PRECEPT

pre'-sept: A commandment, an authoritative rule for action; in the Scriptures generally a divine injunction in which man's obligation is set forth (Latin praeceptum, from praecipere, "to instruct").

Four words are so rendered in the King James Version: (1) mitswah, very frequently (168 times) translated "commandment," but 4 times "precept" (in the Revised Version (British and American) only Jeremiah 35:18; Daniel 9:5); (2) from the same root is tsaw, or tsaw (Isaiah 28:10,13); (3) piqqudhim, only in the Psalms (21 times in Psalms 119, e.g. verses 4,15,27; also the Revised Version (British and American) Psalms 19:8; 103:18; 111:7); (4) in the New Testament, entole, generally in the King James Version translated "commandment" (68 times), but twice "precept" (Mark 10:5; Hebrews 9:19; in both cases the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "commandment").

See COMMANDMENT; COMMANDMENTS .

D. Miall Edwards

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