Bible Dictionary

DISCOVER

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To discover means to find out, perceive, reveal, or uncover. In older biblical English it often means to strip bare or disclose what had been concealed.

Definition

Discover means to gain sight or knowledge of something, ascertain it, or uncover what was hidden. In older biblical English it may mean to exhibit, disclose, unmask, lay bare, or remove a covering. It can therefore describe finding a hiding place, revealing oneself, exposing forests, or making something naked. In the New Testament it may also mean coming in sight of or perceiving something.

Biblical Usage

Biblical usage ranges from discovering David’s hiding place to uncovering or laying bare what was concealed. The word is also used of bringing something to light, revealing oneself, and stripping forests bare. In the New Testament it can describe seeing land from a ship or perceiving a place.

Historical Background

The older English sense differs substantially from modern usage. Several Hebrew words underlie the Old Testament renderings, with meanings including knowing, making bare, and making naked. In the King James Version, discover often has an archaic meaning that later revisions express with words such as uncover, perceive, or come in sight.

Historical Bible Dictionaries

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>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 1Sa 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 Jer 13:26 (chashaph, "to make bare") and Hab 3:13 (`arar, "to make naked").)</p><p>(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" (Ex 20:26; Job 12:22; Isa 57:8 ("discovered thyself" the King James Version and the English Revised Version); Jer 13:26; La 2:14; Ho 7:1; Na 3:5).</p><p>(2) "To cause to be no longer a covering," "to lay bare" (2Sa 22:16 the King James Version).</p><p>(3) "To bring to light," "disclose" (1Sa 14:8,11 (the English Revised Version with the King James Version "discover")).</p><p>(4) "To unmask" or "reveal oneself" (Pr 18:2 the King James Version).</p><p>(5) "To take away the covering of" (Isa 22:8 the King James Version).</p><p>(6) "To lay bare" (Hab 3:13). In Ps 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).</p><p>In the New Testament (the King James Version), the word "discover" occurs as a translation of the Greek anaphanantes in Ac 21:3, and for katenooun in Ac 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."</p><p>W. N. Stearns</p>
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