Topical Bible: Woods

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Topical Encyclopedia

In biblical literature, "woods" often refer to forested areas or groves, which hold both literal and symbolic significance throughout the Scriptures. The term is used to describe natural landscapes, places of refuge, and settings for divine encounters. Woods are mentioned in various contexts, from the mundane to the miraculous, and they often serve as backdrops for significant biblical events.

Literal References

1. Natural Landscapes: Woods are frequently mentioned as part of the natural environment in the Promised Land. For example, the land of Canaan is described as a place with abundant natural resources, including forests. In Joshua 17:15, Joshua instructs the descendants of Joseph to clear the forests to make room for their growing population: "If you are so numerous," Joshua replied, "go up to the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites, since the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you."

2. Resources and Materials: Woods provided essential materials for construction and daily life. The cedars of Lebanon, renowned for their quality, were used in the building of Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 5:6). The wood from these forests was highly prized and symbolized strength and durability.

Symbolic References

1. Places of Refuge and Solitude: Woods often serve as places of refuge and solitude. David, while fleeing from King Saul, sought refuge in the forests of Hereth (1 Samuel 22:5). These wooded areas provided concealment and safety from his pursuers.

2. Divine Encounters: The woods are sometimes depicted as settings for divine encounters or significant spiritual events. In 2 Samuel 18:8, during the battle in the forest of Ephraim, the woods themselves are described as taking a toll on Absalom's forces: "The battle spread over the whole countryside, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword."

3. Symbol of Judgment and Renewal: In prophetic literature, woods can symbolize both judgment and renewal. Isaiah 10:18-19 speaks of the Lord's judgment as a fire that will consume the forests: "The splendor of his forest and fertile fields it will completely destroy, as when a sick man wastes away. And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down." Conversely, Isaiah 41:19-20 speaks of a future restoration where God will plant trees in the desert, symbolizing renewal and divine blessing.

Cultural and Theological Significance

In the biblical worldview, woods are not merely physical locations but are imbued with spiritual and theological meaning. They are places where God's presence can be encountered, where His judgment can be executed, and where His blessings can be manifested. The imagery of woods in the Bible often reflects the broader themes of God's provision, protection, and sovereignty over creation.

The use of woods in Scripture underscores the interconnectedness of the natural world with the divine narrative, illustrating how God uses His creation to accomplish His purposes and reveal His character to humanity.

Strong's Hebrew

3293a. yaar -- wood, forest, thicket
... Word Origin from an unused word Definition wood, forest, thicket NASB Word Usage
forest (51), forests (2), Jaar (1), thickets (1), woodland (1), woods (2). ...
/hebrew/3293a.htm - 5k

3296. Yaare Oregim -- father of Elhanan
... Jaare-oregim. From the plural of ya'ar and the masculine plural active participle
of 'arag; woods of weavers; Jaare-Oregim, an Israelite -- Jaare-oregim. ...
/hebrew/3296.htm - 6k

Library

Lost in the Woods
... Chapter 2. Troubles in Georgia; Return to England; Peter Bohler; "I Felt
my Heart Strangely Warmed" Lost in the Woods. We were four ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/wesley/the journal of john wesley/lost in the woods.htm

Lost in the Woods.
... LOST IN THE WOODS. ... She had been following the road, but thinking the sound
came from the woods, she started off in that direction. ...
/.../byrum/the value of a praying mother/chapter xix lost in the.htm

The High Woods
... CHAPTER VII: THE HIGH WOODS. I have seen them at last. I have been at last
in the High Woods, as the primeval forest is called here ...
//christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/at last/chapter vii the high woods.htm

Now all the Woods are Sleeping,
... II. Now all the woods are sleeping,. 7,7,8,7,7,8 ... trans. by Catherine Winkworth, 1855.
Now all the woods are sleeping,. And night and stillness creeping. ...
/.../winkworth/lyra germanica the christian year/ii now all the woods.htm

Shaping a Prayer on the Anvil of the Knees.
... circumstances. "Into the woods my Master went Clean forspent, forspent;
Into the woods my Master came Forspent with love and shame. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/gordon/quiet talks on prayer/shaping a prayer on the.htm

