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Tuesday, November 4th, 2025
the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bank
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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bank :
(1) (שפה , sāphāh , "lip," "edge"): "By the bank of the Jordan" (2 Kings 2:13 ); "Upon the bank of the river were very many trees" (Ezekiel 47:7 , Ezekiel 47:12 ).
(2) (גּדה , gādhāh , "cuttings"): Always of banks overflowed (Joshua 3:15; Joshua 4:18; Isaiah 8:7 ), as also
(3) (גּדיה , gidhyāh , 1 Chronicles 12:15 ).
(4) (סללה , sōlelāh , "mound," "rampart"): "Cast up a bank against the city" (2 Samuel 20:15 , the English Revised Version "mount," the American Standard Revised Version "mound"; compare 2 Kings 19:32; Isaiah 37:33 ). "Banks of sweet herbs" (Song of Solomon 5:13 ); "the marginal rendering is the right one, 'towers of perfumes,' i.e. plants with fragrant leaves and flowers trained on trellis-work" (Speaker's Commentary in the place cited.).
(5) ((χάραξ , chárax , "a stake," "entrenchment"): "Thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee" (Luke 19:43 the King James Version "trench"). It is probably a military term and stands for a "palisade" (so the Revised Version, margin), i.e. probably an embankment of stakes strengthened with branches and earth, with a ditch behind it, used by the besiegers as a protection against arrows or attacking parties (Latin vallum ), such, no doubt, as was employed by Titus in the siege of Jerusalem, 70 ad (Josephus, BJ , V, vi, 2).
(6) BANK; BANKING (which see).
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Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Bank'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/b/bank.html. 1915.
