the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Leek
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (חָצַיר, chatsir', from חָצִר, to enclose, also to grow green; occurs in several places in the Old Testament, where it is variously translated, as grass in 1 Kings 18:5; 2 Kings 19:26; Job 40:15; Psalms 37:2, etc.; Isaiah 15:6, etc.; herb in Job 8:12; hay in Proverbs 27:25, and Isaiah 15:6; and court in Isaiah 34:13; but in Numbers 11:5 it is translated "leeks:" Sept. τὰπράσα, Vulg. pori). Hebrew scholars state that the word signifies "greens" or grass" in general; and it is Ino doubt clear, from the context of most of the above passages, that this must be its meaning. (See GRASS). There is, therefore, no reason why it should not be so translated in all the passages where it occurs, except in the last. It is evidently incorrect to translate it hay, as in the above passages of Proverbs and Isaiah, because the people of Eastern countries, as it has been observed, do not make hay. The author of Fragments, in continuation of Calmet, has justly remarked on the incorrectness of our version, "The hay appeareth, and the tender grass showeth itself, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered" (Proverbs 27:25): "Now certainly," says he, "if the tender grass is but just beginning to show itself, the hay, which is grass cut and dried after it has arrived at maturity, ought by no means to be associated with it; still less ought it to be placed before it." The author continues: "The word, I apprehend, means the first shoots, the rising, just budding spires of grass." So in Isaiah 15:6. (See HAY).
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