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Set
Few words in the English language have such a rich variety of meaning and are used in so rich a variety of idiomatic expression as the word "set." A glance at any of the great dictionaries will convince anyone of the truth of this statement. The Standard Dictionary devotes three and a half columns to the word. In its primary meaning it there denotes 22 distinct things, in its secondary meaning 17 more, while 18 distinct phrases are given in which it is used, in some cases again in a variety of meanings. It is indeed a word calculated to drive a foreigner to despair. Some 70 Hebrew and about 30 Greek words in the original tongues of the Holy Scriptures have been rendered by the word "set," in the King James Version and also in the Revised Version (British and American). A careful comparative study of the original and of translations in other tongues will at once indicate that a lack of discrimination is evident on the part of the English translators in the frequent use of the word "set."
(1) In its primary meaning the word "set" is used in our English Bible in many senses:
(a) Foundation:
(b) Direction:
(c) Appointed time:
(d) Fixed place:
(e) Cause to sit:
(f) Appointment:
(h) Appointed place:
(i) Cause to stand:
(j) Sitting:
(k) Location:
(2) In a secondary or tropical sense it is used with equal frequency, usually with various prepositions. Thus,
(a) To attack:
(b) To imprint:
(c) To direct to:
(d) To place:
(e) To incline toward:
(f) To trust in:
(g) To place before:
(h) To go down: of the setting of the sun (
(i) To be proud:
(j) To fill in:
(k) To plant:
(l) To mock:
(m) To honor:
(n) To start:
Henry E. Dosker