pûr´chā́s : In modern English, "to acquire by payment," in Elizabethan English, "to acquire" by any means. In the Old Testament, the King James Version has used "purchase" to represent קנה , ḳānāh , and its derivatives (verb and noun), except in Leviticus 25:33 , where the word is גּאל , gā'al (the Revised Version (British and American) "redeem"). In the New Testament the noun does not occur and the verb is used for κτάομαι , ktáomai , in Acts 1:18; Acts 8:20 , and περιποιέω , peripoiéō , in Acts 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:13 . But none of these words connotes the payment of a price, so that the Revised Version (British and American) has kept the word only in Acts 20:28 (margin "acquired"), changing it into "obtain" in Acts 1:18; Acts 8:20 , and "gain" in 1 Timothy 3:13 . In the Old Testament, the Revised Version margin has "gotten" in Exodus 15:16 and the American Standard Revised Version has (very properly) introduced the same word into the text of Psalm 74:2; Psalm 78:54 .
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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