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Bible Dictionaries
Heath
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or ערער , Jeremiah 17:6; Jeremiah 48:6 . "He shall be like the heath in the desert. He shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land." The LXX and Vulgate render oror, "the tamarisk;" and this is strengthened by the affinity of the Hebrew name of this tree with the Turkish oeroer . Taylor and Parkhurst render it "a blasted tree stripped of its foliage." If it be a particular tree, the tamarisk is as likely as any. Celsius thinks it to be the juniper; but from the mention of it as growing in a salt land, in parched places, the author of "Scripture Illustrated" is disposed to seek it among the lichens, a species of plants which are the last production of vegetation under the frozen zone, and under the glowing heat of equatorial deserts; so that it seems best qualified to endure parched places, and a salt land. Hasselquist mentions several kinds seen by him in Egypt, Arabia, and Syria. In Jeremiah 48:6 , the original word is ערוער , which the Septuagint translators have read ערוד , for they render it ονος αγριος , wild ass; and, as this seems best to agree with the flight recommended in the passage, it is to be preferred. See WILD ASS .
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Heath'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/h/heath.html. 1831-2.
