Thursday, May 26, 2005
Against ‘Against’: One Hymn’s Indecent Preposition
But I know Whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
In the hundred or so times I’ve sung this hymn, I’ve wondered how you can “commit” something “against” a day. Does this preposition indicate that God is keeping/protecting the commitment against the threat of judgment day? Or is “against” an old-fashioned preposition approximating “until”? And is it the keeping that’s against that day, or the commitment?
A comparison of different versions of 2 Timothy 1:12—from which the hymn is taken—supports the “until” interpretation:
KJV (from Wycliffe’s EB)
For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.ESV
... and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.NIV
That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.YLT
for which cause also these things I suffer, but I am not ashamed, for I have known in whom I have believed, and have been persuaded that he is able that which I have committed to him to guard—to that day.Message
It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end.Vulgate
... in illum diem
“in/into that day”
The preposition in Greek is eis—“in,” “to,” or “into.” Zondervan’s interlinear NT translates the phrase “eis ekeinên tên hêmeran” as “to that [the] day.”
So why did Wycliffe go with “against”?
The OED suggests that “against” used to be broader than it is in English today (now it mostly means “opposing” or “adjacent to”). Here are three of the most salient OED definitions for this example
2. In the sight of, in presence of; with (L. apud). Obs.
1483 CAXTON G. de la Tour kij, Humble themself the one ageynst the other
3. fig. Towards, with respect to, in regard to.
1481 EARL OF WORCESTER Tully on Friendship IV. 10 That our benyvolence ayenst our frendes may answere evenly to the benyvolence which they bere ayenst us.18. Drawing towards, near the beginning of, close to. Obs.
1523 LD. BERNERS Froissart I. xviii. 20 And whan it was ageynst nyght, they came to the ryuer of Tyne
And Merriam-Webster has this as its fourth definition: “a : in preparation or provision for b : as a defense or protection from”
So my questions are:
1) which of these did Wycliffe mean?
2) Shouldn’t Daniel Whittle have changed the wording when he wrote the hymn in 1883?
3) Do more than 3 percent of the people who sing this hymn today understand the function of this preposition?