Device

de-vis': "A scheme," "invention," "plot." In the Old Testament it stands for six Hebrew words, of which the most common is machashebheth (from chashabh, "to think," "contrive"). In the New Testament it occurs only twice, once for Greek enthumesis (Ac 17:29), and once for noema (2Co 2:11). Sometimes the word means simply that which is planned or invented, without any evil implication, as in 2Ch 2:14; Ac 17:29 (of artistic work or invention), and Ec 9:10 (in the general sense of reasoning or contriving). But more frequently it is used in an evil sense, of a wicked purpose or plot, "Let us devise devices against Jeremiah" (Jer 18:18); "For we are not ignorant of his (i.e. Satan's) devices" (2Co 2:11), etc.

D. Miall Edwards