ATTAIN

a-tan': The rendering of qanah = "buy," "get" (Proverbs 1:5); nasagh= "reach," "a meal-offering .... according as he is able" (Ezekiel 46:7 margin), "not attained unto the days" (Genesis 47:9); yakhol or yakhowl ="be able," "overcome," "attain to innocency" (Hosea 8:5); bo' = "come," "follow" (2 Samuel 23:19,23; 1 Chronicles 11:21,25); katantao="arrive at" (Acts 27:12 the King James Version; Philippians 3:11); katalambano ="take eagerly," "seize," "apprehend," "attained to righteousness" (Romans 9:30); phthano ="have arrived at" (Romans 9:31 the King James Version; Philippians 3:16); lambano -"take," "get a hold of," "catch," the Revised Version (British and American) "already obtained" (Philippians 3:12); parakoloutheo = "follow," "trace out," "conform to" (1 Timothy 4:6). Here the Revised Version (British and American) corrects the King James Version.

Frank E. Hirsch

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