FORM

ISBE

form (yatsar, to'ar; morphe): (1) To form is "to fashion," "create," "produce." In the Old Testament it is for the most part the translation of yatsar, "to form," "to fashion" ( Ge 2:7 , etc., "Yahweh God formed man of the dust of the ground," etc.); also of chul and chil, "to be twisted" "turned round" "to bring forth (in pain)" (compare Isa 13:8 ; Mic 4:10 ; De 32:18 the King James Version, "God that formed thee"; Job 26:13 the King James Version; Ps 90:2 , "or ever thou hadst formed the earth" etc.; Pr 26:10 the King James Version). In the New Testament we have morphoo, "to form" ( Ga 4:19 , "until Christ be formed in you"); plasso, "to form," "to mold" ( Ro 9:20 , "him that formed it"; 1Ti 2:13 , "Adam was first formed"; /APC 2Macc 7:23, "the Creator .... who formed the generation of man," the Revised Version (British and American) "fashioned"; 7:22, "that formed the members (diarrhuthmizo)," the Revised Version (British and American) "brought into order"). (2) Form (noun) is used for (a) appearance, mar'eh, "sight," "appearance" ( Job 4:16 , "I could not discern the form thereof" the Revised Version (British and American) "appearance" with "form" for "image" (temunah) in next sentence); tselem, Aramaic "image" ( Da 3:19 , "The form of his visage was changed"); rew, "form," "likeness" ( Da 2:31 ; 3:25 , the Revised Version (British and American) "aspect"); to'ar, "visage," "form" ( 1Sa 28:14 , "What form is he of?"); (b) the fixed or characteristic form of anything, tabhnith, "model," "form" ( Eze 8:3 ; 10:8 , "the form of a hand"; Eze 8:10 , "every form of creeping things"); morphe, characteristic form as distinguished from schema, changing fashion ( Php 2:6 , "in the form of God"; Php 2:7 , "the form of a servant"; less distinctly Mr 16:12 , "in another form"); (c) shape, model, pattern, mold, tsurah, "shape," from tsur, "to cut or carve" ( Eze 43:11 , ter, "the form of the house," etc.); mishpat, "rule" ( 2Ch 4:7 the King James Version); tupos, "type," "impress" ( Ro 6:17 , the Revised Version, margin "pattern"); hupotuposis, "outline," pattern ( 2Ti 1:13 , the Revised Version (British and American) "pattern"); morphosis, "form," "appearance" ( Ro 2:20 , "the form of knowledge"); (d) orderly arrangement, giving shape or form ( Ge 1:2 ; Jer 4:23 , the earth was "without form," tohu, the Revised Version (British and American) "waste"; The Wisdom of Solomon /APC Wis 11:17, amorphos); "form of speech" ( 2Sa 14:20 , aspect, panim, "face," the Revised Version (British and American) "to change the face of the matter"); as giving comeliness or beauty, to'ar ( Isa 52:14 ; 53:2 , "He hath no form nor comeliness"; compare Ge 29:17 ; 39:6 , etc.; The Wisdom of Solomon /APC Wis 15:5, "desiring the form (eidos) of a dead image," the Revised Version (British and American) "the breathless form"); (e) Show, without substance, morphosis, "form" ( 2Ti 3:5 , "holding a form of godliness"). ARV has "didst form" for "hast possessed" ( Ps 139:13 , so the English Revised Version, margin; both have "formed" for "made" ( Ps 104:26 ), the American Standard Revised Version for "framed" twice ( Isa 29:16 ); both for "formed thee," "gave birth" ( De 32:18 ); "pierced" ( Job 26:13 ); "woundeth" ( Pr 26:10 ); "fastened" ( Isa 44:10 ); for "are formed from" ( Job 26:5 ), "tremble"; for "their form" ( 2Ch 4:7 ), "the ordinance concerning them"; "form" for "similitude" ( Nu 12:8 ; De 4:12 , 15 ); for "size" ( 1Ki 6:25 ; 7:37 ); for "shape" ( Lu 3:22 ; Joh 5:37 ); "in the form" for "similitude" ( De 4:16 ); for "or the like" ( De 4:23 , 15 ); the American Standard Revised Version "(beholding) thy form" for "thy likeness" ( Ps 17:15 , the English Revised Version, margin); "every form" for "all appearance" ( 1Th 5:22 ; so the English Revised Version, margin "appearance"). W. L. Walker