THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.

kon-sep'-shun, kon-sev' (harah, and derivatives; sullambano): Physically, the beginning of a new life in the womb of a mother, "to catch on," used thus some forty times, as in Ge 3:16; 4:1; Ps 51:5. Metaphorically, applied to the start and growth within the heart, of thought, purpose, desire, e.g. "conceive mischief" (Job 15:35; Ps 7:14), "conceive chaff" (Isa 33:11). This figure is carried out in details in Jas 1:15: "Lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin."