Children (viol). Rev., correctly, sons.
Cattle (Spéupara). Only here in the New Testament. From (tpépw) to nourish. A general term for whatever is Jed or nursed. When used of animals—mostly of tame ones—cattle, sheep, etc. It is applied to children, fowls, insects, and fish, also to domestic slaves, which, according to some, is the meaning here ; but, as Meyer justly remarks, “there was no need specially to name the servants; the mention of the herds completes the picture of their nomadic progenitor.”
13. Whosoever drinketh (mas 6 mivwv). Lit., every one that drinketh. So Rev.
14. Whosoever drinketh (6s 8 dv win). So Rev. The A.V. renders the two expressions in the same way, but there is a dif- ference in the pronouns, indicated, though very vaguely, by every one that and whosoever, besides a more striking differ- ence in the verb drinketh. In the former case, the article with the participle indicates something habitual ; every one that drinks repeatedly, as men ordinarily do on the recurrence of their thirst. In ver. 14 the definite aorist tense expresses a single act—something done once for all. Lit., he who may have drunk.
Shall never thirst (0d yi) Supyjoer eis rov aidva). The double negative, ov 7, is a very strong mode of statement, equiva- lent to by no means, or in nowise. It must not be understood, however, that the reception of the divine life by a believer does away with all further desire. On the contrary, it gener- ates new desires. ‘The drinking of the living water is put as a single act, in order to indicate the divine principle of life as containing in itself alone the satisfaction of all holy desires as they successively arise; in contrast with human sources, which are soon exhausted, and drive one to other fountains. Holy desire, no matter how large or how varied it may become, will always seek and find its satisfaction in Christ, and in Christ only. Thirst is to be taken in the same sense in both clauses, as refer-