apostle, and of a succeeding colloquy. To the Apostle's con- sciousness the call of Christ took the form of an audible appeal and conversation, just as later on Augivstine was to hear the ' Tolle, lege,' or authori- tative command of God whicli resulted in his spiritual illiiiiiination. The phenomena of sound and speecli were valid for the awakened soul in both cases, though the exact message was heard by each alone ; cf. the statement that St. Paul's companions ' stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no man ' (Ac 9'), i.e. they heard a sound, but no articulate utterance. It is easy to under- stand how the language of the senses — especially seeing and hearing — came to be metaphorically employed in all religious literatures to express the spiritual apprehension of the Divine and the InKuite. ' Sometimes the symbol and the percep- tion which it represents become fused in that [the
surface] consciou.sness : and the my.stic's experience then presents itself to him as " visions "or " voices," which we must look upon as the garment he has himself provided to veil that Reality upon which no man may look and live' (E. Underbill, Mys- ticism-, p. 93).
Literature.— The student must consult dictionaries like DCG, Grimni-Thayer, and E. Prenschen's VolhtundkjeH gricch.- dent. Uandworterbuch zu den Schri/ten des NT, Giessen, 1908- 10, for the passages where 'voice 'occurs; l)ut for the larger question of the rei.ation of sensual perception to supersensual realities see E. Underhill, Mysticisin'^, London, 1911, passages quoted under ' Auditions' in the Index, p. 587.
R. Martin Pope.
VOTE. — In his defence before Agrippa, St. Paul said ' when they were put to death, I gave my voice (tprjipos, RV 'vote') against them' {Ac 26'"). In Greek judicial procedure, pebbles (i/'j;0oi) were used — black for condemnation, and white for ac- quittal (A. O. Seyll'ert's 2>tc<. of Class. Antiquities, ed. H. Nettleship and J. E. Sandys', London, 1899, p. .333"). Amongst the Romans, voting papers {tahellce) were used (W. Ramsay, Manual of lioniaii Anliqnities, London, 1866, p. 108). In the Jewish Sanhedrin, decisions were given by word of mouth (HDB, art. 'Sanhedrin'). It is very doubtful whether Saul was a member of the Sanhedrin. Most probably, when be spoke of his vote, he was expressing his approval of the sentence of condemnation pronounced against the Christians. The word is also found in Rev 2" "», ' To him that overcometh (vikwvti.) . . . will I give a white stone,' etc. In Greek judicial procedure, the man who was acquitted was spoken of as 'having overcome' (i'iKT)aas)(C. G. Wilke and C. L. W. Grimm, Clavis Nov. Test.; Leipzig, 1888, s.v. i/'i70os). (For other interpretations see Smith's DB, artt. 'Stones' and ' Ho.spitality ' ; ExpT \. [1889-90] 1.) In both instances the word is used metaphorically.
John Reid.
VOW. — The word ' vow ' occurs twice (as tr. of the Greek word evxn) in the AV of the NT (Ac IS'^ 21^). In both passages it has been retained by the RV. In Ac IS's we are told that St. Paul, when on his homeward route at the close of his second missionary journey, had the hair of his head cut at Cenclireie before sailing from the port, ' for he had a vow. '