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MALICE
1. (i) OT.—All in Pr.-Bk. [Note: Prayer Book.] version: Psa_94:23; Psa_Psa_119:150; Psa_10:17 (adj.) Psa_59:5 (adj.) and Psa_55:3 (adv.).
(ii.) Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] —All in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] : Wis_12:10; Wis_12:20; Wis_16:14 (and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), * Sir_27:30; Sir_28:7, * 1Ma_9:51; 1Ma_13:6, 2Ma_4:50.
(iii) NT.—In RV [Note: Revised Version.] : 1Co_5:8; 1Co_14:20, Eph_4:31, Col_3:8, Tit_3:6, Jam_1:21 mg., 1Pe_2:1 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ); ‘maliciousness’ Rom_1:29, 1Pe_2:16 (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘malice’); ‘malicious’ * 3Jn_1:10 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] .
2. Discussion is needless as to (i.), for the Heb. is clear. (See RV [Note: Revised Version.] .) All the other instances, however, except those marked * represent a Gr. word (kakia) which has a much wider meaning than ‘malice’ as now used. It may be ‘wickedness,’ as Act_8:22, Jam_1:21; or ‘evil’ = ‘trouble,’ Mat_6:34.
3. The point is important, because ‘malice’ has acquired its exclusive meaning ‘spitefulness’ only since the 17th century. It indicated evil of any sort (cf. Pr.-Bk. [Note: Prayer Book.] as cited above, and for some striking examples see art. in Hastings’ DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] ). This change accounts for RV [Note: Revised Version.] renderings of Apocr. [Note: Apocrypha, Apocryphal.] , and would perhaps have justified further emendation of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] .
4. The modern usage is a return to the classical malitia. Its relation to kakia was discussed by Cicero, who coined vitiositas as the nearest rendering; for whereas ‘malice’ indicated a particular fault, ‘vitiosity’ stood for all (Tusc. Disp. iv. 34).
H. F. B. Compston.