Bible Dictionary: Hedge

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Smith's Bible Dictionary

Hedge

The Hebrew words thus rendered denote simply that which surrounds or encloses, whether it be a stone wall, geder , (Proverbs 24:31; Ezekiel 42:10) or a fence of other materials. The stone walls which surround the sheepfolds of modern Palestine are frequently crowned with sharp thorns.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) A thicket of bushes, usually thorn bushes; especially, such a thicket planted as a fence between any two portions of land; and also any sort of shrubbery, as evergreens, planted in a line or as a fence; particularly, such a thicket planted round a field to fence it, or in rows to separate the parts of a garden.

2. (v. t.) To enclose or separate with a hedge; to fence with a thickly set line or thicket of shrubs or small trees; as, to hedge a field or garden.

3. (v. t.) To obstruct, as a road, with a barrier; to hinder from progress or success; -- sometimes with up and out.

4. (v. t.) To surround for defense; to guard; to protect; to hem (in).

5. (v. t.) To surround so as to prevent escape.

6. (v. i.) To shelter one's self from danger, risk, duty, responsibility, etc., as if by hiding in or behind a hedge; to skulk; to slink; to shirk obligations.

7. (v. i.) To reduce the risk of a wager by making a bet against the side or chance one has bet on.

8. (v. i.) To use reservations and qualifications in one's speech so as to avoid committing one's self to anything definite.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

HEDGE

hej:

(1) mecukhah, "a thorn hedge," only in Micah 7:4.; mesukkah, "a hedge" (Isaiah 5:5); mesukhath chadheq, "a hedge of thorns" (Proverbs 15:19).

(2) gadher, and geherah, translated "hedges" in the Revised Version (British and American) only in Psalm 89:40, elsewhere "fence." GEDERAH (which see) in the Revised Version margin is translated "hedges" (1 Chronicles 4:23).

(3) na`atsuts, "thorn-hedges" (Isaiah 7:19).

(4) phragmos, translated "hedge" (Matthew 21:33 Mark 12:1 Luke 14:23); "partition" in Ephesians 2:14, which is its literal meaning. In the Septuagint it is the usual equivalent of the above Hebrew words.

Loose stone walls without mortar are the usual "fences" around fields in Palestine, and this is what gadher and gedherah signify in most passages. Hedges made of cut thorn branches or thorny bushes are very common in the plains and particularly in the Jordan valley.

E. W. G. Masterman

Greek

5418. phragmos -- a fencing in, a fence
... a fencing in, a fence. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: phragmos
Phonetic Spelling: (frag-mos') Short Definition: a hedge, fence, partition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/5418.htm - 6k

4060. peritithemi -- to place around
... to place around. From peri and tithemi; to place around; by implication, to present --
bestow upon, hedge round about, put about (on, upon), set about. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4060.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

4534. mesukah -- a hedge
... 4533, 4534. mesukah. 4535 . a hedge. Transliteration: mesukah Phonetic
Spelling: (mes-oo-kaw') Short Definition: hedge. Word Origin ...
/hebrew/4534.htm - 6k

7753. suk -- to hedge or fence up or about
... 7752, 7753. suk. 7754 . to hedge or fence up or about. Transliteration: suk
Phonetic Spelling: (sook) Short Definition: hedge. Word Origin a prim. ...
/hebrew/7753.htm - 6k

4881. mesukah -- a hedge
... 4880b, 4881. mesukah or mesukah. 4882 . a hedge. Transliteration: mesukah or
mesukah Phonetic Spelling: (mes-oo-kaw') Short Definition: hedge. ...
/hebrew/4881.htm - 6k

4905a. mesukkah -- a hedge
... mesukkah. 4905b . a hedge. Transliteration: mesukkah Short Definition: hedge.
Word Origin from an unused word Definition a hedge NASB Word Usage hedge (1). ...
/hebrew/4905a.htm - 5k

5480b. suk -- to hedge or fence about, shut in
... 5480a, 5480b. suk. 5481 . to hedge or fence about, shut in. Transliteration:
suk Short Definition: enclosed. Word Origin a prim. ...
/hebrew/5480b.htm - 5k

4905. maskiyl -- a hedge
... 4904, 4905. maskiyl. 4905a . a hedge. Transliteration: maskiyl Phonetic
Spelling: (mas-keel') Short Definition: Maschil. Maschil ...
/hebrew/4905.htm - 5k

1447. gader -- a wall
... fence, hedge, wall. From gadar; a circumvallation; by implication, an inclosure --
fence, hedge, wall. see HEBREW gadar. 1446, 1447. gader. 1448 . ...
/hebrew/1447.htm - 6k

5526. cakak -- to overshadow, screen, cover
... cover, defense, defend, hedge in, join together, set, shut up Or sakak
(Exod. 33:22) {saw-kak'}; a primitive root; properly, to ...
/hebrew/5526.htm - 5k

1448. gederah -- a wall
... hedge, wall. Feminine of gader; enclosure (especially for flocks) -- (sheep-)
cote (fold) hedge, wall. see HEBREW gader. 1447, 1448. ...
/hebrew/1448.htm - 6k

1443. gadar -- to wall up or off, to build a wall
... close up, fence up, hedge, enclose, make up a wall, mason, repairer. A
primitive root; to wall in or around -- close up, fence up ...
/hebrew/1443.htm - 6k

