Answer

Answer (usually עָנָה, anah', ἀποκρίνομαι) has other significations in Scripture besides the common one in the sense of reply.

1. Moses having composed a thanksgiving after the passage of the Red Sea, Miriam, it is said, "answered;" meaning that Moses with the men on one side, and Miriam with the women on the other side, sung the same song, as it were, in two choruses or divisions; of which one "answered" the other (Ex 15:21). So also 1Sa 29:5, where they sung in distinct choruses; comp. Nu 21:17.

2. This word is likewise taken for to accuse, or to defend judicially (Ge 30:33; De 31:21; Ho 5:5).

3. To "answer" is likewise taken in a bad sense, as when it is said that a son answers his father insolently, or a servant his master (Joh 18:22; Ro 9:20; 2Co 1:9).

4. To "aswer" is also used in Scripture for the commencement of a discourse, when no reply to any question or objection is intended. This mode of speaking is often used by the Evangelists: "And Jesus answered and said." his a Hebrew idiom (Job 3:2; Song 2:10;

Zec 3:4; Zec 4:11-12; Mt 11:25; Mt 12:38; Mt 17:4; Mr 9:5; Lu 7:40). SEE AFFIRMATIVE.

ANSWER OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE (συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς ἐπερώτημα), a phrase occurring 1Pe 3:21, very variously interpreted, but apparently signifying simply the ability to address God in prayer (as if a response to His searching of the heart) with a conscience free from a sense of guilt, or the seeking after Him with a pure conscience (see Alford, in loc.). SEE CONSCIENCE.