HERALD

A court official, used to make public proclamation of royal commands and decrees. The word appears at Daniel 3:4, where a herald is mentioned as declaring Nebuchadnezzar’s decree for the people to worship the image he made. When Daniel was to become third ruler in the kingdom of Babylon according to King Belshazzar’s command, this fact was “heralded.” (Dan. 5:29) In the ancient Greek games a herald announced the name and country of each contestant and the name, country and father of a victor.

The Greek verb translated “to preach” is ke·rysʹsein. This Greek verb, which occurs many times in the Christian Greek Scriptures, means, basically, “to make proclamation as a herald; to be a herald, officiate as a herald; to be an announcer; to summon by herald; proclaim (as a conqueror).” The related noun is keʹryx and means “herald; public messenger; envoy; crier (who made proclamation and kept order in assemblies, etc.).” Another related noun is keʹryg·ma, which means “that which is cried by a herald; proclamation; announcement (of victory in games); mandate; summons.” The New English Bible, of 1961, reads, at Mark 13:10: “But before the end the Gospel must be proclaimed to all nations.” (Compare Yg; Ro; see also Mark 1:45; Revelation 5:2.) This means that the proclaimers would be acting like heralds.

Ke·rysʹsein, in general, means, therefore, “to proclaim” (good or bad news), as distinguished from eu·ag·ge·liʹzo, “to bring, or declare, good news.” Noah was a preacher (or, herald, keʹryx) to the antediluvian world, warning them. (2 Pet. 2:5) Christ preached (like a herald) to the spirits in prison, but not the good news. (1 Pet. 3:18, 19) Various texts, however, use ke·rysʹsein in conjunction with the public preaching (or, heralding) of the good news of God’s kingdom.—Matt. 24:14; Mark 14:9; Luke 8:1; 9:2; Rom. 10:14.