This term in the O.T. generally signifies that which God 'ordered' for His people to observe. "They kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them." Psalm 99:7 . "Ye are gone away from mine ordinances." Malachi 3:7 . It is also applied to things in creation: God giveth "the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night." Jeremiah 31:35 . David made an ordinance. Ezra 3:10 : cf. Nehemiah 10:32 . In the N.T. it refers especially to the enactments of the law: "ordinances of divine service," Hebrews 9:1,10; "blotting out the handwriting of ordinances." Colossians 2:14 . It is also applied to human laws, Romans 13:2; 1 Peter 2:13; and to the rules of the moralists. Colossians 2:20 . The directions that Paul had given to the Corinthians are in the A.V. called 'ordinances,' 1 Corinthians 11:2; margin , 'traditions.'