Reference: Brier
Easton
This word occurs frequently, and is the translation of several different terms.
(1.) Mic 7:4, it denotes a species of thorn shrub used for hedges. In Pr 15:19 the word is rendered "thorn" (Heb. hedek, "stinging"), supposed by some to be what is called the "apple of Sodom" (q.v.).
(2.) Eze 28:24, sallon', properly a "prickle," such as is found on the shoots of the palm tree.
(3.) Isa 55:13, probably simply a thorny bush. Some, following the Vulgate Version, regard it as the "nettle."
(4.) Isa 5:6; 7:23-25, etc., frequently used to denote thorny shrubs in general. In Isa 10:17; 27:4, it means troublesome men.
(5.) In Heb 6:8 the Greek word (tribolos) so rendered means "three-pronged," and denotes the land caltrop, a low throny shrub resembling in its spikes the military "crow-foot." Comp. Mt 7:16, "thistle."
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns; But the path of the upright is made a highway.
and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bow shall one come thither, because all the land shall be briers and thorns. read more. And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.
And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
Wrath is not in me: would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them, I would burn them together.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are round about them, that did despite unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.
The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.
By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned.
Fausets
Jg 8:7,16: "Gideon said, I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers." Gesenius for "briers" translates "with threshing machines with stones or flints underneath," barquan being iron pyrites. But the KJV is supported by the old versions; prickly plants such as grow on strong ground. In Eze 2:6 Gesenius translates as margin "rebels"; "though rebellions men like thorns be with thee." But "briers" answers better to "thorns" which follows: sarubim from saaraph, "to sting." The wicked are often so called (2Sa 23:6; Song 2:2). In Isa 55:13 "instead of the brier (sirpad) shall come up the myrtle tree." The sirpad, from saaraph "to sting," and saphad "to prick," is the nettle.
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And Gideon said, Therefore when Jehovah hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
And Gideon said, Therefore when Jehovah hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
But the ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust away, Because they cannot be taken with the hand;
But the ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust away, Because they cannot be taken with the hand;
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
Hastings
Watsons
BRIER. This word occurs several times in our translation of the Bible, but with various authorities from the original.
1. ???????, Jg 8:7,16, is a particular kind of thorn. 2. ???, Pr 15:19; Mic 7:4.
It seems hardly possible to determine what kind of plant this is. Some kind of tangling prickly shrub is undoubtedly meant. In the former passage there is a beautiful opposition, which is lost in our rendering: "The narrow way of the slothful is like a perplexed path among briers; whereas the broad road" (elsewhere rendered causeway) "of the righteous is a high bank;" that is, free from obstructions, direct, conspicuous, and open. The common course of life of these two characters answers to this comparison. Their manner of going about business, or of transacting it, answers to this. An idle man always takes the most intricate, the most oblique, and eventually the most thorny, measures to accomplish his purpose; the honest and diligent man prefers the most open and direct. In Micah, the unjust judge, taking bribes, is a brier, holding every thing that comes within his reach, hooking all that he can catch.
3. ?????, Eze 2:6. This word is translated by the Septuagint, ???????????????, stung by the aestrus, or gadfly; and they use the like word in Ho 4:16, where, what in our version is "a backsliding heifer," they render "a heifer stung by the oestrus." These coincident renderings lead to the belief that both places may be understood of some venomous insect. The word ??? may lead us to sar-ran, by which the Arabs thus describe "a great bluish fly, having greenish eyes, its tail armed with a piercer, by which it pesters almost all horned cattle, settling on their heads, &c. Often it creeps up the noses of asses. It is a species of gadfly; but carrying its sting in its tail."
4. ????, Eze 28:24, and ??????, Eze 2:6, must be classed among thorns. The second word Parkhurst supposes to be a kind of thorn, overspreading a large surface of ground, as the dew brier. It is used in connection with ???, which, in Ge 3:18, is rendered thorns. The author of "Scripture Illustrated" queries, however, whether, as it is associated with "scorpions" in Eze 2:6, both this word and serebim may not mean some species of venomous insects.
5. ????, mentioned only in Isa 55:13, probably means a prickly plant; but what particular kind it is impossible to determine.
6. ????, This word is used only by the Prophet Isaiah, and in the following places: Isa 5:6; 7:23-25; 9:17; 10:17; 27:4; 32:13. It is probably a brier of a low kind, such as overruns uncultivated lands.
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thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
And Gideon said, Therefore when Jehovah hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.
The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns; But the path of the upright is made a highway.
and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor hoed; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bow shall one come thither, because all the land shall be briers and thorns. read more. And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.
Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for every one is profane and an evil-doer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
Wrath is not in me: would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them, I would burn them together.
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any that are round about them, that did despite unto them; and they shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.
For Israel hath behaved himself stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer: now will Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place.
The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.