Pastor Kevin Sheridan who pastors in Antlers, Oklahoma sent me this. It is worthy to be published.
I was writing a sermon for tonight’s Thursday service, and I came upon this ancient word: Betimes
ARCHAIC: Betimes
before the usual or expected time; early.
"next morning I was up betimes"
And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace, Genesis 26:31.
A dispute with Abimelech’s servants get up very early, in order to show the seriousness of their desire for peace with Isaac.
Apparently, in the ancient world to show seriousness in making a covenant or a pact, you often time would get up very early or Betimes, that is to say, before you normally would get up
If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty, Job 8:5.
New international version:
But if you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty.
Because the other versions don’t know what to do with “betimes” they change the entire concept to “earnestly”
Earnest and earnestly are King James Bible words but Betimes doesn’t mean earnest it means; before normal expected time.
You can’t just change the entire concept and meaning just because you don’t understand a word.
You would think that the new English Standard Verizon, being that it’s more modern, would have corrected this issue. However, they look like they approach the issue in a worse way than the NIV.
If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
Job 8:5 ESV.
They gut out the entire issue all together. They neither add earnest nor “earlier than expected within the verse”. They just completely take the entire concept out because they don’t know what to do with it.
The newer versions have completely mangled, or avoided altogether this ancient custom, this depriving the Bible reader from knowing how things were in the time of Job.