יַ֫עַר

Deuteronomy 19:5 בַיַּעַר֮ in the forest

If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

Joshua 17:15 הַיַּ֔עְרָה the forest towards

Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”

Here: 'To the forest'. The ending -â marks direction. It means wooded land, thicket or scrub forest, not open farmland. That makes it land you can take only by clearing it.

Joshua 17:18 יַ֣עַר [is] forest

because the hill country will be yours as well. It is a forest; clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours. Although the Canaanites have iron chariots and although they are strong, you can drive them out.”

Here: Uncleared woodland and scrub covering the highlands: oak, terebinth, pine and thick brush. For a farming people it was unusable land until cleared.

1 Samuel 14:25 בַיָּ֑עַר in the forest

Then all the troops entered the forest, and there was honey on the ground.

1 Samuel 14:26 הַיַּ֔עַר the forest

And when they entered the forest and saw the flowing honey, not one of them put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath.

1 Samuel 22:5 יַ֥עַר [the] forest of

Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Depart and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

2 Samuel 18:6 בְּיַ֥עַר in [the] forest of

So David’s army marched into the field to engage Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.

2 Samuel 18:8 הַיַּ֙עַר֙ the forest

The battle spread over the whole countryside, and that day the forest devoured more people than the sword.

2 Samuel 18:17 בַיַּ֙עַר֙ in the forest

They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.

1 Kings 7:2 יַ֣עַר [the] Forest of

He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams.

1 Kings 10:17 יַ֥עַר [the] Forest of

He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

1 Kings 10:21 יַ֥עַר [the] Forest of

All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

2 Kings 2:24 הַיַּ֔עַר the forest

Then he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Suddenly two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

Here: "The forest": the wooded scrub and thickets of the hill country around Bethel, where wild animals lived.

2 Kings 19:23 יַ֖עַר [the] forest of

Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.

1 Chronicles 16:33 הַיָּ֑עַר the forest

Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth.

2 Chronicles 9:16 יַ֥עַר [the] Forest of

He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; three hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

2 Chronicles 9:20 יַ֥עַר [the] Forest of

All King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, because it was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.

Psalm 29:9 יְעָ֫ר֥וֹת forests

The voice of the LORD twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in His temple all cry, “Glory!”

Psalm 50:10 יָ֑עַר [the] forest

for every beast of the forest is Mine—the cattle on a thousand hills.

Here: Wild, uncultivated woodland and brush, home of lions and bears (2 Kgs 2:24; Jer 5:6). This is land no Israelite farmer owned, and its animals had no human owner.

Psalm 80:13 מִיָּ֑עַר from [the] forest

The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.

Here: 'From the forest': the wild, uncultivated thickets outside settled farmland where boars lived. The boar breaks in from outside the vineyard's protected space. The raised ʿayin in this word is a famous scribal feature (see textual notes).

Psalm 83:14 יָ֑עַר a forest

As fire consumes a forest, as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

Psalm 96:12 יָֽעַר׃ [the] forest

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

Psalm 104:20 יָֽעַר׃ [the] forest

You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the beasts of the forest prowl.

Here: Wild woodland and dense scrub, where predators such as the lions of the next verse had their dens. It is the uncultivated land beyond the farmland.

Psalm 132:6 יָֽעַר׃ Jaar

We heard that the ark was in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.

Ecclesiastes 2:6 יַ֖עַר a forest

I built reservoirs to water my groves of flourishing trees.

Song of Songs 2:3 הַיַּ֔עַר the forest

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

Here: Wild, uncultivated woodland (oak, terebinth, scrub), not an orchard. Most of its trees give shade but no food, so the fruit tree stands out all the more.

Song of Songs 5:1 יַעְרִי֙ honeycomb my

I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.

Here: "My honeycomb." The same letters usually mean "forest" or "thicket." Here, as in 1 Samuel 14:27, they mean a comb of wild honey. Eating the comb together with the honey means eating it whole, wax and all: a picture of unhurried, complete enjoyment.

Isaiah 7:2 יַ֖עַר [the] forest

When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.

Here: "Forest," which in the Levant meant woodland, thicket or scrub-forest. Isaiah often uses forest imagery for nations and armies (10:18–19, 33–34).

Isaiah 9:18 הַיַּ֔עַר the forest

For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets, which roll upward in billows of smoke.

Here: 'The forest.' The wooded hill country, Ephraim's in particular (Josh 17:15–18). The fire has moved from worthless brush to the large timber, from small to great.

Isaiah 10:18 יַעְרוֹ֙ forest his

The splendor of its forests and orchards, both soul and body, it will completely destroy, as a sickness consumes a man.

Here: 'His forest': Assyria's mighty army and its leading men, imagined as dense, tall woodland. Verses 33–34 use the same picture of tall trees cut down.

Isaiah 10:19 יַעְר֖וֹ forest his

The remaining trees of its forests will be so few that a child could count them.

Isaiah 10:34 הַיַּ֖עַר the forest

He will clear the forest thickets with an axe, and Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

Isaiah 21:13 בַּיַּ֤עַר in the thicket[s]

This is the burden against Arabia: In the thickets of Arabia you must lodge, O caravans of Dedanites.

