Reference: Oak
American
As many as six varieties of the oak are found in Palestine. Dr. Robinson speaks of one at Hebron which had a trunk twenty-two and a half feet in circumference; and saw the crests and sides of the hills beyond the Jordan still clothed, as in ancient times, with magnificent oaks, Isa 2:13; Zec 11:2. The oak is often referred to in Scripture, Ge 35:8; Isa 44:14; Am 2:9. There is, however, a second Hebrew word often translated "oak," which is supposed to denote the terebinth or turpentine-tree, called butm by the Arabs, Ge 35:4; Jg 6:11,19; 2Sa 18:9,14. It is translated "elm" in Ho 4.13, and "teil-tree" in Isa 6:13, in which passages the true oak is also mentioned. In many passages where "plain" or "plains" occurs, we should probably understand "terebinth" or "a grove of terebinths," Ge 12:6; 13:18; 14:13; 18:1; De 11:30; Jg 9:6. This tree was found in all countries around the Mediterranean, and in Palestine grew to a large size. It was very long-lived. For many ages after Christ, a tree of this kind near Heron was superstitiously venerated as one of those under which Abraham dwelt at Mamre. Under the welcome shade of oaks and other large trees many public affairs were transacted; sacrifices were offered, courts were held, and kings were crowned, Jos 24:26; Jg 6:11,19; 9:6. See GROVE.
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Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)
So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
A fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty with Abram.)
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem
(Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named Oak of Weeping.)
Are they not across the Jordan River, toward the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the oak of Moreh?
Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord's shrine.
The Lord's angelic messenger came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash's son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so he could hide it from the Midianites.
The Lord's angelic messenger came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash's son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so he could hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon went and prepared a young goat, along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.
Gideon went and prepared a young goat, along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.
All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem.
All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem.
for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so high and mighty, for all the oaks of Bashan;
Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family."
He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress or an oak. He gets trees from the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain makes it grow.
For Israel's sake I destroyed the Amorites. They were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed the fruit on their branches and their roots in the ground.
Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees have been destroyed. Howl, oaks of Bashan, because the impenetrable forest has fallen.
Easton
There are six Hebrew words rendered "oak."
(1.) 'El occurs only in the word El-paran (Ge 14:6). The LXX. renders by "terebinth." In the plural form this word occurs in Isa 1:29; 57:5 (A.V. marg. and R.V., "among the oaks"); Isa 61:3 ("trees"). The word properly means strongly, mighty, and hence a strong tree.
(2.) 'Elah, Ge 35:4, "under the oak which was by Shechem" (R.V. marg., "terebinth"). Isa 6:13, A.V., "teil-tree;" R.V., "terebinth." Isa 1:30, R.V. marg., "terebinth." Absalom in his flight was caught in the branches of a "great oak" (2Sa 18:9; R.V. marg., "terebinth").
(3.) 'Elon, Jg 4:11; 9:6 (R.V., "oak;" A.V., following the Targum, "plain") properly the deciduous species of oak shedding its foliage in autumn.
(4.) 'Elan, only in Da 4:11,14,20, rendered "tree" in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Probably some species of the oak is intended.
(5.) 'Allah, Jos 24:26. The place here referred to is called Allon-moreh ("the oak of Moreh," as in R.V.) in Ge 12:6; 35:4.
(6.) 'Allon, always rendered "oak." Probably the evergreen oak (called also ilex and holm oak) is intended. The oak woods of Bashan are frequently alluded to (Isa 2:13; Eze 27:6). Three species of oaks are found in Palestine, of which the "prickly evergreen oak" (Quercus coccifera) is the most abundant. "It covers the rocky hills of Palestine with a dense brushwood of trees from 8 to 12 feet high, branching from the base, thickly covered with small evergreen rigid leaves, and bearing acorns copiously." The so-called Abraham's oak at Hebron is of this species. Tristram says that this oak near Hebron "has for several centuries taken the place of the once renowned terebinth which marked the site of Mamre on the other side of the city. The terebinth existed at Mamre in the time of Vespasian, and under it the captive Jews were sold as slaves. It disappeared about A.D. 330, and no tree now marks the grove of Mamre. The present oak is the noblest tree in Southern Palestine, being 23 feet in girth, and the diameter of the foliage, which is unsymmetrical, being about 90 feet." (See Hebron; Teil tree.)