Library

Hedge
... Hedge. Hedge, Frederick Henry, a Unitarian divine, professor and author
of note, was born at Cambridge, Mass., December 12, 1805. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/nutter/hymn writers of the church/hedge.htm

The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way
... The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way. ... "The way of the slothful man is as an hedge
of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.""Proverbs 15:19. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/sermons on proverbs/the hedge of thorns and.htm

PMFH Hedge. Strength from the Cross.
... IV. REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST. 141. PMFH Hedge. Strength from the Cross. 1
"It is finished!" Man of sorrows! From thy cross our frailty ...
/.../various/book of hymns for public and private devotion/141 p m f h.htm

The Burial and Assumption of the Blessed virgin
... They dug a trench before the narrow entrance of the rock-tomb, and planted in it
a hedge of various shrubs brought with their roots from elsewhere. ...
/.../emmerich/the life of the blessed virgin mary/xix the burial and assumption.htm

In Reply to the Questions as to his Authority, Jesus Gives the ...
... There was a man that was a householder [this party represents God], who planted
a vineyard [this represents the Hebrew nationality], and set a hedge about it ...
/.../mcgarvey/the four-fold gospel/cviii in reply to the 3.htm

Psalm XCI.
... Nets are usually spread for birds at the end of a hedge, and stones are thrown
into the hedge: those stones will not harm the birds. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/augustine/exposition on the book of psalms/psalm xci.htm

Ephesians ii. 11, 12
... The law was a hedge, but this it was made for the sake of security, and for this
reason was called "a hedge," to the intent that it might form an inclosure. ...
/.../homily v ephesians ii 11.htm

Fences and Serpents
... '... Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.'"Ecclesiastes 10:8. ... Young
men! 'whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.'. ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture g/fences and serpents.htm

A Provision Ground
... And that?' Let the reader who has a taste for the beautiful as well as the useful
in horticulture, do the same, and look in fancy over the hedge of the nearest ...
//christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/at last/chapter xvi a provision ground.htm

Interruption of the visions of the Passion by the Appearance of St ...
... dreamed, as her exclamations and gestures demonstrated, that she was once more a
little country girl of five years old, climbing over a hedge, caught in the ...
/.../chapter xxiv interruption of the.htm

Thesaurus

Hedge (12 Occurrences)
... 2. (vt) To enclose or separate with a hedge; to fence with a thickly set line or
thicket of shrubs or small trees; as, to hedge a field or garden. ...HEDGE. ...
/h/hedge.htm - 12k

Thorn-hedge (1 Occurrence)
Thorn-hedge. Thorn-fence, Thorn-hedge. Thorn-hedges . Multi-Version
Concordance Thorn-hedge (1 Occurrence). Micah 7:4 ...
/t/thorn-hedge.htm - 6k

Hedge-hog (2 Occurrences)
Hedge-hog. Hedgehog, Hedge-hog. Hedge-rows . Multi-Version Concordance
Hedge-hog (2 Occurrences). Isaiah 34:11 And possess ...
/h/hedge-hog.htm - 7k

Hedge-rows (1 Occurrence)
Hedge-rows. Hedge-hog, Hedge-rows. Hedges . Multi-Version Concordance
Hedge-rows (1 Occurrence). Luke 14:23 "'Go out ...
/h/hedge-rows.htm - 6k

Hedgehog (3 Occurrences)
... Isaiah 34:11 And possess her do pelican and hedge-hog, And owl and raven dwell in
her, And He hath stretched out over her A line of vacancy, and stones of ...
/h/hedgehog.htm - 8k

Fence (12 Occurrences)
... ERV has "fence" for "wall" (Numbers 22:24 Isaiah 5:5 Hosea 2:6; the American Standard
Revised Version retains "wall"), for "hedge" (Ecclesiastes 10:8 Ezekiel 13 ...
/f/fence.htm - 15k

Watchtower (9 Occurrences)
... There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge
about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers ...
/w/watchtower.htm - 9k

Winepress (19 Occurrences)
... There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge
about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers ...
/w/winepress.htm - 14k

Farmers (23 Occurrences)
... There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge
about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers ...
/f/farmers.htm - 12k

Take (11064 Occurrences)
... food or wine. 16. (vt) Not to refuse or balk at; to undertake readily;
to clear; as, to take a hedge or fence. 17. (vt) To bear ...
/t/take.htm - 15k

Bible Concordance

Hedge (12 Occurrences)

Matthew 21:33 "Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
(WEB KJV ASV WBS YLT RSV)

Mark 12:1 He began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country.
(WEB KJV ASV WBS YLT RSV)

Job 1:10 Haven't you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 62:3 Till when do ye devise mischief against a man? Ye are destroyed all of you, As a wall inclined, a hedge that is cast down.
(YLT)

Proverbs 15:19 The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.
(KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS)

Ecclesiastes 10:8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
(KJV DBY WBS YLT)

Isaiah 5:5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 17:11 In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
(WEB ASV)

Ezekiel 13:5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
(KJV JPS WBS)

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
(KJV JPS WBS)

Hosea 2:6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can't find her way.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS NAS RSV)

Micah 7:4 The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Hedge

Hedge of Thorns

Hedge: A Fence

Hedge: People Lived In

Related Terms

Thorn-hedge (1 Occurrence)

Hedge-hog (2 Occurrences)

Hedge-rows (1 Occurrence)

Hedgehog (3 Occurrences)

Fence (12 Occurrences)

Watchtower (9 Occurrences)