Precept - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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.

D. Miall Edwards

Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'PRECEPT'". "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". 1915.