CERTIFY

ser'-ti-fi: Occurs in (1) 2 Samuel 15:28 (haggidh, "to show," "announce," from naghadh); (2) Ezra 4:14,16; 5:10; 7:24 (hodha`, "to make known," from yedha'; Aramaic for yadha`); (3) Esther 2:22 the King James Version ('amar, "to say," "tell," so the Revised Version (British and American)); and (4) Galatians 1:11 the King James Version gnorizo, "to make to know," so the Revised Version (British and American)). In the English Versions of the Bible, accordingly, the word has not the strong, specific sense of "to make certain," but only the broader sense of "to make to know." Compare Psalms 39:5 (Prayer Book version), "that I may be certified how long I have to live."

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.