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of the body before birth is likened to embroidery or the arranging of the threads and
colours in a beautiful piece of tapestry.
DAYSPRING. This word means daybreak or dawn and should be understood as this
in such passages as Job 38: 12 and Luke 1: 78.
DELICACY and DELICIOUSLY. Rev. 18: 3, 7, 9 does not refer to the plentiful
supply of dainties in Babylon but is used in the sense of sensual luxury and
voluptuousness. The kings of the earth who `lived deliciously with her' indulged in lust
and sensual pleasures. Tyndale renders it `lived wantonly with her'.
DESCRY.
This word means to discover, or perceive, investigate or spy out.
Judg.i.23 states that "the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel" which means that the
house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel.
DIVERS and DIVERSE. These were originally the spelling of the same word. In
1611 `divers' meant various, several, more than one (without stating how many). The
word occurs 36 times in the A.V. but is completely obsolete today. "Divers of Asher"
(II Chron. 30: 11) means "a few men of Asher". In Mark 8: 3 we read that the Lord
Jesus had compassion on the multitude "for divers of them came from afar", which
means, in modern English, "Some of them had come a long way". The prohibition of
sowing a vineyard "with divers seeds" (Deut. 22: 9) means sowing with two or more
different kinds of seeds. "Divers diseases" (Matt. 4: 24) means "various illnesses",
"divers trials", "various test".
DOCTOR. This word originally meant nothing more than teacher. In Luke 2: 46
we have the occasion of the Lord Jesus visiting the Temple as a boy and "sitting in the
midst of the doctors". These were not medical men but teachers of the law as in
Luke 5: 17. "Doctrine" likewise means "teaching", and in the A.V. the act of teaching as
well.
DUKE. This word, in the A.V., is used for the Chief of Edom. It has no thought of a
hereditary title of nobility as used in Great Britain. The word just means a leader, coming
from the Latin dux (leader). Wyclif translates Matt. 2: 6 "for of thee a duke shall go out
that shall govern my people Israel", referring to the Lord Jesus, but he was translating
from the Latin. Tyndale used the word "captayne" and the A.V. the word "governor".
EAR and PLOW. Both these words are old verbs which have the same meaning, to
prepare the soil for sowing by turning it over in furrows. The word `ear' is used by the