fôr´mẽr : The word in the sense of "maker," "framer," occurs only in Jeremiah 51:19 , "He is the former (from yācar , "to form") of all things." The adjective, in the sense of preceding in the order of time, is commonly in Hob the translation of rı̄'shōn , "first," "foremost" (Genesis 40:13; Numbers 21:26; Deuteronomy 24:4 , etc.); in Greek of próteros (Ephesians 4:22; Hebrews 10:32; 1 Peter 1:14 ); and in two cases (Acts 1:1; Revelation 21:4 ) of prō̇tos , where the Revised Version (British and American) has (in Acts in the margin) "the first." As denoting place or position the word occurs in the Old Testament in Zechariah 14:8 , "the former sea" as translation of , ḳadhmōnı̄ , "in front," where the Revised Version (British and American) has "eastern," i.e. the Dead Sea, in contrast with the Mediterranean, or western sea (compare Ezekiel 47:18; Joel 2:20 ). For "former iniquities" (Psalm 79:8 ) the Revised Version (British and American) has simply "the iniquities"; Other changes may be seen in Numbers 6:12; Isaiah 65:7; Ezekiel 36:11; Micah 4:8; Haggai 2:3 .
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) was edited by James Orr, John Nuelsen, Edgar Mullins, Morris Evans, and Melvin Grove Kyle and was published complete in 1939. This web site includes the complete text.
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