the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Dictionaries
Wither
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Yâbêsh (יָבֵשׁ, Strong's #3001), “to be dry, be dried up, be withered.” This term is found throughout the development of the Hebrew language and a few other Semitic languages. It is found approximately 70 times in the Hebrew Old Testament. In its verbal form yâbêsh is found for the first time in Gen. 8:7, when after the Flood, “the waters were dried up from the earth.” However, the noun derivative, yabbashah, which means “dry ground,” already occurs in Gen. 1:9.
Physical “drying up” can involve bread (Josh. 9:5), the ground in time of drought (Jer. 23:10; Amos 4:7), brooks and streams (1 Kings 17:7), and crops (Isa. 42:15). The shortness of man’s life is compared to the “drying up” of grass (Ps. 90:6; 102:11; Isa. 40:7). Because of affliction, the heart too “withers” like the grass (Ps. 102:4). In his parable of the vine, Ezekiel likens God’s judgment on Judah to the “withering” of a vine that is pulled up (Ezek. 17:9-10). Because of his disobedience, Jeroboam’s hand “is dried up” as judgment from God (1 Kings 13:4). Psychosomatic awareness is clearly demonstrated in Prov. 17:22: “… A broken spirit drieth the bones.”
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Wither'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/w/wither.html. 1940.
