biz'-nes: Is the rendering of four Hebrew words:
(1) mela'khah, inGe 39:11(the American Standard Revised Version "work");1Ch 26:29,30;2Ch 13:10(the American Standard Revised Version "in their work"); 17:13 (the American Standard Revised Version "many works");Ne 11:16,22;13:30(the American Standard Revised Version "in his work");Es 3:9;Ps 107:23;Pr 22:29;Da 8:27.
(2) dabhar, literally "a word," is so translated inDe 24:5;Jos 2:14,20;Jud 18:7(the American Standard Revised Version "dealings");Jud 18:28(the American Standard Revised Version "dealings");1Sa 21:2,8.
(3) ma`aseh, "an action" (1Sa 20:19).
(4) `inyan, "employment" (Ec 5:3;8:16).
In the New Testament "business" inLu 2:49is the rendering of the phrase en, tois, tou patros mou, literally "in the things of my Father," which the American Standard Revised Version renders "in my Father's house," with "about my Father's business" as the marginal reading. "Business" is also used in the translation of chreia, literally "need," ofAc 6:3; as the translation of spoude, literally "haste" ofRo 12:11(the American Standard Revised Version "diligence"); of pragma, literally "thing done," ofRo 16:2(the American Standard Revised Version "matter"); of prassein ta idia, literally "tend to one's own business," of1Th 4:11. InAc 19:24,25in Paul's account of the riot in Ephesus, ergasia, literally "working," "performing," is translated "little business" inAc 19:24(the King James Version "small gain"), and "by this business" inAc 19:25(the King James Version "by this craft").
Arthur J. Kinsella