to put something together and fit it out so that it stands finished and ready for use: to build, to furnish, to make ready in advance.
This is a workman's word. It covers taking materials and turning them into something complete: a boat, a house, a tent with all its furniture set in place. The finishing counts as much as the making. Something handled this way is not merely standing, it is stocked, outfitted, and fit for the job it was meant for.
Three shades follow from that one idea:
- Noah puts an ark together out of timber, so that something exists which was not there before.
- The desert tent is set up and stocked with its lampstand, its table, and its bread.
- A messenger gets a road ready for the king travelling behind him.
In English "prepare the way" sounds like a figure of speech, but the Greek keeps the labor in view: clearing ground, leveling it, making a road fit to travel. That is why the Gospels reach for this word when they quote the promise about the messenger, rather than the ordinary verb for getting something ready (ἑτοιμάζω), which stands right beside it in Luke 1:17.
Hebrews leans on the building side and pushes it as far as it will go. Every house has someone who built it, the writer says, and the one who built everything is God. Set next to the usual Greek verb for putting up a building (οἰκοδομέω), this word adds the note of a job carried all the way through to completion.