Oracles
In some translations of The Bible, oracle, from the Latin word oraculum, meaning to speak (oral and orator are derived from the same word) is used to translate the original Hebrew word of the Scriptures which means speak or word. In the Old Testament, where it was used singularly, it referred either to the Most Holy Place of the Temple, or the Word of God. In the New Testament, oracle is used in a plural form to translate the original Greek word log-ee-on (to which Logos is related), which means words or utterances of God.
The Most Holy Place
In the Temple (see Temples):
"So Solomon built the House, and finished it. And he built the walls of the House within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the House, and the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the House with planks of fir. And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the House, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the Most Holy Place. And the House, that is, the Temple before it, was forty cubits long." (1 Kings 6:14-17 KJV) (see Layout Of Solomon's Temple)
"For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of The Ark, and the cherubims covered The Ark and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves of The Ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from The Ark before the oracle" (2 Chronicles 5:8-9 KJV) (see The Ark Of The Covenant)
The Word Of God
"Now in those days the counsel which Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the oracle of God [see Urim And Thummim]; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, both by David and by Absalom." (2 Samuel 16:23 RSV)
New Testament References
"He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up.' This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us." (Acts 7:36-38 RSV) (see Rock Of Ages)
"For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God" (Hebrews 5:12 KJV)
"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to Whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:11 KJV)
Fact Finder: Did the Christian apostle Paul say that the Jews were entrusted with the oracles (or words, as some translations have it) of God?
Romans 3:1-2
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