Skill, Skilful
Skill, Skilful
skil, skilfool (forms of , yadha (2Ch 2:14, etc.), , bn (1Ch 15:22), , sakhal (Dan 1:4, etc.), , lamadh (1Ch 5:18), , hakham (1Ch 28:21), , harash (Eze 21:31), , yatabh (Psa 33:3); in Apocrypha , empeira (The Wisdom of Solomon 13:13), , episteme (Sirach 1:19; 38:3, 6); adverb , eumathos (The Wisdom of Solomon 13:11)): As a verb to skill, meaning to have understanding or to be dexterous, common in Elizabethan English and in the King James Version and the English Revised Version (1Ki 5:6; 2Ch 2:7 f; 2Ch 34:12), is obsolete. The American Standard Revised Version substitutes such expressions as knoweth how (1Ki 5:6) and were skillful with (2Ch 34:12). As a noun the word is used in the sense of knowledge (Ecc 9:11), insight (Dan 1:17), and wisdom (1Ch 28:21). The adjective skillful is used in corresponding senses, especially in the American Standard Revised Version, where it takes the place of cunning (Exo 26:31; Exo 31:4; Exo 35:33, Exo 35:35; Exo 38:23; 2Ch 2:7, 2Ch 2:13, 2Ch 2:14; Son 7:1; Isa 40:20; Jer 10:9) and of curious (Exo 35:32), where the Hebrew hashabh suggests planning or devising, and thus what we should call original work. Both the English Revised Version and the American Standard Revised Version use the word in place of eloquent (Isa 3:3), right (Ecc 4:4) and cunning (1Ch 25:7). In the first of these instances the Hebrew word means understanding; in the second, it refers to the manner of doing a thing, and in the third, to the training that makes one skilled. the Revised Version (British and American) uses the word skilled of those that took the war upon them (Num 31:27 the King James Version). Skillfulness (Psa 78:72) is used with reference to the hands, not only in their work, but also in guiding (as, e.g., a pilot). To play well (Hebrew hetbhu naggen), is rendered play skillfully (Psa 33:3). Unskillful is used with reference to the uninitiated in the sense of inexperienced (Heb 5:13, , apeiros).