📖 Biblical Definition
To foretell is to declare beforehand what God will do — the predictive dimension of prophecy. It is distinct from forth-telling (declaring already-revealed truth, the prophet’s primary work); foretelling reveals what is yet hidden in the divine future. Scripture is rich in fulfilled foretellings: Christ’s death and resurrection (foretold in Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; Daniel 9), the virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14), Bethlehem as His birthplace (Micah 5:2), Cyrus by name (Isaiah 44:28-45:1), the destruction of Jerusalem (Christ in Matthew 24:2, fulfilled AD 70), the conversion of the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6), and the consummation. Foretelling is the sermon’s occasional crown, not its spine. Fulfilled prophecy is one of Scripture’s strongest evidences of divine authorship.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
To predict; to declare beforehand; specifically, of prophets declaring what God will do.
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FORETELL, v.t. To predict; to tell before an event happens; to prophesy.
Foretelling is one mark of true prophecy in Scripture (Deut 18:22), but not the only one. The fulfillment-test — if the thing follow not, the LORD hath not spoken — protects against false foretellers.
📖 Key Scripture
Deuteronomy 18:22 — "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken."
Isaiah 53:5 — "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities."
Micah 3:12 — "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps."
Acts 3:18 — "But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern foretelling-fascination often outruns the data; Scripture commends careful foretelling, tested by fulfillment, and discounts the rest.
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Deuteronomy 18:22 is the test: if it does not come to pass, the LORD has not spoken. Many prophetic claims fail the test; many of those who failed the test do not stop claiming. The household discerns by fruit, not by confidence.
True foretelling has consequences. Acts 3:18 says the prophets foretold Christ's suffering and God fulfilled. The recovery of confident foretelling vocabulary is not in adding new predictions; it is in trusting the predictions already fulfilled and looking for those yet to be.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Same Greek verb as forth-tell; context distinguishes.
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Greek prophēteuō — to prophesy (forth-tell or foretell, depending on context).
Note: proorao (Acts 2:31) — to see before, foresee — is the more specifically predictive verb.
Usage
"Test the foretelling by fulfillment; that is Deuteronomy."
"True foretelling has consequences; false foretelling has confidence."
"The prophets foretold Christ's suffering; God fulfilled it."