This verb means to speak beforehand or in advance, with two main applications in classical and biblical Greek. First, it can mean prophetic foretelling or warning about future events, as when oracles or prophets announced what would come. Second, it carried the administrative sense of publicly ordering or prescribing something in advance, such as military commanders ordering troops to assemble or officials declaring regulations. The passive voice often indicated what had been previously stated or prescribed. New Testament writers used it for prophetic declarations fulfilled in Christ.