HONEST; HONESTY

on'-est, on'-es-ti: The word "honest" in the New Testament in the King James Version generally represents the adjective kalos, "good," "excellent," "honorable," and, with the exception of Luke 8:15, "honest and good heart," is changed in the Revised Version (British and American) into the more correct "honorable" (Romans 12:17; 2 Corinthians 8:21; 13:7; Philippians 4:8); in 1 Peter 2:12, into "seemly.' In the American Standard Revised Version "honestly" in Hebrews 13:18 is rendered "honorably," and in 1 Thessalonians 4:12 (here euschemonos) is rendered "becomingly." The noun "honesty" occurs but once in the King James Version as the translation of semnotes (1 Timothy 2:2), and in the Revised Version (British and American) is more appropriately rendered "gravity."

James Orr

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