Fault (Hastings' Dictionary)

A fault is properly a defect or short- coming (fallitus, late Lat. ptcp. of /allere, to fail, come short, Old Fr. /aute *) either of material things, as Ld. Bemers, Froissart, I. clix. 193, ' They had gret faut in their boost of vita3'le ' ; or from a recognized standard of physical beauty, workmanship, or moral rectitude.

The defect expressed by ' fault ' is in A V almost always moral, but the larger meaning, shortcoming in any sense, is * FauU la the more accurate spelling, the I being inserted from the influence of M.Jalta and IjBil. f allere , although the u stands, o( course, for the /. In the Psalter of 1539 the spelling is always /auf«, though modem editions ot the Pr. Bk. spell /au/(. In AV of 1611 it is fault always.

seen in Rev 14' 'they are without fault before the throne of God' (d^u/iot, RV ' without blemish ') ; cf. Jude*^ 'faultless' (d/iii/xous, RV 'without blemish'). In 1 Co 6' the least de^ee of moral blame is ex- pressed (Gr. ffmiiMi., RV 'defect,' RVm 'loss'). Oraik {Eng. of Shaks. p. 124) says, ' The word fault formerly though often signifying no more than it now does, carheo sometimes a much greater weight of meaning than we non attach to it' And be gives as an example JuL Ccea.

L UL fr— • Who ever knew the heavens menace so T Those that have known the earth so full of faults.* To whlcb may be added Tit. Andron. T. ii. 173 — ' You killed her husband, and for that vile fault Two of ber brothers were condemned to death.' See also Rom. and Jul. m. UL 2&— ' O deadly sin I O rude untbankfulnea I Thy fault our law calls death.' And Milton, PL xii. 337— ' Whose foul idolatries, and other faults Heapt to the popular sum, will so inceDM God, as to leave them.'

This greater freedom in the use of 'fault' enabled AV to retain Coverdale's trn of Gn 41^ ' This daye do I remembre my fawte,' though Wye. had ' 1 knowleche my synne,' and the Ileb. (N::n) is some thirty times translated ' sin.' Other words usually tT^ ' sin ' are occasionally rendered fault,' as HKpQ (vb.) Ex 6" ; py 2 S 38, Ps 69«. Again, In Dt 26« nfin, which is everywhere else tr 'wickedness,' is tr<* ' fault,' although all previous VSS had either ' sin ' (Wye.

Douay) or trespass ' (Gov, Gen. Biah.): RV gives ' mckedness.' And rtx.f>u.wTtifjM tr" ' trespass' Mt 6i- ", Mk HM-28, 2 Co 6i», Eph 2', Col 2'3 ; ' offence ' Ro 425 515. le. n. 18 20 ; • fall ■ Ro 11". n ; and • sin ' Eph 1' 25, Col 2>3, is tr'' ' fault ' 2 Co 619, Ja 516 : Rv gives ' trespus ' always, except Ro lin ' fall,' marg. ' trespass.' ' Make no fault,' a very rare expression, is found Sir 9" (/»t) rXri/ifieX-^ff-Qs, RV ' commit no fault'). In the trial before Pilate, St.

John thrice uses alrla (18' 19 «), and St. Luke thrice ainoy (23- '♦■'). Except in Lk 23^ ('cause') AV renders in each case by ' fault ' ; but the meaning of both words is 'ground for committal,' 'legal cause for prosecu- tion.' RV gives ' crime ' in Jn, leaving Lk as in AV. Faulty is now nearly confined to the expression of physical defects. In 2 S 14" (d?!< adj.), Hos lu' (qs'x vb. = be held guilty) it is used as the expression of moral wTong, RV 'guilty.' J. Hastings.