ASCEND

a-send': By derivation the English word implies motion from a lower place to (not merely toward) a higher one; and usage tends to restrict it to cases where the beholder is in the lower, not the higher, position. the King James Version uses it 39 times in all: (1) of the going up of vapor (Psalms 135:7), flame (Judges 20:40), or smoke (Revelation 8:4); (2) of travel from one place to another (Acts 25:1) or of the course of a boundary (Joshua 15:3); (3) of coming up from the underworld (1 Samuel 28:13; Revelation 11:7; 17:8); and (4) of the going up (of men, angels, our Lord) from earth to the skies or to heaven (Genesis 28:12; John 3:13). the Revised Version (British and American) uses the appropriate form of "to go up" in all cases falling under (2) and (3); in those under (4) it retains "ascend" with an occasional change in tense; under (1) it retains "ascend" everywhere in Old Testament (Exodus 19:18; Joshua 8:20-21; Psalms 135:7 parallel Jeremiah 10:13 parallel Jeremiah 51:16) except Judges 20:40, but substitutes "went up," "goeth up," in New Testament (Revelation 8:4; 14:11). The like change in the Old Testament passages would make the usage of the Revised Version (British and American) uniform.

F. K. Farr

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.