36. OUGHT. MUST
36. OUGHT. MUST
The words , () and are all translated ‘ought,’ with other variations as to the first two. But there is a difference in their signification. Bengel says denotes ‘obligation;’ , ‘necessity.’ is to be under moral obligation, bound by duty, one ought, etc., and specially in personal aspects. See Eph 5:28; 2Co 12:11; 2Co 12:14; Act 17:29; Rom 15:1; 1Jn 2:6; 1Jn 3:16; 1Jn 4:11. Compare Luk 11:4 ‘indebted,’ Mat 18:28; Mat 18:30. (with its compounds) is with one exception the word for ‘owing,’ and what is owed, Phm 1:18; Rom 8:8; Rom 15:27; Rom 15:27, translated ‘debtor’ and ‘duty.’ In Luk 17:10 it is “that which was our duty”: Heb 2:17, “it behoved him”: 2Th 1:3; 2Th 2:13, “are bound.”
is more general, denoting any kind of necessity, as that which lies in the nature of the case, or specially that which arises by divine appointment, and this gives it a greater strength: ‘must’ is its most frequent rendering. See 2Ti 2:6; Luk 22:7; Joh 3:7; Joh 3:14; Joh 3:30; Joh 4:4 (‘must needs’), Joh 4:24; Act 16:30; 1Co 15:53; Heb 9:26; Heb 11:6; Mar 14:31 (‘should,’ ‘should have to’); Act 5:29 ‘ought.’ These may illustrate the general use, and the following passages, out of many, the necessity established by the will and word of God: Mat 16:21; Mat 17:10; Mat 24:6; Mat 26:54; Luk 2:49; Luk 4:43; Luk 22:37; Luk 24:7; Luk 24:26 (‘ought’), Luk 24:44; Joh 9:4; Joh 20:9; Act 1:16; Act 1:22 (21); Act 3:21; Act 4:12; Act 9:16; Act 14:22; Act 23:11; Act 27:24; 1Co 15:25; 2Co 5:10; 1Ti 3:7; Rev 1:1
occurs but once, Jam 3:10; coming from the root of , ‘to deliver an oracle,’ ‘to be fated,’ it passes into the sense of what is necessary, what behoves or is fitting (or the reverse with , negative, as in Jam 3:10). Compared with the other words, it is rather a necessity of time or circumstance, and has not the same moral force. Compare the kindred verb (from , ‘need, necessity’): ‘to have need of,’ Mat 6:32; Rom 16:2; ‘need,’ Luk 11:8; 2Co 3:1