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him into a warlike force, but recklessly going forth with unwhetted swords. The correct meaning for the whole, in general at least, is found if, after the example of Abulwalîd and Kimchi, we interpret חילים גּבּר of the increasing of strength, the augmenting of the effort of strength, not, as Aben-Ezra, of conquering, outstripping, surpassing; גּבּר means to make strong, to strengthen, Zec 10:6, Zec 10:12; and חילים, as plur. of חיל, strength, is supported by גּבּורי חילים, 1Ch 7:5, 1Ch 7:7, 1Ch 7:11, 1Ch 7:40, the plur. of חיל גבור; the lxx renders by δυνάμεις δυναμώσει and he shall strengthen the forces, and the Peshito has חילי for δυνάμεις, Act 8:13; Act 19:11 (cf. Chald. Syr. אתחיּל, to strengthen oneself, to become strengthened). Thus understanding the words יג יח of intentio virium, and that not with reference to sharpening (Luth., Grotius), but to the splitting of wood, etc. (Geier, Desvoeux, Mendelss.), all modern interpreters, with the exception of a few who lose themselves on their own path, gain the thought, that in all undertakings wisdom hath the advantage in the devising of means subservient to an end. The diversities in the interpretation of details leave the essence of this thought untouched. Hitz., Böttch., Zöckl., Lange, and others make the wood-splitter, or, in general, the labourer, the subject to קהה, referring והוא to the iron, and contrary to the accents, beginning the apodosis with qilqal: “If he (one) has made the iron blunt, and it is without an edge, he swings it, and applies his strength.” לא־פנים, “without an edge” (lo for belo), would be linguistically as correct as בּנים לא, “without children,” 1Ch 2:30, 1Ch 2:32; Ewald, §286b; and qilqal would have a meaning in some measure supported by Eze 21:26. But granting that qilqal, which there signifies “to shake,” may be used of the swinging of an axe (for which we may refer to the Aethiop. ḳualḳuala, ḳalḳala, of the swinging of a sword), yet קלקלו (אתו קלקל) could have been used, and, besides, פנים means, not like פי, the edge, but, as a somewhat wider idea, the front, face (Eze 21:21; cf. Assyr. pan ilippi, the forepart of a ship); “it has no edge” would have been expressed by (פּיפיּות) פּה לא והוא, or by מלטּשׁ איננו והוא (מוּחד, מורט). We therefore translate: if the iron has become blunt, hebes factum sit (for the Pih. of intransitives has frequently the meaning of an inchoative or desiderative stem, like מעת, to become little, decrescere, Ecc 12:3; כּהה, hebescere, caligare, Eze 21:12; Ewald, §120c), and he (who uses it) has not polished (whetted) the face of it, he will (must) increase the force. והוּא does not refer to the iron, but, since there was no reason to emphasize the sameness of the subject (as e.g., 2Ch 32:30), to the labourer, and thus makes, as with the other explanation, the change of subject noticeable