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Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)
and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert.
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem
Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord's shrine.
Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' father-in-law. He lived near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem.
Then Absalom happened to come across David's men. Now as Absalom was riding on his mule, it went under the branches of a large oak tree. His head got caught in the oak and he was suspended in midair, while the mule he had been riding kept going.
Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you find so desirable; you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards where you choose to worship. For you will be like a tree whose leaves wither, like an orchard that is unwatered.
for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so high and mighty, for all the oaks of Bashan;
Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family."
you who practice ritual sex under the oaks and every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs.
to strengthen those who mourn in Zion, by giving them a turban, instead of ashes, oil symbolizing joy, instead of mourning, a garment symbolizing praise, instead of discouragement. They will be called oaks of righteousness, trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor.
They made your oars from oaks of Bashan; they made your deck with cypresses from the Kittean isles.
The tree grew large and strong. Its top reached far into the sky; it could be seen from the borders of all the land.
He called out loudly as follows: 'Chop down the tree and lop off its branches! Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit! Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches!
The tree that you saw that grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky, and which could be seen in all the land,
Fausets
eeyl, from uwl "strong," as the Latin robur. The terebinth or turpentine tree. Eloth, Elim, etc., take their name hence; so for "teil tree" (Isa 6:13; 1:29), and for "elms" (Ho 4:13), eelah; allon is the "oaks"; also eelon is "the oak." The Quercus psedo-coccifera is the most abundant in Palestine, covering Carmel with dense brushwood eight to twelve feet high. Its roots are dug up as fuel in the valleys S. of Lebanon, where the living tree is no longer to be seen. Abram's oak near Hebron is of this species, still flourishing in the midst of a field, the stock 23 ft. in girth, and the branch spreading over a circle 90 ft. in diameter.
It is probably sprung from some far back offshoot of the original grove under which he pitched his tent (Ge 13:18), "Abram dwelt at the oaks of Mamre in Hebron." The Quercus aegilops, or "prickly cupped Valonia oak", is found on the hills E. of Nazareth and Tabor. The Quercus infectoria or "dyeing oak" is seldom higher than 30 ft., growing on the eastern sides of Lebanon and the hills of Galilee; its gall-nuts, formed by the puncture of an insect, contain tannin and gallic acid used for dyeing and ink. Dr. Hooker conjectures the two aegilops to represent the "oaks of Bashan" (Isa 2:13). Deborah was buried under an oak (Ge 35:8). So Saul (1Sa 31:13). Idolaters sacrificed under oaks (Isa 1:29). Under one Joshua set up a pillar at Shechem to commemorate the nation's covenant with God (Jos 24:26). The "tree" in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 4) is 'ilan, any "strong tree".
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
(Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named Oak of Weeping.)
Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord's shrine.
They took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh; then they fasted for seven days.
Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you find so desirable; you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards where you choose to worship.
Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you find so desirable; you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards where you choose to worship.
for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so high and mighty, for all the oaks of Bashan;
Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family."
They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
Hastings
OAK
(1) '
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Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord.
So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
A fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty with Abram.)
The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem
(Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named Oak of Weeping.)
Are they not across the Jordan River, toward the west, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the oak of Moreh?
Their border started at Heleph and the oak of Zaanannim, went to Adami Nekeb, Jabneel and on to Lakkum, and ended at the Jordan River.
Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord's shrine.
Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses' father-in-law. He lived near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh.
The Lord's angelic messenger came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash's son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so he could hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon went and prepared a young goat, along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.
All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem.
Gaal again said, "Look, men are coming down from the very center of the land. A unit is coming by way of the Oak Tree of the Diviners."
Saul and the Israelite army assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against the Philistines.
They are with Saul and the whole Israelite army in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines."
The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod. If you wish, take it for yourself. Other than that, there's nothing here." David said, "There's nothing like it! Give it to me!"
Joab replied, "I will not wait around like this for you!" He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree.
Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you find so desirable; you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards where you choose to worship. For you will be like a tree whose leaves wither, like an orchard that is unwatered.
for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so high and mighty, for all the oaks of Bashan;
Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family."
Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family."
He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress or an oak. He gets trees from the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain makes it grow.
you who practice ritual sex under the oaks and every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs.
to strengthen those who mourn in Zion, by giving them a turban, instead of ashes, oil symbolizing joy, instead of mourning, a garment symbolizing praise, instead of discouragement. They will be called oaks of righteousness, trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor.