Patriotic Hymns.
... The green woods of their native land Shall whisper in the strain; The voices of
their household band Shall sweetly speak again. "Felicia Hemans. ...
/.../brown/the story of the hymns and tunes/chapter ix patriotic hymns.htm

The Legend of La Brea {331A}
... Never stole, save what he needed, From the Crown woods round about; Never
lied, except when summoned" Let the warden find him out. ...
/.../kingsley/andromeda and other poems/the legend of la brea.htm

God's World
... Surely the man who wrote this must have thought very differently about this world,
with its fields and woods, and beasts and birds, from what we think. ...
/.../kingsley/twenty-five village sermons/sermon i gods world.htm

Early Lessons in the Life of Faith
... a dense forest. One day the children, lured by the beautiful wild flowers,
became hopelessly lost in the woods. After trying in ...
/.../goforth/how i know god answers prayer/ii early lessons in the.htm

Continued.
... desert. The voice of Jehovah makes the hinds writhe And scathes the
woods"and in His temple" "All in it (are) saying, "Glory.". ...
//christianbookshelf.org/maclaren/the life of david/iii early dayscontinued.htm

Thesaurus

Woods (37 Occurrences)
... Multi-Version Concordance Woods (37 Occurrences). Revelation 18:12 cargoes
of gold and silver, of jewels and pearls, of fine linen ...
/w/woods.htm - 18k

Thickest (3 Occurrences)
... carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon;
its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods; I will ...
/t/thickest.htm - 7k

Inmost (49 Occurrences)
... carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon;
its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods; I will ...
/i/inmost.htm - 20k

Cover (254 Occurrences)
... 4. (vt) To hide sight; to conceal; to cloak; as, the enemy were covered from our
sight by the woods. 5. (vt) To brood or sit on; to incubate. ...
/c/cover.htm - 40k

Unpeopled (38 Occurrences)
... them; the town which was full of noise will become a waste; the hill and the watchtower
will be unpeopled for ever, a joy for the asses of the woods, a place ...
/u/unpeopled.htm - 18k

Woodland (13 Occurrences)
... 2. (a.) of or pertaining to woods or woodland; living in the forest; sylvan.
Multi-Version Concordance Woodland (13 Occurrences). ...
/w/woodland.htm - 11k

Felled (8 Occurrences)
... I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and
its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come ...
/f/felled.htm - 9k

Finest (23 Occurrences)
... I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and
its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come ...
/f/finest.htm - 12k

Densest (2 Occurrences)
... I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and
its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come ...
/d/densest.htm - 7k

Pines (7 Occurrences)
... I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and
its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come ...
/p/pines.htm - 8k

Resources

What does the Bible say about the possibility of Bigfoot/Sasquatch? | GotQuestions.org

Who was Joseph Smith? | GotQuestions.org

The Shack by William P. Young - a review | GotQuestions.org

Woods: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Woods (37 Occurrences)

Revelation 18:12
cargoes of gold and silver, of jewels and pearls, of fine linen, purple and silk, and of scarlet stuff; all kinds of rare woods, and all kinds of goods in ivory and in very costly wood, in bronze, steel and marble.
(WEY)

Deuteronomy 19:5
For example, if a man goes into the woods with his neighbour for the purpose of cutting down trees, and when he takes his axe to give a blow to the tree, the head of the axe comes off, and falling on to his neighbour gives him a wound causing his death; then the man may go in flight to one of these towns and be safe:
(BBE)

1 Samuel 13:6
When the men of Israel saw the danger they were in, (for the people were troubled,) they took cover in cracks in the hillsides and in the woods and in rocks and holes and hollows.
(BBE)

1 Samuel 14:25
All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground.
(See NIV)

1 Samuel 23:16
Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God.
(WEB)

1 Samuel 23:18
They both made a covenant before Yahweh: and David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his house.
(WEB)

2 Samuel 18:6
So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the fight took place in the woods of Ephraim.
(BBE)

2 Samuel 18:8
And the fighting went on over all the face of the country: and the woods were responsible for more deaths than the sword.
(BBE)

1 Kings 7:2
And he made the house of the Woods of Lebanon, which was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high, resting on four lines of cedar-wood pillars with cedar-wood supports on the pillars.
(BBE)

