• Besides this passage in Eo, the verb oocui) in biblical Or. only Wis 16n in the sense of 'prick' (so AVm and RVm, but KV ' bite'X It comes from xi>Tfia>, a goad.
four times 'Ijcrb' (2 K 19^, Is GO" LXX Parivqx I's 37' LX.\ x^"';. Is 37" where it is dropped out of the LXX); twice 'tender herb' (Dt 32" LXX iypwcTi^, Job 38-'' RV ' tender grass,' marg. ' green- sward,' LXX x^6ij) ; once 'green' as an adj. to pastures {Vs2'S- LXX tAtou x^Aijs) ; twice 'tender grass' (2 S 23* LXX x^i;, I'r 27-^ LXX iro'a) ; and four times 'grass' (Gn 1", Jer 14' LXX ^ordfrj. Job 6' LXX ffiTa, Is 15' RV ' tender giass,' LXX Xiproj).
4. 2ifj, 'Ssebh. This word (of uncertain loot) is tr'' in ten places ' herb' or ' herbs '(Gn in-susis, Pr 27-\ Is 42'» LXX x^pros, Gn 2» LXX x'^'-'/'is, Ex 9- 10'=-" LXX ^oTd^,, Ps 104" LXX x^^h) ; and in eleven 'grass' (Dt U" LXX x<'p''affM<"'o, Dt 32- RV herb, 2 K 19-", Ps 72'" 102*- " 10(i* Jer 14" RV herbage, Am V LXX x^pros : Job 5" LXX iraiipoTavov ; Is 37"'' left out by LXX alto- gether).
It will appear from the above analysis —
{a) That all the above terms are indefinite, api>lying to herbage in general.
(//) It is improbable tliat the Hebrews discrimi- nated ri'^idly between the true grasses, i.e. the modern uotanical order Graminem (or even the group of gra.ss-like plants, including sedges and rushes), and other herbage. If they did, it does not apjiear from their nomenclature. The Arabic does not contain any .such distinction. With all the general culture and knowledge of natural history of our age, grasses, in popular language, include some plants other than those of the order Graminc(E, as pepper-grass, Lepidium sativum, L. ; orange-grass, Hypericum Sarothra, L. , etc.
(c) It is quite plain that neither the LXX nor our own translators have been at any pains to render these words always by the same Gr. or Eng. equivalent. Thus in Is 15" both Tsn and K^f- ate rendered x^P^°^> the first being tr'' AV hatj, \\V
?rass, and the second AV grass, RV tender grins. n Is 37'-' "I'SO is rendered x<>p''''s hpi^, AV and RV grass, while 3i,"i: and kz'-; are left out in the LXX, and rendered in A V and RV respectively grass and herb. In Gn 1" :j;'l! nfi is rendered fioTiv-Qv xip^ov. The reader \vill detect numerous other illustrations of this point. Much as it is to be regretted that the translators, ancient and modern, have not rendered these words uniformly, we must accept the fact. The nearest we can approach to a specialization of the term is to regard :fi' as refer- ring to herbage in general, including vegetables suitable for human food; T^n to grasses; k^'" to forage plants; and py, to verdure. They might be then rendered as follows: ■cic6/( = herbs, /i/izir = glass, deshe' = pasture grass or tender grass, and yerc/j = green thing.
Grasses are very numerous in Bible lands. In Pal. and S^-ria they are represented by 90 genera and 243 species. I'ew of them grow in masses. Turf is almost unknown. With the exception of the cereals, none of the grasses are cultivated iu this land. See Hay.
In NT grass is always the tr" of x'^/'to'' Rut Xipros is also tr'' by blade (Mt 13^, Mk 4-8) and /uig (1 Co 3'^). In Mk, I.e., the x^wpis x^pros is the first evidence of early spring (cf. Jn Q*- '").
G. E. Post.
GRASSHOPPER.— See LocusT.
GRATE, GRATING (-i:;=). — Half-way np the altar of bumt-oflering was attached a projecting ledge — sueh, at least, is the now generally accepted interpretation of the obscure word D3-i3(Ex27'3S''), regarding which the author of the Priests' Code gives us no further information — which appears to have run right round the altar. Underneath this projection was attached ' a gratin^j (AV grate) of netvork of brass' (Ex 27'' RV, 35'" 38^-*' 39»»>
GRATITUDE
GREAT SEA
259
rhich completely covered the lower half of the altar. It was probably, as tlie etymology suggests (see Oxf. Heb. Lex. sub i::), a strong netting made or bronze (n^-n;) wire, with meshes sufficiently open to allow the sacrificial blood to be dashed against the lower part of the altar. For other conjectures regarding the nature and purpose of the miklji'ir, sue the art. Tadkunacle (section dealing with the Altar of Burnt-oll'ering).
A. R. S. KJENNEDY.
GRATITUDE See Thankiulness.
GRAVE — The usual OT word tr^ 'grave' is -c^ ^eber (also fem. form ■■niDr) ; and the usual NT word is tj.vriiu'iov (with the occasional livrjiia). See Burial, Sepulchre. But in AV ^-Kt' sh£a is often so tr", and jdjjs once (I Co 15"). See Hades and Sheol.
GRAVE.— In Sir 39» (and in the 1st Prologue) occurs the expression 'grave sentences' as tr" of Topoi/iiai, RV • proverbs.' The meaning of the adj. is 'weighty,' as in Knox, Hist. 406, 'Thus the Queen's Majesty being informed of the tnith by her said Advocate, sent again and stayed tlie said meeting, and sent to the Town a grave Letter ' ; and Shaks. Macbeth, III. i. 21 —
' We should have else desired your good advice. Which still hath been both grave and prosperous.'