The Authorized Version translates sunecho: `constrain, keep in, press, stop, throng, hold, be in a strait, be

straitened, be taken with, be sick of'. The testimony of the Lexicons is equally direct.

Parkhurst`s comment is `to hold fast, to straiten, confine, constrain, bind'. Schrevelius is equally emphatic `to

hold or keep together, preserve, fasten, tie hard, curb, restrain'. Dr. Bullinger in his Lexicon & Concordance says

the same, `to constrain, to hold, to keep together'. The usage of the word in the New Testament fully confirms this

meaning :

(1) To be taken by disease or fear (Matt. 4:24; Acts 28:8).

(2) To be thronged, as by a multitude (Luke 8:45).

(3) To be kept in, as by besieging army (Luke 19:43).

(4) To stop, as the ears (Acts 7:57).

(5) To be constrained or pressed (2 Cor. 5:14; Acts 18:5).

(6) To be held, as in an arrest (Luke 22:63).

(7) To be straitened (Luke 12:50; Phil. 1:23).

This list sets out the usage of sunecho as translated in the Authorized Version.

There is complete unanimity among translators and lexicographers therefore that when Paul used the word

sunecho (and as the constraint here is not physical but mental) the rendering suggested by Weymouth, `I am in a

dilemma', is as near as one can hope to approach the apostle's meaning.

Following this word, the apostle uses the preposition ek which is translated by the Authorized Version `betwixt'.

Now in criticizing this rendering it may be a statement of fact that the word ek occurs 857 times in the Greek New

Testament and that 165 of those occurrences are translated `out of', but much relevant material has been left

unexpressed. For example, on a number of occasions, the only way to render the meaning of ek is to translate it by

the English `with'.

`They bought with them the potter's field' (Matt. 27:7).

`Wearied with His journey' (John 4:6).

`Drunk with the wine ... with the blood of the saints' (Rev. 17:2,6).

Again, in some passages `by' is the best rendering :

`The tree is known by his fruit' (Matt. 12:33).

`By thy words thou shalt be justified' (Matt. 12:37).

In Revelation 9:18 ek actually occurs twice, yet in spite of a desire for uniformity we are compelled to translate

the word differently.

`By the fire ... which issued out of their mouths' (Rev. 9:18).

On other occasions `by reason of' (Rev. 8:13), `on' (Matt. 25:33), and `through' (Gal. 3:8) are good renderings.

Exception has been taken to the translation `betwixt', but no objection is lodged against John 3:25 `there arose a

question between some of John's disciples and the Jews': it is evidently a good rendering, for there is no essential

difference in `betwixt' and `between'.

To translate ek `out of' in Philippians 1:23 is contrary to the meaning of sunecho which means to hold fast or

Paul was held in suspense `by reason of the two'. He was not `pressed out of the two' into some hypothetical

`third'. What `the two' are we are not left to conjecture. Here they are :

Having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is very far better.

But, to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.