the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Dictionaries
Sign
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or This word is used in the sense of token and pledge; as, when the Lord gave to Noah the rainbow, as a sign of his covenant, Genesis 9:12-13; and when he appointed to Abraham the use of circumcision, as the seal of the covenant he had made with him and his posterity, Genesis 17:11 . Sign is also put for a miracle: "Thou shalt do these signs and wonders in the midst of Egypt," Exodus 4:7-9 , &c. A sign or token is often put for the proof or evidence of a thing: For example, "This shall be a token or sign unto thee, that I have sent thee," Exodus 3:12 .
"Shew me a sign, that thou talkest with me," Judges 6:17 , that is a proof. "What shall be the sign," or evidence, "that the Lord will heal me?" 2 Kings 20:8 . This acceptation agrees with the first above mentioned; as also what is said in Genesis 4:15 , "And the Lord set a mark or sign upon Cain;" he gave him a pledge that his life should not be taken away. The signs of heaven, and the signs of the magicians, are the phenomena of the heavens, and the impostures of magicians, which they made use of for the purposes of deception: "The Lord frustrateth the tokens or signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad," Isaiah 44:25 . "Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Heathen are dismayed at them," Jeremiah 10:2 . To be a sign was farther to be a type, or prediction, of what should happen. Thus the Prophet Isaiah 8:18 , "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel." See also Ezekiel 4:3 .
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Sign'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/s/sign.html. 1831-2.
