International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Peculiar

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Peculiar


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pḗ-kūl´yar: The Latin peculium means “private property,” so that “peculiar” properly = “pertaining to the individual.” In modern English the word has usually degenerated into a half-colloquial form for “extraordinary,” but in Biblical English it is a thoroughly dignified term for “esp. one's own”; compare the “peculiar treasure” of the king in (the King James Version). Hence, “peculiar people” (the King James Version , etc.) means a people especially possessed by God and particularly prized by Him. The word in the Old Testament (the King James Version ; ; ; ; ) invariably represents סגלּה, ṣeghullāh, “property,” an obscure word which Septuagint usually rendered by the equally obscure περιούσιος, perioúsios (apparently meaning “superabundant”), which in turn is quoted in . In , however, Septuagint has περιποίησις, peripoı́ēsis, quoted in . the English Revised Version in the New Testament substituted “own possession” in the two occurrences, but in the Old Testament kept “peculiar” and even extended its use (; ) to cover every occurrence of ṣeghullāh except in (“treasure”). the American Standard Revised Version, on the contrary, has dropped “peculiar” altogether, using “treasure” in ; , and “own possession” elsewhere. the King James Version also has “peculiar commandments” (ἴδιος, ı́dios, “particular,” the Revised Version (British and American) “several”) in The Wisdom of Solomon 19:6, and the Revised Version (British and American) has “peculiar” where the King James Version has “special” in The Wisdom of Solomon 3:14 for ἐκλεκτή, eklektḗ, “chosen out.”