Excellency, Excellent

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EXCELLENCY, EXCELLENT.—These English words are used for a great variety of Heb. and Gr. expressions, a complete list of which will be found in Driver’s Daniel (Camb. Bible). The words (from Lat. excello, ‘to rise up out of,’ ‘surpass’) formerly had the meaning of pre-eminence and pre-eminent, and were thus good equivalents for the Heb. and Gr. expressions. But since 1611 they have become greatly weakened; and, as Driver says, ‘it is to be regretted that they have been retained in RV [Note: Revised Version.] in passages in which the real meaning is something so very different.’ The force of ‘excellency’ may be clearly seen in the margin of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] at Gen_4:7, where ‘have the excellency’ is suggested for ‘he accepted’ in the text; or the marg. at Ecc_2:13, where instead of ‘wisdom excelleth folly’ is suggested ‘there is an excellency in wisdom more than in folly.’ In Dan_1:20 it is said that ‘in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm’; and this is summed up in the heading of the chapter in the words, ‘their excellency in wisdom.’ The force of ‘excellent,’ again, may be seen from the table in Hamilton’s Catechism, ‘Of the pre-eminent and excellent dignitie of the Paternoster’; or from Sir John Mandeville, Travels, p. 1, ‘the Holy Land, … passing all other lands, is the most worthy land, most excellent, and lady and sovereign of all other lands.’
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

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