DEVICE

de-vis': "A scheme," "invention," "plot." In the Old Testament it stands for six Hebrew words, of which the most common is machashebheth (from chashabh, "to think," "contrive"). In the New Testament it occurs only twice, once for Greek enthumesis (Acts 17:29), and once for noema (2 Corinthians 2:11). Sometimes the word means simply that which is planned or invented, without any evil implication, as in 2 Chronicles 2:14; Acts 17:29 (of artistic work or invention), and Ecclesiastes 9:10 (in the general sense of reasoning or contriving). But more frequently it is used in an evil sense, of a wicked purpose or plot, "Let us devise devices against Jeremiah" (Jeremiah 18:18); "For we are not ignorant of his (i.e. Satan's) devices" (2 Corinthians 2:11), etc.

D. Miall Edwards

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