International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Beyond

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Beyond


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bē̇-yond´: Found in the Hebrew only in its application to space and time, and for these ideas three words are employed: הלאה, hāle'āh () = “to the distance”; עבר, ‛ābhar = “to go beyond” “to cross” derivative עבר, ‛ēbher (Chald. עבר, ‛ăbhar) = “across,” “beyond” (; ; ; ; ; , ; ); and על, ‛al () = “beyond the time.” In the New Testament πέραν, péran, is used to express “beyond” in the spatial sense (), while other words and phrases are employed for adverbial ideas of degree: ὑπερπερισσῶς, huperperissō̇s (); ὑπέρ, hupér (; ); καθυπερβολήν, kathuperbolḗn (). In the King James Version בּעבר, be‛ēbher, is occasionally translated “beyond,” and when this word is joined to היּרדּן, ha-yardēn, “Jordan,” as it usually is, it becomes critically important. In the American Standard Revised Version, be‛ēbher ha-yardēn is translated “beyond the Jordan,” in , ; , ; ; ; “on this side Jordan” in , ; , 25; “on the other side Jordan” in ; ; ; , (compare the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American), , ; see RIVER, THE), ; ; and “on the side of Jordan” in . the American Standard Revised Version gives “beyond the Jordan” throughout. מעבר, mē‛ēbher, is used with ha-yardēn in ; ; ; ; and עבר, 'ebher, alone in (the King James Version “on this side”); (the King James Version “on the other side”). It is clear that the phrase may be translate d “across Jordan”; that it is used of either side of the Jordan ( speaks of the eastern, , of the western); that “beyond Jordan” may be used of the side of the Jordan on which the writer stands (; ; ); but from the fact that , ; , , , , where statements are made about Moses, the reference is to the country East of the Jordan, while in , ; , where Moses is represented as speaking, the West is indicated, critics have concluded that the author (at least of Deuteronomy) must have lived after Moses, being careful to distinguish between himself and the prophet.