Describe
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [1]
"to write," is rendered "describeth" in Romans 10:5 , AV, "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Law ...;" this the RV corrects to "For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the Law ... " See Write.
"to say," is rendered "describeth" in Romans 4:6 , AV, "David describeth the blessedness ...;" this the RV corrects to, "David pronounceth blessing upon ..." This might be regarded as the meaning, if David is considered as the human agent acting for God as the real pronouncer of blessing. Otherwise the verb lego is to be taken in its ordinary sense of "telling or relating;" especially as the blessedness (makarismos) is not an act, but a state of felicity resulting from God's act of justification.
King James Dictionary [2]
Describe, L To write.
1. To delineate or mark the form or figure as, to describe a circle by the compasses. 2. To make or exhibit a figure by motion as, a star describes a circle or an ellipsis in the heavens. 3. To show or represent to others in words to communicate the resemblance of a thing, by naming its nature, form or properties. The poet describes the Trojan horse. The historian describes the battle of Pharsalia. The moralist describes the effects of corrupt manners. The geographer describes countries and cities. 4. To represent by signs. A deaf and dumb man may describe a distant object. Our passions may be described by external motions. 5. To draw a plan to represent by lines and other marks on paper, or other material as, to describe the surface of the earth by a map or chart. 6. To define laxly.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): ( v. t.) To represent by words written or spoken; to give an account of; to make known to others by words or signs; as, the geographer describes countries and cities.
(2): ( v. t.) To distribute into parts, groups, or classes; to mark off; to class.
(3): ( v. i.) To use the faculty of describing; to give a description; as, Milton describes with uncommon force and beauty.
(4): ( v. t.) To represent by drawing; to draw a plan of; to delineate; to trace or mark out; as, to describe a circle by the compasses; a torch waved about the head in such a way as to describe a circle.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
dē̇ - skrı̄b ´: This verb, now obsolete, in the sense used in Joshua 18:4 , Joshua 18:6 , Joshua 18:8 , Joshua 18:9 and Judges 8:14 , is a translation of כּתב , kāthabh , usually rendered "to write" or "inscribe." But in the above passages it has the Old English meaning of dividing into parts or into lots, as for example: "Walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance" ( Joshua 18:4 ); that is, describe in writing the location and size of the several parcels of land Thus portioned out. In Judges 8:14 "described" should be translated "wrote down a list of." "Describe" occurs twice in the King James Version of the New Testament ( Romans 4:6 and Romans 10:5 ), where λέγω , légō , and γράφω , gráphō , are both rendered "describeth." the Revised Version (British and American) corrects both, and substitutes "pronounceth" in the first and "writeth" in the second passage.
Description = "list" (1 Esdras 5:39).
