Evil (Hastings' Dictionary)

This word is likely to become obsolete except in the theological sense of the doctrine of evil (for which see SlN).t In AV it is freely used as subst., adj., and adverb. 1. As subst., often in immed. antithesis to ' good,' as Gn 2" ' the tree of knowledge (RV ' the knowledge ') of good and evU' (y-ii 31E) ; 2 Es 2" ' I have broken the evil in pieces, and created the good ' (malum et . . bonum) : sometimes in the plu., as Pr 14" 'The evil bow before the good' (0-3^0 •jr'p d'I'T inp). 2. As adj.

' evil ' is applied, not only to things, but even to persons, a usage now quite obsolete ; thus Jer 12" ' all mine evil neighbours.' Cf. Knox, Hist. •'Every is 'ever each'; the above example Bhows It in process of formation ; and the two words are often practically interchangeable, as Milton, Coinus, 311 — I know each lane and every alley green.' t The loss of • evil ' seems to be the result of a discrimination in words with connate meaning.

The AV used ' evil,' ' bad,' • nanj;hty,' quite indiscriminately. Thus in Jer 242- 3 * the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad . . the good figs, very good ; and the e\il, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are 80 evil.' This goes farther in the way of variety than the earlier versions by introducing ' bad.' Tile Heb. is the same throughout, and RV gives 'bad' throughout. In .

Mt 21-*I the A V has followed the Bishops', 'he will miserably destroy those wicked men,' and has thus lost the force of the Greek (jweawU xajuk «««AiVi( at\.to'.(). Tindale is no better, ' He will cniellye dcstroye those evyll persons.' But Wyclif, ' He Bchal lese ( = destroy) yuel the j'uele men'; Rheinis. 'The naughtie men he will bring to naught' ; and RV 'He will miserably destroy those miserable men,' all give the repetition Its advantage. 283, ' He had a very evil woman to his wife."

F<M ' evil spirit ' (Lk 7"' S-, Ac IQ'^- '2- '»■ i«) see Demon In Mt 0" 6" RV^ prefers ' the evil one ' to AV ' the evil,' and in 1 J n 5" for AV ' wickedness ' : see Demon, and consult Lightfoot, On a Fresh Re- insion-, pp. 269-323 ; Chase, Lord's Prayer in Early Church ('Texts and Studies,' I. iii.), pp. 71-167. The 'evil eye' is a Heb. expression for Envy (which see). 3. As adv.

chiefly in the phrase 'evil entreat' (Ex S**, Dt 26«, Job 2i^\ To 10", Sir 7™ 33", Ac 7') : the other phrases are ' went evil with ' (1 Ch 7^) ; ' evU affected ' (Ad. Est 13', Ac 14=) ; ' evil spoken of ' (Sir 38", Ro 14», 1 Co Itf"); ' fare evir (Sir 3-''). Cf. Grindal, Letter to Q. EHz. (Parker Soc. ed. p.

381) ' Much like to the Popish Bishops in your father's time, who would have had the English translation of the Bible called in, as evil translated ; and the new trans- lating thereof to have been committed to them- selves ; which they never intended to perform.' EyilfaYouredness.— See Favodr. J. Hastings. EYIL-MERODACH (^ito S-ik) was the son and successor of the great Nebuchadrezzar on the throne of Babylon. According to 2 K 25""™, he promoted the captive king of Jerus.

, Jehoiachin, in the 37th year of his captivity, set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in prison, changed his prison garments, and made him a guest at the royal table to the end of his life. 'The Sept. reads Ei'iaXMapwS^K, and Berosus 'Aiu\iiapov5oKO!. The cuneiform equivalent of his name is Amcl{Avcl)-Maruduk (cf. Haupt in Zeitsch. f. Assyr. ii. 266 and 284 f.), ' man (servant) of Mero- dach.'

According to Berosus, he administered the kingdom durin" his two years' reign (562-560) with indiscretion and wanton unrestraint. Tiele (Bab.- Assyr. Ges. pp. 457, 464) concludes, on the basis of this character of E.-M., that the benevolent act towards Jehoiachin should be attributed to his successor on the throne of Babylon. We possess as yet none of his annals, though several contract tablets date from his reign.

In the year 560 his brother, in, law, Neriglissar {Nergcii, Sar, usur, ' Nergal preserve the king '), in a conspiracy, slew him and seized the throne. LrrERATtjRE. — Meyer, Geech. d. AUerthu-ms, vol. I. p. 597 ; Delitzsch, Ueb. Lang. p. 12 ; Boscawen, Tram. Soc. Bib. Arch. vol. vi. p. 1 flf. ; and authorities above cited. iRA M. Price.