New

"to renew." This verb occurs in post-Mosaic literature (with the exception of Job 10:17). The root is found in all the Semitic languages with the same sense; usually the radicals are h-d-th. The first appearance of hadash in the Bible is in 1Sa 11:14: "Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there."

"new moon; month." This noun occurs about 283 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods. The word refers to the day on which the crescent reappears: "So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat" (1Sam 20:24). Isa 1:14 uses this word of the feast which occurred on that day: "Your new moons [festivals] and your appointed feasts my soul hateth…" (cf. Num 28:14; Num 29:6).

Hodesh can refer to a "month," or the period from one new moon to another. The sense of a measure of time during which something happens occurs in Gen 38:24: "And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah…." In a related nuance the word refers not so much to a measure of time as to a period of time, or a calendar month. These "months" are sometimes named (Exod 13:4) and sometimes numbered (Gen 7:11).

"new; renewed." This adjective appears 53 times in biblical Hebrew.

Hadash means "new" both in the sense of recent or fresh (as the opposite of old) and in the sense of something not previously existing. The first nuance appears in Lev 23:16: "Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." The first biblical occurrence of hadash (Exod 1:8) demonstrates the second meaning: "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." This second nuance occurs in Isaiah's discussion of the future salvation. For example, in Isa 42:10 a new saving act of God will bring forth a new song of praise to Him: "Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth…." The Psalter uses the phrase "a new song" in this sense; a new saving act of God has occurred and a song responding to that act celebrates it. The "new" is often contrasted to the former.: "Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them" (Isa 42:9). Jer 31:31-34 employs this same nuance speaking of the new covenant (cf. Ezek 11:19; Ezek 18:31). A unique meaning appears in Lam 3:23, where hadash appears to mean "renewed"; just as God's creation is renewed and refreshed, so is His compassion and loving-kindness: "They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." This nuance is more closely related to the verb from which this word is derived.

denotes "new," of that which is unaccustomed or unused, not "new" in time, recent, but "new" as to form or quality, of different nature from what is contrasted as old. "'The new tongues,' kainos, of Mar 16:17 are the 'other tongues,' heteros, of Act 2:4. These languages, however, were 'new' and 'different,' not in the sense that they had never been heard before, or that they were new to the hearers, for it is plain from Act 2:8 that this is not the case; they were new languages to the speakers, different from those in which they were accustomed to speak.

"The new things that the Gospel brings for present obedience and realization are: a new covenant, Mat 26:28 in some texts; a new commandment, Joh 13:34; a new creative act, Gal 6:15; a new creation, 2Co 5:17; a new man, i.e., a new character of manhood, spiritual and moral, after the pattern of Christ, Eph 4:24; a new man, i.e., 'the Church which is His (Christ's) body,' Eph 2:15.

"The new things that are to be received and enjoyed hereafter are: a new name, the believer's, Rev 2:17; a new name, the Lord's, Rev 3:12; a new song, Rev 5:9; a new Heaven and a new Earth, Rev 21:1; the new Jerusalem, Rev 3:12, Rev 21:2; 'And He that sitteth on the Throne said, Behold, I make all things new,' Rev 21:5" * [* From Notes on Galations, by Hogg and Vine, pp. 337,338.]

Kainos is translated "fresh" in the RV of Mat 9:17, Mar 2:22 (in the best texts) and Luk 5:38, of wineskins. Cp. kainotes, "newness" (below)

signifies "new" in respect of time, that which is recent; it is used of the young, and so translated, especially the comparative degree "younger;" accordingly what is neos may be a reproduction of the old in quality or character. Neos and kainos are sometimes used of the same thing, but there is a difference, as already indicated. Thus the "new man" in Eph 2:15 (kainos) is "new" in differing in character; so in Eph 4:24 (see No. 1); but the "new man" in Col 3:10 (neos) stresses the fact of the believer's "new" experience, recently begun, and still proceeding. "The old man in him ... dates as far back as Adam; a new man has been born, who therefore is fitly so called" [i.e., neos], Trench, Syn. lx. The "New" Covenant in Heb 12:24 is "new" (neos) compared with the Mosaic, nearly fifteen hundred years before; it is "new" (kainos) compared with the Mosaic, which is old in character, ineffective, Heb 8:8, Heb 8:13, Heb 9:15.

The "new" wine of Mat 9:17, Mar 2:22, Luk 1:5-39, is neos, as being of recent production; the "new" wine of the kingdom, Mat 26:29, Mar 14:25, is kainos, since it will be of a different character from that of this world. The rendering "new" (neos) is elsewhere used metaphorically in 1Co 5:7, "a new lump." See YOUNG, YOUNGER.

originally signifying "freshly slain," acquired the general sense of "new," as applied to flowers, oil, misfortune, etc. It is used in Heb 10:20 of the "living way" which Christ "dedicated for us ... through the veil ... His flesh" (which stands for His expiatory death by the offering of His body, Heb 10:10). In the Sept., Num 6:3, Deu 32:17, Psa 81:9, Ecc 1:9. Cp. the adverb prosphatos "lately, recently," Act 18:2.

Note: In Mat 9:16, Mar 2:21, AV, agnaphos is translated "new" (RV, "undressed"). Moulton and Milligan give an instance in the papyri of its use in respect of a "new white shirt." See UNDRESSED.