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Decree

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Decrees, Divine
• Decrees
Scofield Reference Index
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Thompson Chain Reference
• King's Decrees
• Decrees of Kings
Dictionaries
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary
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Charles Buck Dictionary
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CARM Theological Dictionary
• Permissive Decree
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
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Holman Bible Dictionary
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Hastings' BibleDictionary
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Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Decree (2)
• Decree
King James Dictionary
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1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Roman Congregations, Decrees of
• Nullity, Decree of
• Gratian, Decree of
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Vines' Expository Dictionary
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Webster Dictionary
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• Decreed
• Decree
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1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Carlsbad Decrees
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McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
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• Decree
• Decrees of God
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The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Berlin Decree
• Milan Decree
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Lexicons
• ܦ݁ܽܘܩܕ݁ܳܢܳܐ
• δόγμα
• δογματίζω
• אֵמֶר אֵמֶר, , אִמֵּר
• אֱסָר
• גָּזַר , גָּזַר
•   (only first 3 shown)

DECREE . What theologians speak of as the ‘decrees of God,’ and describe as one, immutable, eternal, all-embracing, free, etc., do not receive this designation in Scripture. The equivalents are to be sought for under such headings as Election, Predestination, Providence, Reprobate. In the EV [Note: English Version.] the term is frequently used in Esther, Ezra, Daniel, with different Heb. and Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] words, for royal decrees (in Daniel 6:1-28 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘interdict’; in Daniel 2:9 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘law,’ elsewhere ‘decree’). In the NT also the Gr. word dogmata is employed of decrees of Cæsar ( Luke 2:1 , Acts 17:7 ); in Acts 16:4 it is used of decrees of the Church; elsewhere ( Ephesians 2:15 , Colossians 2:20 ) it is tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘ordinances.’ The nearest approach to the theological sense of the term is, in OT, in the Heb. word hôk , ordinarily tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘statute,’ which is used in various places of God’s sovereign appointments in nature and providence ( Job 28:26 , Psalms 148:6 , Proverbs 8:29 , Jeremiah 5:22 , Zephaniah 2:2 ). The Hebrews had not the modern conception of ‘laws of nature,’ but they had a good equivalent in the idea of the world as ordered and founded by God’s decrees; as regulated by His ordinances (cf. Psalms 104:5; Psalms 104:9; Psalms 119:88-91 , Jeremiah 10:12 ff.). The same word is used in Psalms 2:7 of God’s ‘decree’ regarding His king; in Daniel 4:17; Daniel 4:24 (Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] ) we have ‘decree’ of ‘the watchers’ and ‘the most High.’

James Orr.