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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia · 1915

Foundation

foun-da'-shun:

In Hebrew the words for "foundation" are mostly derivatives from yacadh, "to found," and in Greek two words are used:

one, katabole, of "foundation of the world" (Mark 13:35; 15:34; Luke 11:50; John 17:24, etc.); the other, themelios, of the foundation of a building (Luke 6:48,49; 14:29; Acts 16:26, etc.), in which sense it is also used metaphorically in various connections (Christ the foundation of the church, 1 Corinthians 3:11; or the apostles and prophets the foundation, with Christ as corner-stone, Ephesians 2:20; the foundation of repentance, Hebrews 6:1, etc.). In Psalms 11:3, "if the foundations be destroyed," the Hebrew word is shath. In Jeremiah 50:15, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "bulwarks" for "foundations"; conversely in Psalms 89:14; 97:2, for the King James Version "habitation," the Revised Version (British and American) reads "foundation," and in Isaiah 6:4 for the King James Version "posts," reads "foundations."

James Orr

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, James Orr, general editor (Chicago: Howard-Severance, 1915). Public domain. Text as published by biblestudytools.com. From the Encyclosphere, the open network of encyclopedias run by the Knowledge Standards Foundation. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: links to 1, 2, and 3 John that our source pointed at the Gospel of John corrected; our source’s section marks set as headings.