Bible Dictionary
DECLINE
To decline may mean to turn aside, especially from a right path, or to decrease as the sun and shadows move toward evening. Scripture uses both literal and figurative senses of the word.
Definition
Decline may mean to turn aside from a path, especially from what is right, or to move downward as the sun and its shadows approach evening. In older biblical English it can therefore describe either moral or directional deviation, or the lengthening and descending shadows of afternoon.
Biblical Usage
The King James Version uses decline in the sense of “turn aside” in several passages, while other passages use it of afternoon shadows. Revised translations often render the former “turn aside” and use “decline” for the latter sense.
Historical Background
The word reflects older English usage. In the relevant passages, its meanings are distinguished by context: moral or directional departure in some texts, and the movement of the sun and shadows toward evening in others.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>de-klin' [(@cur], or sur, naTah): In the King James Version this word occurs 9 times in its original sense (now obsolete) of "turn aside." the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "turn aside" in Ex 23:2; De 17:11; 2Ch 34:2; Job 23:11. In Ps 102:11; 109:23, the lengthening shadows of afternoon are said to "decline," and the Revised Version (British and American) introduces the word in the same general sense in Jud 19:8; 2Ki 20:10; Jer 6:4. See AFTERNOON.</p>