Meaning
In Hebrew the words for "foundation" are mostly derivatives from yacadh, "to found," and in Greek two words are used: one, katabole, of "foundation of the world" (Mar 13:35, Mar 15:34, Luk 11:50, Joh 17:24, etc.); the other, themelios, of the foundation of a building (Luk 6:48, Luk 6:49, Luk 14:29, Act 16:26, etc.), in which sense it is also used metaphorically in various connections (Christ the foundation of the church, 1Co 3:11; or the apostles and prophets the foundation, with Christ as corner-stone, Eph 2:20; the foundation of repentance, Heb 6:1, etc.). In Ps 11:3, "if the foundations be destroyed," the Hebrew word is shath. In Jer 50:15, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "bulwarks" for "foundations"; conversely in Psa 89:14, Psa 97:2, for the King James Version "habitation," the Revised Version (British and American) reads "foundation," and in Isa 6:4 for the King James Version "posts," reads "foundations."
James Orr