Isaiah 22:8 הַיָּֽעַר׃ the Forest

He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

Isaiah 29:17 לַיַּ֥עַר to <the> forest

In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?

Here: 'As a forest': dense, uncultivated woodland. This is either a picture of overflowing growth or of tended land left to grow wild. Which one is meant is debated.

Isaiah 32:15 לַיַּ֥עַר to <the> forest

until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high. Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.

Here: 'As forest': dense, tall woodland. In a land where trees were cut back for farming and fuel, a forest stood for size and abundance (compare 'the forest of Lebanon'). Here it is the top rung of the ladder.

Isaiah 32:19 הַיָּ֑עַר the forest

But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink to the depths.

Isaiah 37:24 יַ֖עַר [the] forest of

Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.

Here: Woodland or thicket. In Isaiah, 'forest' can also stand for an army or a nation's proud leaders (10:18–19, 34).

Isaiah 44:14 יָ֑עַר [the] forest

He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

Isaiah 44:23 יַ֖עַר O forest

Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O depths of the earth. Break forth in song, O mountains, you forests and all your trees. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and revealed His glory in Israel.

Here: The forest, which conquerors and idol-makers cut down for timber, is now called to sing.

Isaiah 56:9 בַּיָּֽעַר׃ ס in the forest

Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest.

Here: 'In the woodland.' The Levantine yaʿar was oak scrub and thicket, the cover where lions and bears lurk (Jer 5:6; Amos 3:4; 2 Kgs 2:24). Together with 'open country' it covers every wild place a predator could come from. The setumah (ס, a paragraph break) follows in the Masoretic Text.

Jeremiah 5:6 מִיַּ֗עַר from a forest

Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces. For their rebellious acts are many, and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

Here: 'From the forest/thicket': dense scrub-woodland, the lion's lair. Each predator is placed in its home ground (thicket, steppe, around the cities), so danger surrounds the people on every side.

Jeremiah 10:3 מִיַּ֣עַר from a forest

For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

Here: A plain, ordinary origin. The 'god' started out as one tree among many in the woods.

Jeremiah 12:8 בַיָּ֑עַר in the forest

My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me; therefore I hate her.

Jeremiah 21:14 בְּיַעְרָ֔הּ in forest its

I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forest that will consume everything around you.’”

Here: 'Her' is the city addressed in v.13 (feminine in Hebrew). Her 'forest' is most likely the cedar-built royal buildings of Jerusalem, Solomon's 'House of the Forest of Lebanon' and the palaces around it, rather than woods outside the walls.

Jeremiah 26:18 יָֽעַר׃ a forest

“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’

Here: Wild woodland or scrub. Elsewhere it is the haunt of wild animals (Micah 5:8; Jeremiah 5:6). The temple hill will be abandoned for so long that wild growth takes it over.

Jeremiah 46:23 יַעְרָהּ֙ forest its

They will chop down her forest, declares the LORD, dense though it may be, for they are more numerous than locusts; they cannot be counted.

Here: 'Her forest': the 'her' is Daughter Egypt (v.24). Egypt had almost no real woodland, so the forest is a picture of her teeming army and population, standing thick like trees.

Ezekiel 15:2 הַיָּֽעַר׃ the forest

“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any other branch among the trees in the forest?

Here: Wild, uncultivated woodland, the opposite of a tended vineyard. Take the vine out of its vineyard and it is just one more plant in the scrub, and a poor one.

Ezekiel 15:6 הַיַּ֔עַר the forest

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the people of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 20:46 יַ֥עַר [the] forest of

“Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against it, and prophesy against the forest of the Negev.

Here: "The forest of..." The word covers anything from dense woodland to scrub thicket. In prophetic poetry a forest is a standard picture of a population, an army or a city, and that is the sense here: a forest about to be set on fire (v. 47).

Ezekiel 20:47 לְיַ֣עַר to [the] forest of

Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from south to north will be scorched.

Here: The forest is addressed as if it could hear, the way a person would be. In Israel a ya'ar was often scrub woodland or thicket, not a dense northern forest.

Ezekiel 34:25 בַּיְּעָרִֽים׃ in the forests

I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.

Here: Wooded hill country and thickets, the places in biblical imagery where lions and bears live (Amos 3:4; 2 Kings 2:24; Jeremiah 5:6). It is the last place anyone would choose to sleep.

Ezekiel 39:10 הַיְּעָרִ֔ים the forests

They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it from the forests, for they will use the weapons for fuel. They will loot those who looted them and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord GOD.

Hosea 2:12 לְיַ֔עַר into a thicket

I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers. So I will make them into a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour them.

Amos 3:4 בַּיַּ֔עַר in the forest

Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl in his den if he has caught nothing?

Micah 3:12 יָֽעַר׃ פ a forest

Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

Here: Wild scrub-woodland, where wild animals live and people do not (compare 5:8, 7:14). The temple hill goes back to wilderness.

Micah 5:8 יַ֔עַר [the] forest

Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.

Here: Wooded scrub and thicket, the lion's natural home (Jer 5:6). 'Beasts of the forest' are wild animals.

Micah 7:14 יַ֖עַר a forest

Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

Here: "A thicket": wild, overgrown brush land. It is poor grazing and a home for wild animals. The flock is confined to the rough ground.

Zechariah 11:2 יַ֥עַר [the] forest

Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!