Bible Lexicons

διάταγμα was in Imperial times the technical term for an ";edict,"; see e.g. P Giss I. 40ii. 8 (A.D. 212) where Caracalla refers to the words προτέρου διατάγματος, in which his χάρις had been displayed : cf. also P Oxy VIII. 1100.21 (A.D. 206), 1101.1 (A.D. 367–70) of the edicts of Praefects, and numerous exx. in OGIS, as 458.81 (c. B.C. 9) κατά τε τὸ Παύλου Φαβίου Μαξίμου τοῦ ἀνθυπάτου διάταγμα. The word is used of a ";testamentary disposition"; in P Oxy X. 1282.27 (A.D. 83) καθ᾽ ὃ ἔθετο ὁ Παποντῶς ὁπότε περιῆν διάταγμα, ";in accordance with the disposition made by Papontos in his lifetime"; (Edd.)—the constr. is mixed. Cf. BGU I. 140.25 (A.D. 119—so Mitteis Chrest. II. p. 424) ἐξ ἐκείνου τον μέ [ρ ]ους τοῦ διατάγματος, and see above under διαταγή.

For διάταξις, which is not found in the NT but ten times in the LXX, we may cite BGU I. 180.6 (ii/A.D.) παρὰ δὴ ταύτην τὴν [δι ]άτ [α ]ξιν ἐ [γὼ ] ἐπηρεάσθην μ [ε ]τὰ διετίαν τῆς [ἀπο ]λύσεως κτλ., P Par 69C. .18 (acts of Alexander Severus—A.D. 233) αἱ γὰρ θεῖαι διατάξεις, and similarly of Imperial decrees in BGU IV. 1022.9 (Hadrian), P Flor III. 382.7, .30 al (A.D. 222–3), P Strass I. 22.18 (iii/A.D.), etc.