'Trees' in the Bible

Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.

The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

So Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were within all the confines of its border, were deeded over

Then Jacob took fresh rods of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white stripes in them, exposing the white which was in the rods.

For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Thus nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.

‘When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten.

Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.

Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

They journeyed from Marah and came to Elim; and in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied,

a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey;

“When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?

Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.

You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off.

The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground.

and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening.

It came about at sunset that Joshua gave a command, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and put large stones over the mouth of the cave, to this very day.

And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees.

Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’

But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my fatness with which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’

Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come, reign over us!’

But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit, and go to wave over the trees?’

Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come, reign over us!’

But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my new wine, which cheers God and men, and go to wave over the trees?’

Finally all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come, reign over us!’

The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

So Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him; and Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees, and lifted it and laid it on his shoulder. Then he said to the people who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do likewise.”

Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees and carpenters and stonemasons; and they built a house for David.

When David inquired of the Lord, He said, “You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees.

It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then the Lord will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.”

He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall; he spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish.

Then he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, inner and outer sanctuaries.

So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread the gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the engraved work.

He engraved on the plates of its stays and on its borders, cherubim, lions and palm trees, according to the clear space on each, with wreaths all around.

Also the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almug trees and precious stones.

The king made of the almug trees supports for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again nor have they been seen to this day.

The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland.

Thus they destroyed the cities; and each one threw a stone on every piece of good land and filled it. So they stopped all the springs of water and felled all the good trees, until in Kir-hareseth only they left its stones; however, the slingers went about it and struck it.

So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.

until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die.” But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.”

Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees, masons and carpenters, to build a house for him.

David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees.

It shall be when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.”

Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord;For He is coming to judge the earth.

Baal-hanan the Gederite had charge of the olive and sycamore trees in the Shephelah; and Joash had charge of the stores of oil.

He overlaid the main room with cypress wood and overlaid it with fine gold, and ornamented it with palm trees and chains.

The servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum trees and precious stones.

The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland.

Then the men who were designated by name arose, took the captives, and they clothed all their naked ones from the spoil; and they gave them clothes and sandals, fed them and gave them drink, anointed them with oil, led all their feeble ones on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers; then they returned to Samaria.

So they proclaimed and circulated a proclamation in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hills, and bring olive branches and wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches and branches of other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

“They captured fortified cities and a fertile land.They took possession of houses full of every good thing,Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,Fruit trees in abundance.So they ate, were filled and grew fat,And reveled in Your great goodness.

It seems as if one had lifted upHis axe in a forest of trees.

He destroyed their vines with hailstonesAnd their sycamore trees with frost.

Let the field exult, and all that is in it.Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy

The trees of the Lord drink their fill,The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,

Where the birds build their nests,And the stork, whose home is the fir trees.

He struck down their vines also and their fig trees,And shattered the trees of their territory.

Mountains and all hills;Fruit trees and all cedars;

I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;

I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.

“Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,So is my beloved among the young men.In his shade I took great delight and sat down,And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,With all the trees of frankincense,Myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.

“I went down to the orchard of nut treesTo see the blossoms of the valley,To see whether the vine had buddedOr the pomegranates had bloomed.

When it was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.

And the rest of the trees of his forest will be so small in numberThat a child could write them down.

“Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’

Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow.

“For you will go out with joyAnd be led forth with peace;The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

“They will devour your harvest and your food;They will devour your sons and your daughters;They will devour your flocks and your herds;They will devour your vines and your fig trees;They will demolish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

For thus says the Lord of hosts,“Cut down her treesAnd cast up a siege against Jerusalem.This is the city to be punished,In whose midst there is only oppression.

Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

As they remember their children,So they remember their altars and their AsherimBy green trees on the high hills.

“Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest?

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord; I bring down the high tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will perform it.”

“They have made all your planks of fir trees from Senir;They have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.

‘The waters made it grow, the deep made it high.With its rivers it continually extended all around its planting place,And sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.

‘Therefore its height was loftier than all the trees of the fieldAnd its boughs became many and its branches longBecause of many waters as it spread them out.

‘The cedars in God’s garden could not match it;The cypresses could not compare with its boughs,And the plane trees could not match its branches.No tree in God’s garden could compare with it in its beauty.

‘I made it beautiful with the multitude of its branches,And all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God, were jealous of it.

so that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their stature, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand erect in their height. For they have all been given over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit.”

‘Thus says the Lord God, “On the day when it went down to Sheol I caused lamentations; I closed the deep over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were stopped up, and I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away on account of it.

I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I made it go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath.

“To which among the trees of Eden are you thus equal in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath; you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. So is Pharaoh and all his hordes!”’ declares the Lord God.”

It was carved with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces,

From the ground to above the entrance cherubim and palm trees were carved, as well as on the wall of the nave.

Also there were carved on them, on the doors of the nave, cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the front of the porch outside.

There were latticed windows and palm trees on one side and on the other, on the sides of the porch; thus were the side chambers of the house and the thresholds.

Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

“I will destroy her vines and fig trees,Of which she said, ‘These are my wagesWhich my lovers have given me.’And I will make them a forest,And the beasts of the field will devour them.

The vine dries upAnd the fig tree fails;The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,All the trees of the field dry up.Indeed, rejoicing dries upFrom the sons of men.

To You, O Lord, I cry;For fire has devoured the pastures of the wildernessAnd the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.