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."
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The way of the slothful is full of thorns; but the street of the righteous is well cleansed.
I will lay it waste, that it shall neither be twisted nor cut, but bear thorns and briers. I will also forbid the clouds, that they shall not rain upon it.
At the same time all vineyards - though there be a thousand vines in one, and were sold for a thousand silverlings - shall be turned to briers and thorns. Like as they shall come into the land with arrows and bows, so shall all the land become briers and thorns. read more. And as for all hills that now are hewn down, thou shalt not come upon them, for fear of briers and thorns. But the cattle shall be driven thither, and the sheep shall feed there."
But the light of Israel shall be that fire, and his Sanctuary shall be the flame, and it shall kindle, and burn up his thorns and briers in one day.
I hear no evil will in my mind. Who will compel me that I, greatly forgetting all faithfulness, should burn it up at once with thorns and bushes?
For thorns, there shall grow Fir trees, and the Myrtle tree in the stead of briers. And this shall be done to the praise of the LORD, and for an everlasting token, that shall not be taken away.
She shall no more be a pricking thorn, and a hurting brier unto the house of Israel, nor unto them that lie round about her and hate her: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The best of them is but as a thistle, and the most righteous of them is but as a brier in the hedge. But when the day of thy preachers cometh, that thou shalt be visited: then shall they be wasted away.
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns? Or figs of thistles?
but that ground, which beareth thorns and briars, is reproved, and is nigh unto cursing: 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 the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, I will tear the flesh of you with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers."
And Gideon said, "Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, I will tear the flesh of you with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers."
when the unthrifty men are all of them as thorns taken out of their places, which cannot be taken with hands.
when the unthrifty men are all of them as thorns taken out of their places, which cannot be taken with hands.
For thorns, there shall grow Fir trees, and the Myrtle tree in the stead of briers. And this shall be done to the praise of the LORD, and for an everlasting token, that shall not be taken away.
For thorns, there shall grow Fir trees, and the Myrtle tree in the stead of briers. And this shall be done to the praise of the LORD, and for an everlasting token, that shall not be taken away.
"Therefore, thou son of man, fear them not; neither be afraid of their words: for they shall rebel against thee, and despise thee. Yea, thou shalt dwell among scorpions. But fear not their words, be not abashed at their looks: for it is a froward household.
"Therefore, thou son of man, fear them not; neither be afraid of their words: for they shall rebel against thee, and despise thee. Yea, thou shalt dwell among scorpions. But fear not their words, be not abashed at their looks: for it is a froward household.
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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and it shall bear thorns and thistles unto thee. And thou shalt eat the herbs of the field:
And Gideon said, "Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, I will tear the flesh of you 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 all to tear them therewith.
The way of the slothful is full of thorns; but the street of the righteous is well cleansed.
I will lay it waste, that it shall neither be twisted nor cut, but bear thorns and briers. I will also forbid the clouds, that they shall not rain upon it.
At the same time all vineyards - though there be a thousand vines in one, and were sold for a thousand silverlings - shall be turned to briers and thorns. Like as they shall come into the land with arrows and bows, so shall all the land become briers and thorns. read more. And as for all hills that now are hewn down, thou shalt not come upon them, for fear of briers and thorns. But the cattle shall be driven thither, and the sheep shall feed there."
Therefore shall the LORD have no pleasure in their young men, neither favour their fatherless and widows. For they are all together hypocrites and wicked, and all their mouths speak folly. After all this shall not the LORD's wrath cease, but yet his hand shall be stretched out still.
But the light of Israel shall be that fire, and his Sanctuary shall be the flame, and it shall kindle, and burn up his thorns and briers in one day.
I hear no evil will in my mind. Who will compel me that I, greatly forgetting all faithfulness, should burn it up at once with thorns and bushes?
My people's field shall bring thorns and thistles, for in every house is voluptuousness; and in the cities, willfulness.
For thorns, there shall grow Fir trees, and the Myrtle tree in the stead of briers. And this shall be done to the praise of the LORD, and for an everlasting token, that shall not be taken away.
"Therefore, thou son of man, fear them not; neither be afraid of their words: for they shall rebel against thee, and despise thee. Yea, thou shalt dwell among scorpions. But fear not their words, be not abashed at their looks: for it is a froward household.
"Therefore, thou son of man, fear them not; neither be afraid of their words: for they shall rebel against thee, and despise thee. Yea, thou shalt dwell among scorpions. But fear not their words, be not abashed at their looks: for it is a froward household.
"Therefore, thou son of man, fear them not; neither be afraid of their words: for they shall rebel against thee, and despise thee. Yea, thou shalt dwell among scorpions. But fear not their words, be not abashed at their looks: for it is a froward household.
She shall no more be a pricking thorn, and a hurting brier unto the house of Israel, nor unto them that lie round about her and hate her: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
For Israel is gone back like a wanton cow. The LORD therefore shall make her feed, as the lamb that goeth astray.
The best of them is but as a thistle, and the most righteous of them is but as a brier in the hedge. But when the day of thy preachers cometh, that thou shalt be visited: then shall they be wasted away.