'Trees' in the Bible

So God said, “Let the earth sprout [tender] vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to (limited to, consistent with) their kind, whose seed is in them upon the earth”; and it was so.

The earth sprouted and abundantly produced vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, according to their kind; and God saw that it was good and He affirmed and sustained it.

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden,

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool [afternoon breeze] of the day, so the man and his wife hid and kept themselves hidden from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre (Hebron)—the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and in all its borders around it—were deeded over [legally]

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

For they covered the [visible] surface of the land, so that the ground was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. There remained not a green thing on the trees or the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

Then the children of Israel came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

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

In the fifth year you may eat the fruit [of the trees], this is so that their yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God.

Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick (leafy) trees, and willows of the brook [and make booths of them]; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

then I will give you rain in its season, and the land will yield her produce and the trees of the field 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.

“Like valleys that stretch out,Like gardens beside the river,Like aloes planted by the Lord,Like cedars beside the waters.

They moved out from Marah and came to Elim; 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 (excavated) cisterns (wells) which you did not dig out, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are full and satisfied,

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

“When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its [fruit-bearing] 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 (destroyed) by you?

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

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

The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground.

and the Negev (South country) and the plain in the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

Then afterward Joshua struck them [with his sword] and put them to death, and he hung them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening.

At sunset Joshua gave a command, and they took the bodies down from the trees and threw them into the cave where the kings had hidden themselves, and placed large stones over the mouth of the cave, [where they remain] to this very day.

And Eglon gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and went and struck down Israel [in defeat], and they took possession of the City of Palm Trees (Jericho).

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, ‘Should I give up my fatness by which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’

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

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

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

And the vine replied, ‘Should I give up my new wine, which makes God and men happy, and go to wave over the trees?’

Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’

So the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

Now Hiram the king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees, carpenters, and stonemasons; and they built a house (palace) for David.

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

And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall pay attention and act promptly, for at that time the Lord will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.”

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

So now, command that they cut cedar trees from Lebanon for me, and my servants will join your servants, and I will give you whatever wages you set for your servants. For you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the men of Sidon.”

So Hiram gave Solomon all the cedar and cypress timber he desired,

He carved all the walls of the house all around with carved engravings of cherubim, palm-shaped decorations, and open flowers, [both] the inner and the outer sanctuaries.

So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm-shaped decorations, and open flowers; and overlaid them with gold; and he hammered out overlays of gold on the cherubim and palm decorations.

He carved cherubim, palm-shaped decorations, and open flowers on the doors, and overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.

And on the surface of its supports and its borders Hiram engraved cherubim, lions, and palm-shaped decorations, according to the [available] space for each, with borders all around.

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

They destroyed the [walls of the] cities, and each man threw a stone on every piece of good land, covering it [with stones]. And they stopped up all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees, until they left nothing in Kir-hareseth [Moab’s capital city] but its stones. Then the [stone] slingers surrounded the city and destroyed it.

So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down [some of] the 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, so that you may live and not die.” Do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads and incites you, saying, “The Lord will rescue us!”

‘Through your messengers you have taunted and defied the Lord,And have said [boastfully], “With my many chariotsI came up to the heights of the mountains,To the remotest parts of Lebanon;I cut down its tall cedar trees and its choicest cypress trees.I entered its most distant lodging, its densest forest.

So David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “Do 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 has gone out before you to strike the Philistine army.”

Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord;For He comes to judge and govern the earth.

and cedar trees beyond number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought large quantities of cedar timber to David.

Baal-hanan the Gederite was in charge of the olive and sycamore trees in Shephelah (the lowlands); and Joash was in charge of the stores of [olive] oil.

He overlaid the main room [the Holy Place] with cypress wood and overlaid it with fine gold, and decorated it with palm trees and chains.

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

From the almug timber the king made stairways for the house of the Lord and for the king’s palace, and lyres and harps for the singers; none like that was seen before in the land of Judah.

The king made silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and cedar wood as plentiful as the sycamore-fig trees that are in the lowland.

