Reference: Picture
Morish
In Isa 2:16 the expression 'pleasant pictures' is supposed to mean 'pictures of desire,' as it reads in the margin, referring to anything on which their hearts were set. In ancient Egypt the nearest approach to what is now called a picture, is the coloured representations made on the walls of the temples and tombs. The walls in Babylon were ornamented with pictures on enamelled bricks: these seem to be alluded to in Eze 23:14: cf. Nu 33:52. In Pr 25:11 "apples of gold in pictures of silver" probably describe some piece of jewellery judging from what immediately follows; others prefer to translate it 'graven imagery.'
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Smith
Picture.
In two of the three passages in which "picture" is used in the Authorized Version it denotes idolatrous representations, either independent images or more usually stones "portrayed," i.e. sculptured in low relief, or engraved and colored.
Layard, Nin. and Rob. ii. 306, 308. Moveable pictures, in the modern sense, were doubtless unknown to the Jews. The "pictures of silver" of
were probably well surfaces or cornices with carvings.