Picture

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, produced by means of painting, drawing, engraving, photography, etc.; a representation in colors. By extension, a figure; a model.

(2): ( n.) An image or resemblance; a representation, either to the eye or to the mind; that which, by its likeness, brings vividly to mind some other thing; as, a child is the picture of his father; the man is the picture of grief.

(3): ( v. t.) To draw or paint a resemblance of; to delineate; to represent; to form or present an ideal likeness of; to bring before the mind.

(4): ( n.) The art of painting; representation by painting.

King James Dictionary

PIC'TURE, n. L. pictura, from pingo, to paint.

1. A painting exhibiting the resemblance of any thing a likeness drawn in colors.

Pictures and shapes are but secondary objects.

2. The words of painters painting.

Quintilian, when he saw any well expressed image of grief, either in picture or sculpture, would usually weep.

3. Any resemblance or representation, either to the eye or to the understanding. Thus we say, a child is the picture of his father the poet has drawn an exquisite picture of grief.

PIC'TURE, To paint a resemblance.

Love is like a painter, who, in drawing the picture of a friend having a blemish in one eye, would picture only the other side of the face.

1. To represent to form or present an ideal likeness.

I do picture it in my mind.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

In  Isaiah 2:16 the expression 'pleasant pictures' is supposed to mean 'pictures of desire,' as it reads in the margin, referring to anything on which their hearts were set. In ancient Egypt the nearest approach to what is now called a picture, is the coloured representations made on the walls of the temples and tombs. The walls in Babylon were ornamented with pictures on enamelled bricks: these seem to be alluded to in  Ezekiel 23:14 : cf.  Numbers 33:52 . In  Proverbs 25:11 "apples of gold in pictures of silver" probably describe some piece of jewellery judging from what immediately follows; others prefer to translate it 'graven imagery.'

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Picture. In two of the three passages in which "picture" is used in the Authorized Version it denotes idolatrous representations, either independent images or more usually stones "portrayed," that is, sculptured in low relief, or engraved and colored.  Ezekiel 23:14. Layard, Nin. And Rob. Ii. 306, 308. Moveable pictures, in the modern sense, were doubtless unknown to the Jews. The "pictures of silver" of  Proverbs 25:11, were probably well surfaces or cornices with carvings.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Proverbs 25:11 (b) Golden yellow apples present a beautiful picture against a background of shining radiant silver. A proper word spoken at the right moment and under the proper conditions brings about a most blessed sensation to the heart as does the picture to the eye.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 33:52 2 Proverbs 25:11 3 Isaiah 2:16

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

the rendering in the A.V. in three passages of two Hebrew words which are from the same root ( שָׂכָה , To Look At).

1. Maskith, מִשְׂכַּית , An Image; used alone, either literally (plur. "pictures,"  Proverbs 25:11) or in the sense of Imagination ("conceit,"  Proverbs 18:11; plur. "wish,"  Psalms 73:7); with אֶבֶן , a stone ("image of stone,"  Leviticus 26:1; plur. " pictures,"  Numbers 33:52); with חֶדֶר , An Apartment (plur. "chambers of imagery" [ q.v.],  Ezekiel 8:12), "it denotes idolatrous representations, either independent images, or more usually stones 'portrayed,' i.e., sculptured in low relief, or engraved and colored ( Ezekiel 23:14; Layard, Nin. And Bab. 2:306, 308). Movable pictures, in the modern sense, were doubtless unknown to the Jews; but colored sculptures and drawings on walls or on wood, as mummy-cases, must have been familiar to them in Egypt (see Wilkinson, Anc. Egyptians, 2:277). In later times we read of portraits ( Εἰκόνας ), perhaps busts or intagli, sent by Alexandra to Antony (Josephus, Ant. 15:2, 6). The 'pictures of silver' of  Proverbs 25:11, were probably wall-surfaces or cornices with carvings, and the 'apples of gold' representations of fruit or foliage, like Solomon's flowers and pomegranates ( 1 Kings 6:7). The walls of Babvlon wlere ornamented with pictures on enamelled brick."

2. Sekiyah, שְׂכַיּה , the Flag of a ship, as seen from afar (plur. "picture,"  Isaiah 2:16). The Phoenician and Egyptian vessels had their flags and sails of purple and other splendid colors (see  Ezekiel 27:7; comp. Diod. Sic. 1, 51; Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 3:211). (See Standard).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

pik´t̬ū́r  : This word (in the plural) is found 3 times in the King James Version, namely,   Numbers 33:52;  Isaiah 2:16;  Proverbs 25:11 . In Numbers and Proverbs "pictures" represents the Hebrew word משׂכּית , maskı̄th , "showpiece" "figure." The context in Numbers suggests that the "pictures" or "carved figures" (the Revised Version (British and American) "figured stones") which the Israelites were to destroy were symbols of Canaanite worship and therefore foreign to the religion of Yahweh. In Proverbs for the King James Version "pictures of silver," the English Revised Version has "baskets (the American Standard Revised Version "network") of silver," but a more probable translation is "carvings of silver." "Pictures" stands for a slightly different word (but from the same root) in Isaiah, namely, שׂכיּות , sekhı̄yōth  ; the Revised Version (British and American) renders "imagery" (the Revised Version margin "watchtowers"). The prophet probably alludes to carved figures (of gods in animal or human shapes) on the prows of vessels.