CONFUSION

kon-fu'-zhun (bosheth, "shame, paleness," kelimmah, "blushing," tohu; akatastasia, sugchusis): In the Old Testament bosheth (1 Samuel 20:30; Psalms 109:29 the King James Version) and kelimmah (Psalms 44:15; Isaiah 30:3) are the words most frequently translated "confusion"; tohu, "wastiness," "emptiness" is so translated (Isaiah 24:10; 34:11; 41:29), also qalon, "lightness," "contempt" (Job 10:15 = ignominy, the American Standard Revised Version) and tebhel, "profanation" (Leviticus 18:23; 20:12); ra`ash, "shaking," "trembling," rendered "confused" in Isaiah 9:5 the King James Version; compare the Revised Version (British and American). Greek akatashatasia, "instability" is translated "confusion" (1 Corinthians 14:33; James 3:16); sugchusis, "a pouring out together" (Acts 19:29). In The Wisdom of Solomon 14:26, "changing of kind" (the King James Version) is rendered "confusion of sex."

W. L. Walker

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