1 Kings 10:17
And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, with three pounds of gold in every cover: and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.
(BBE)

1 Kings 10:21
And all King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold; not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon.
(BBE)

2 Kings 2:24
He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of Yahweh. Two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths.
(WEB NAS RSV NIV)

2 Kings 19:23
You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods; I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.
(BBE)

2 Chronicles 9:16
And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, using three hundred shekels of gold for every cover, and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon.
(BBE)

Psalms 80:13
It is uprooted by the pigs from the woods, the beasts of the field get their food from it.
(BBE)

Psalms 96:12
Let the field and all that is in it exult! Then all the trees of the woods shall sing for joy
(WEB)

Psalms 104:20
When you make it dark, it is night, when all the beasts of the woods come quietly out of their secret places.
(BBE)

Ecclesiastes 2:6
I made pools to give water for the woods with their young trees.
(BBE)

Isaiah 9:18
For evil was burning like a fire; the blackberries and thorns were burned up; the thick woods took fire, rolling up in dark clouds of smoke.
(BBE)

Isaiah 10:18
And he will put an end to the glory of his woods and of his planted fields, soul and body together; and it will be as when a man is wasted by disease.
(BBE)

Isaiah 17:9
In that day, their strong cities will be like the forsaken places in the woods and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the children of Israel; and it will be a desolation.
(WEB JPS)

Isaiah 21:13
The word about Arabia. In the thick woods of Arabia will be your night's resting-place, O travelling bands of Dedanites!
(BBE)

Isaiah 22:8
He took away the cover of Judah; and in that day you were looking with care at the store of arms in the house of the woods.
(BBE)

Isaiah 32:14
For the fair houses will have no man living in them; the town which was full of noise will become a waste; the hill and the watchtower will be unpeopled for ever, a joy for the asses of the woods, a place of food for the flocks;
(BBE)

Isaiah 37:24
You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods.
(BBE)

Isaiah 44:23
Make a song, O heavens, for the Lord has done it: give a loud cry, you deep parts of the earth: let your voices be loud in song, you mountains, and you woods with all your trees: for the Lord has taken up the cause of Jacob, and will let his glory be seen in Israel.
(BBE)

Jeremiah 4:7
A lion has gone up from his secret place in the woods, and one who makes waste the nations is on his way; he has gone out from his place, to make your land unpeopled, so that your towns will be made waste, with no man living in them.
(BBE)

Jeremiah 5:6
And so a lion from the woods will put them to death, a wolf of the waste land will make them waste, a leopard will keep watch on their towns, and everyone who goes out from them will be food for the beasts; because of the great number of their sins and the increase of their wrongdoing.
(BBE)

Jeremiah 10:3
For that which is feared by the people is foolish: it is the work of the hands of the workman; for a tree is cut down by him out of the woods with his axe.
(BBE)

Jeremiah 46:23
They will be cutting down her woods, for they may not be searched out; because they are like locusts, more than may be numbered.
(BBE)

Ezekiel 15:2
Son of man, what is the vine-tree more than any branching tree which is among the trees of the woods?
(BBE)

Ezekiel 15:6
For this cause the Lord has said: Like the vine-tree among the trees of the woods which I have given to the fire for burning, so will I give the people of Jerusalem.
(BBE)

Ezekiel 34:25
I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 39:10
And they will take no wood out of the field or have any cut down in the woods; for they will make their fires of the instruments of war: and they will take by force the property of those who took their property, and go off with the goods of those who took their goods, says the Lord.
(BBE)

Micah 3:12
For this reason, Zion will be ploughed like a field because of you, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like a high place in the woods.
(BBE)

Micah 5:8
And the rest of Jacob will be among the nations, in the middle of the mass of peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the woods, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep: if he goes through, they will be crushed under foot and pulled to bits, and there will be no saviour.
(BBE)

Micah 7:14
Keep your people safe with your rod, the flock of your heritage, living by themselves in the woods in the middle of Carmel: let them get their food in Bashan and Gilead as in the past.
(BBE)

Subtopics

Woods

Related Terms

Woods (37 Occurrences)

Woodsmen (1 Occurrence)