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Topic

Patience

81 passages cited, from 3 classic reference works.

These works date from 1896–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.

The verses

The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.

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In the reference works

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 28 references

pa'-shens (hupomone, makrothumia): "Patience" implies suffering, enduring or waiting, as a determination of the will and not simply under necessity. As such it is an essential Christian virtue to the exercise of which there are many exhortations. We need to "wait patiently" for God, to endure uncomplainingly the various forms of sufferings, wrongs and evils that we meet with, and to bear patiently injustices which we cannot remedy and provocations we cannot remove.

The word "patience" does not occur in the Old Testament, but we have "patiently" in Ps 40:1 as the translation of qawah, "to wait," "to expect," which word frequently expresses the idea, especially that of waiting on God; in Ps 37:7, "patiently" ("wait patiently") is the translation of qul, one of the meanings of which is "to wait" or "to hope for" or "to expect" (of Job 35:14); "patient" occurs (Ec 7:8) as the translation of 'erekh ruach, "long of spirit," and (Job 6:11) "that I should be patient" (ha'arikh nephesh). Compare "impatient" (Job 21:4).

"Patience" occurs frequently in the Apocrypha, especially in Ecclesiasticus, e.g. 2:14; 16:13; 17:24; 41:2 (hupomone); 5:11 (makrothumia); 29:8 (makrothumeo, the Revised Version (British and American) "long suffering"); in The Wisdom of Solomon 2:19, the Greek word is anexikakia.

In the New Testament hupomone carries in it the ideas of endurance, continuance (Lu 8:15; 21:19; Ro 5:3,4, the American Standard Revised Version "stedfastness"; Ro 8:25, etc.).

In all places the American Revised Version margin has "stedfastness," except Jas 5:11, where it has "endurance"; makrothumia is translated "patience" (Heb 6:12; Jas 5:10); makrothumeo, "to bear long" (Mt 18:26,29; Jas 5:7; See LONGSUFFERING); the same verb is translated "be patient" (1Th 5:14, the Revised Version (British and American) "longsuffering"; Jas 5:7,8, the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "patient"); makrothumos, "patiently" (Ac 26:3); hupomeno (1Pe 2:20); anexikakos is translated "patient" (2Ti 2:4, the Revised Version (British and American), the King James Version margin, "forbearing"); epieikes, "gentle" (1Ti 3:3, the Revised Version (British and American) "gentle"); hupomeno (Ro 12:12, "patient in tribulation"). For "the patient waiting for Christ" (2Th 3:5), the Revised Version (British and American) has "the patience of Christ."

Patience is often hard to gain and to maintain, but, in Ro 15:5, God is called "the God of patience" (the American Revised Version margin "stedfastness") as being able to grant that grace to those who look to Him and depend on Him for it. It is in reliance on God and acceptance of His will, with trust in His goodness, wisdom and faithfulness, that we are enabled to endure and to hope stedfastly.

See also GOD.

W. L. Walker

In the topical indexes

Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 66 references, grouped by sub-topic
Torrey's New Topical Textbook (1897) · 52 references, grouped by sub-topic

Texts: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896); Torrey's New Topical Textbook (1897), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.

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