Bible Dictionary
ISSUES
Issues may mean ways of escape or the outgoings of a place. Proverbs also uses the term figuratively for the choices and actions that flow from the heart.
Definition
“Issues” literally means outgoings. According to context, it may refer to ways of escape or to the free moral choices that proceed from a person.
Biblical Usage
The term describes God’s ways of escape and, figuratively, the moral choices that flow from the heart. Its biblical use therefore includes both deliverance and the direction of personal conduct.
Historical Background
The expression is based on a word meaning “outgoings,” which allows both the literal idea of exits and the figurative idea of actions proceeding from within.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ish'-uz (tots'-oth, literally, "outgoings"):</p><p>(1) Ways of escape (Ps 68:20 the King James Version);</p><p>(2) free moral choices (Pr 4:23).</p>