The knowledge of agriculture certainly goes back to pre-Seuutic times, for grind-stones belong- ing to that period have been discovered (cf. the present writer's Lutest Light on Bible Lands, London, 1913, p. 213). Several varieties of wheat are grown in Palestine, of which the most common is the Triticum spelta. Two other important varieties are the Triticum composHum, and the Triticum hybernum. Wheat has bees an article of export from very early times (cf. Ezk 27", Ac 12™). The principal wheat-growing district is the plain of the yauran.
See, further, Harvest, Sickle.
Literature. — H. B. Tristram, Natural Histori/ of the Bible^'^, London, 1911, pp. 488-493; R. B. Raclcham, The Acts of the Apostles, do., 1901, p. 490; A. Robertson .and A. Plummer, ICC, 'First lipistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians,' Edinburt^h, 1911, p. 369 1.; H. B. Swete. The Ap"caliJiKe o/ at. .hihii-, London, 1907, pp. 88, '234 ; The Speaker's Commentary, iii. [do., 1881) 367 ; W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book, 3 vols., do., 1SS1-S6, passim; J. C. Geikie. The Uoltj Lend and the Bible, do., 1903, p. 63 ; DCG ii. 8-21 ; SDB, p. 972 ; UBi ■v. 6299 f. P. S. P. HANDCOCK.
WHITE See Colours.
WHORE, WHOREMONGER.— See Haelot.
WHOREDOM See FORNICATION.
WICKED. — The words 'wicked,' 'wickedness' occur '24 times in the AV of the English liible. The passages are Mt 1'2« 13« 16* IS^- '22"* '25-^ Mk 7**, Lk U-'"- 2» 192-, Ac 2:^ 8-2 IS" 25°, Ko l-», 1 Co 58- ", Eph 6'2- ", Col P', 2 Th 2* 3-, 2 P 2' 3", 1 Jn 5'". In eight of these RV has substituted some other reading: 'evil' in Mt 12'", Lk U-'", Eph 6'8, Col 1=', 1 Jn 5'», ' lawless ' in Ac 2^ (on the basis of a dill'erent reading: Sti, xf'pis ariiiuiv instead of TR 5id x^'P"" '^I'o/j.iof), 2 Th 2", ' amiss ' in Ac 25'. In four of these instances the change from ' wicked ' to ' evil ' is due to the fact that evil
spirits are referred to; in .Ac 2^, wliere, with the changed text, dKo^os ceases to be an attribute of hands and becomes a charaolerizatioii of persons, it naturally resumes its literal meaning of 'law less'; in 2 Th '2" ' the lawless one' is preferable, because dvo/itos juobably rests on prePauline .Jewish tr.'idition which represented the Antichrist a.s an enemy to the Law, so that ' wicked ' would be too vague a translation ; in Ac 25" ' amiss ' reproduces droTToi' more closely than ' wicked.' The change in Col 1-' from ' wicked works' to 'evil works' has nothing in the conte,\t to recommend it.
The prevailing Greek equivalent for 'wicked,' ' wickedness ' is 7ro;'i;pis, wovripla. xaxia occurs onlv once (Ac 8-), &e«iiioi twice (2 P 2' 3"). The dOea/ios is one who transgresses fundamental Divine ordin- ances for moral conduct (from d + nOivai). In re- gard to the specific force of Tropripd^ and its differ- ence from KaK6! the following should be noted : Tforrjpd! is derived from vovo! and usually explained as 'qui t6vovs facit,' ' Avho causes trouble.' But according to others (Schmidt, Cremer) the con- nexion between it and tt^os would be of a dill'erent nature, the poor being called irovrfpol because their life is laborious, full of irovoi, and then, bj- a not unusual transition, through what Trench calls ' the aristocratic tendencies of the language,' the word for ' poor ' becoming also the word for 'wicked.' But, whether etymologically correct or not, the former explanation strikingly illustrates the specific meaning of -jrovripli^ and its ditl'erence from kqkAs. While Kavdi- describes a thing or person as inherently lacking that which is required by its idea, nature, or purpose, either in a physical or in a moral sense, Trovr)p6$ expresses the positive tendency to do harm in things, and the conscious pursuit of the injury of others in person.s. The opposite of Ka.K6s is dyaB6^ (see art. GOODNESS) ; of trovT^pdi it is xP't"'''^^ (•''<-'<! art. Kindness). This difference between the two words can best be felt in pass.-igcs where both are combined (1 Co ;")', Rev Iti-, Mt 15" ; cf. with Mk 7-'). In Mt 7'* 'evil fruits' = 'un- wholesome, injurious fruits' ; Ac 28'-', ' evil words' are ' harmful words ' ; 1 Co 5", ' the wicked ' forni- cator is so called because his uncleanness infects the whole Church (v.''). 'Evil times' are danger- ous times (Ijal I'', Eph 5"' 6"). Sometimes the word is used in a less serious sense of the harm- fulne.ss of inefiiciencj' (Mt 25-'', ' wicked and sloth- ful servant'; cf. the Kcnir ooCXos of '24'"', who is lacking in fidelitj' ami diligence). Especially of Satan and other evil spirits the word iroi'rjpS! is appropriately used, because they .are intent upon doing evil and working harm (Eph G'"), but for the same reason it applies to men who seek to injure others (Ac 17" 18" 25'»). In Col P' the works of p.'iganism are called ^^70 Trovripd because they establish enmity between God and men : the rendering 'wicked works' of AV expresses this better than 'evil works' of RV. Cf., further,
2 Th 3^ of the maliciously persecuting Jews, 2 Ti 3'^,
3 Jn "•.
From the connotation of evil intent it is to be explained that t)> Tropripbp, to. Trorij/jd are never used of the physical evil of Divine retribution. Kaniv and KOKd are the words for this, because, even w hen God finds it necessary to punish, no evil intent can be predicated of Him. This applies to both the LXX and the NT. It is no exception when occasionally the adjective is u.sed with such things as fX/tos, i/i5iros in the sense of ' malignant,' for here the evil intent is metaphorically attributed to the disease (Dt 6'-).