Then the men who were designated by name rose up and took the captives, and from the spoil they clothed all those who were naked; they clothed them and gave them sandals, and fed them and gave them [something to] drink, anointed them [with oil, as was a host’s duty], and led all the feeble ones on donkeys, and they brought them to Jericho, the City of Palm Trees, to their brothers (fellow descendants of Israel, i.e. Jacob). Then they returned to Samaria.

They gave money to the masons and to the carpenters, and gave food, drink, and [olive] oil to the people from Sidon and Tyre, to bring cedar wood from Lebanon to the seaport of Joppa, in accordance with the authorization they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

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

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

and [we obligate ourselves] to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the Lord annually,

We will bring the first [and best] of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the [olive] oil to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who receive the tithes in all the rural towns.

“He lies down under the lotus plants,In the hidden shelter of the reeds in the marsh.

“The lotus plants cover him with their shade;The willows of the brook surround him.

It seems as if one had lifted upAn axe in a forest of trees [to set a record of destruction].

He destroyed their vines with [great] hailstonesAnd their sycamore trees with frost.

Let the field be exultant, 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 has planted,

Where the birds make their nests;As for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

He struck their vines also and their fig trees,And shattered the [ice-laden] trees of their territory.

On the willow trees in the midst of BabylonWe hung our harps.

Mountains and all hills;Fruitful trees and all cedars;

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

I made pools of water for myself from which to water the forest and make the trees bud.

He who quarries stones may be hurt with them, and he who splits logs may be endangered by them.

(The Shulammite Bride)“Like an apple tree [rare and welcome] 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 and delicious to my palate.

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

For you will be ashamed [of the degradation] of the oaks in which you took [idolatrous] pleasure,And you will be ashamed of the gardens [of passion] which you have chosen [for pagan worship].

When the house of David (Judah) was told, “Aram is allied with Ephraim (Israel),” the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble in the wind.

And the remaining trees of Assyria’s forest will be so few in numberThat a child could write them down.

He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe,And Lebanon (the Assyrian) will fall by the Mighty One.

“Even the cypress trees rejoice over you [kings of Babylon], even the cedars of Lebanon, saying,‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’

“Through your servants you have taunted and defied the Lord,And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up to the heights of the mountains,To the remotest parts of Lebanon.I cut down its tallest cedars and its choicest cypress trees;And I will go to its remotest height, its most luxuriant and thickest forest.

He cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and lets it grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain nourishes it.

“For you will go out [from exile] with joyAnd be led forth [by the Lord Himself] 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.

“The glory of Lebanon will come to you,The cypress, the juniper, and the cedar together,To beautify the place of My sanctuary;And I will honor and make the place of My feet glorious.

Because of the thoughtlessness of Israel’s prostitution [her immorality mattered little to her], she desecrated the land and committed adultery with [idols of] stones and trees.

“They will consume your harvest and [eat up] your bread;They will consume your sons and your daughters;They will consume your flocks and your herds;They will consume your vines and your fig trees.With the sword they will break down and demolish your fortified cities in which you trust.

For the Lord of hosts has said,“Cut down her treesAnd build a siege [mound] against Jerusalem.This is the city which must be punished;There is nothing but oppression inside her [walls].

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

As they remember their children,So they remember [in detail] their [pagan] altars and their AsherimBeside green trees on the high hills.

“O inhabitant of [Jerusalem, whose palaces are made from the cedars of] Lebanon,You who nest in the cedars,How you will groan and how miserable you will be when pains come on you,Pain like a woman in childbirth!

“The sound [of Egypt fleeing from the enemy] is like [the rustling of] an escaping serpent,For her foes advance with a mighty armyAnd come against her like woodcutters with axes.

“Son of man, how is the wood of the grapevine (Israel) better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest?

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

All the trees of the field will know that I the Lord bring down the tall 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 fulfill 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 nourished it, the deep [underground waters] made it grow tall.Its rivers ran all around the place where it was planted,Sending out its streams to all the trees (other nations) of the field.

‘Therefore it towered higher than all the trees of the forestAnd its boughs multiplied and its branches grew long;Because there was so much water they spread outward.