Then you will know that I am the Lord -- when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols.
The leaders of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your skilled men, O Tyre, were your captains.
For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high. For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth; they will be among mere mortals, with those who descend to the pit.
They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
For Israel's sake I destroyed the Amorites. They were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed the fruit on their branches and their roots in the ground.
Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees have been destroyed. Howl, oaks of Bashan, because the impenetrable forest has fallen.
Morish
There are four Hebrew words so translated, but they are all apparently from the same root, signifying 'strong, hardy,' and are mostly applied to the oak, which lives to a great age. Three species of the Quercus are known in Palestine, the pseudo-coccifera, aegilops, and infectoria. It is symbolical of strength, and affords shade from the heat of the sun. Ge 35:8; Jos 24:26; Isa 1:29; 2:13; Eze 27:6; Ho 4:13; Am 2:9; Zec 11:2. The word elah is judged to refer to the terebinth (pistacia terebinthus), though generally translated oak. Ge 35:4; Jg 6:11,19; 2Sa 18:9-14; 1Ki 13:14; 1Ch 10:12; Isa 1:30; Eze 6:13.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem
(Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named Oak of Weeping.)
Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord's shrine.
The Lord's angelic messenger came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash's son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so he could hide it from the Midianites.
Gideon went and prepared a young goat, along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food to him under the oak tree and presented it to him.
Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you find so desirable; you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards where you choose to worship. For you will be like a tree whose leaves wither, like an orchard that is unwatered.
for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so high and mighty, for all the oaks of Bashan;
Then you will know that I am the Lord -- when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols.
They made your oars from oaks of Bashan; they made your deck with cypresses from the Kittean isles.
They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
For Israel's sake I destroyed the Amorites. They were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed the fruit on their branches and their roots in the ground.
Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees have been destroyed. Howl, oaks of Bashan, because the impenetrable forest has fallen.
Smith
(Heb. strong). There is much difficulty in determining the exact meanings of the several varieties of the term mentioned above. Sometimes, evidently, the terebinth or elm is intended and at others the oak. There are a number of varieties of oak in Palestine. (Dr. Robinson contends that the oak is generally intended, and that it is a very common tree in the East. Oaks grow to a large size, reach an old age and are every way worthy the venerable associations connected with the tree. --ED.) Two oaks, Quercus pseudo-coccifera and Q. aegilops, are well worthy of the name of mighty trees; though it is equally true that over a greater part of the country the oaks of Palestine are at present merely bushes.
Watsons
OAK. The religious veneration paid to this tree by the original natives of our island in the time of the Druids, is well known to every reader of British history. We have reason to think that this veneration was brought from the east; and that the Druids did no more than transfer the sentiments their progenitors had received in oriental countries. It should appear that the Patriarch Abraham resided under an oak, or a grove of oaks, which our translators render the plain of Mamre; and that he planted a grove of this tree, Ge 13:18. In fact, since in hot countries nothing is more desirable than shade, nothing more refreshing than the shade of a tree, we may easily suppose the inhabitants would resort for such enjoyment to
Where'er the oak's thick branches spread A deeper, darker shade.
Oaks, and groves of oaks, were esteemed proper places for religious services; altars were set up under them, Jos 24:26; and, probably, in the east as well as in the west, appointments to meet at conspicuous oaks were made, and many affairs were transacted or treated of under their shade, as we read in Homer, Theocritus, and other poets. It was common among the Hebrews to sit under oaks, Jg 6:11; 1Ki 13:14. Jacob buried idolatrous images under an oak, Ge 35:4; and Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, was buried under one of these trees, Ge 35:8. See 1Ch 10:12. Abimelech was made king under an oak, Jg 9:6. Idolatry was practised under oaks, Isa 1:29; 57:5; Ho 4:13. Idols were made of oaks, Isa 44:14.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem
(Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named Oak of Weeping.)
Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord's shrine.
The Lord's angelic messenger came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash's son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so he could hide it from the Midianites.
All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem.
all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days.
Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you find so desirable; you will be embarrassed because of the sacred orchards where you choose to worship.
He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress or an oak. He gets trees from the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain makes it grow.
you who practice ritual sex under the oaks and every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs.
They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!