ψῆφος

yh'fo" yh'fo",
yhfou,
hJ (from
yavw, see
yavllw), a small, worn, smooth stone; pebble (from Pindar, Herodotus down; (in Homer
yhfiv"));1. since in the ancient courts of justice the accused were condemned by black pebbles and acquitted by white (cf. Passow, under the word,
yh'fo", 2 c, vol. ii, p. 2574b; (Liddell and Scott, under the word, 4 d.); Ovid. met. 15, 41; (Plutarch, Alcib. 22, 2)), and a man on his acquittal was spoken of as
nikhsa" (Theophrastus, char. 17 (19), 3) and the
yh'fo" acquitting Dim called
nikhthvrio" (Heliodorus 3, 3 under the end), Christ promises that to the one who has gained eternal life by coming off conqueror over temptation (
tw'/
nikounti (A. V. to him that overcometh)) he will give
yh'fon
leukhvn, ; but the figure is explained differently by different interpretations; cf. D?sterdieck (or Lee in the `Speaker's Commentary') at the passage; (B. D. under the word, Stones, 8). Ewald (Die Johann. Schriften, ii., p. 136; (cf. Lee as above; Plumptre in B. D. under the word, Hospitality, at the end)) understnads it to be the tessera hospitalis (cf. Rich, Dict. of Antiq., under the word, Tessera, 3; Becker, Charicles, namely, i. note 17), which on being shown secures admission to the enjoyment of the heavenly manna; the Greek name, however, for this tessera, is not
yh'fo", but
suvmbolon.2. a vote (on account of the use of pebbles in voting):
katafevrw (which see), .*