The meaning of Discover in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
dis-kuv'-er: In modern usage the word "discover" signifies "to get first sight or knowledge of," "to ascertain," or "to explore." Such usage appears in I Samuel 22:6 of the discovery of David's hiding-place, where the Hebrew uses yadha'. In the King James Version the word "discover" often occurs in a sense now archaic or even obsolete. (Note in the cases cited below the Hebrew word is galah, except Jeremiah 13:26 (chashaph, "to make bare") and Habakkuk 3:13 ('arar, "to make naked").) (1) "To exhibit," "uncover" (or "betray"), in which examples the English Revised Version also reads with the King James Version "discover"; the American Standard Revised Version "uncover" (Exodus 20:26; Job 12:22; Isaiah 57:8 ("discovered thyself" the King James Version and the English Revised Version); Jeremiah 13:26; Lamentations 2:14; Hosea 7:1; Nahum 3:5). (2) "To cause to be no longer a covering," "to lay bare" (II Samuel 22:16 the King James Version). (3) "To bring to light," "disclose" (I Samuel 14:8, I Samuel 14:11 (the English Revised Version with the King James Version "discover")). (4) "To unmask" or "reveal oneself" (Proverbs 18:2 the King James Version). (5) "To take away the covering of" (Isaiah 22:8 the King James Version). (6) "To lay bare" (Habakkuk 3:13). In Psalms 29:9, the King James Version reads: "The voice of the Lord .... discovereth the forests," where the Revised Version (British and American) reads, "strippeth the forests bare," i.e. "strippeth the forests of their leaves" (Perowne, The Psalms, I, 248); "strippeth bare the forests" (Briggs, Psalms, I, 251, 253).
In the New Testament (the King James Version), the word "discover" occurs as a translation of the Greek anaphanantes in Acts 21:3, and for katenooun in Acts 27:39, where the Revised Version (British and American) reads in the first instance "had come in sight of," and in the latter case "perceived."
W. N. Stearns
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