the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Reed
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or Rendering given in the English versions for several words used to designate rush-like water-plants of various kinds. These words are: (1) "Gome"; the Cyperus papyrus of Linnæus. (2) "Suf" (Exodus 2:3; Isaiah 19:6); identified by Egyptologists with the Egyptian "thof" (Nile reed; on "Yam Suf" as a name of the Red Sea, see see RED SEA). (3) "Aḥu" (Genesis 41:2,18: Job 8:11): Egyptian loanword denoting a marsh-grass growing on the banks of the Nile and used as fodder; the translation "flag," based on the Vulgate, is, therefore, incorrect. (4) "Agmon" (Isaiah 9:13, 19:15, 58:5; Job 26; Jeremiah 51:32 ["agam"]); generally explained as a kind of rush ("scirpus"); according to the "Hierobotanicon" of Celsius, the common reed. (5) "Ebeh" (only Job 9:26; Arabic, "aba'"; Assyrian, "abu"): the reed or sedge from which, as from the "gome" (Isaiah 18:2), boats were made in Egypt (comp. Erman, "Egypten," p. 636). (6) "Ḳaneh" (1 Kings 14:15 et al.); probably the common marsh-reed, the Amudo donax of Linnæus (Boissier, "Flora Orientalis," 4:564), which is much stouter than the common reed. It was used as a staff (2 Kings 18:21: Isaiah 36:6, 42:3; Ezekiel 29:6), or made into measuring-rods (Ezek. 3), etc. Animals live among the thick reeds (Psalms 68:31 [R. V. 30]), and according to Job 21, behemoth (the hippopotamus) lies "in the covert of the reed," this passage implying that the word "ḳaneh" was used as a general term for this plant, including the common variety (Arundo phragmites). (7) "Gofer"; GOPHER-WOOD.
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Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Reed'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/r/reed.html. 1901.
