Topic
Flag
8 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Exodus 2:3Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave 1. (R. V., bulrush.)
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
- Isaiah 19:6Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave 1. (R. V., bulrush.)
And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
- Genesis 41:2Easton · Smith · ISBE
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.
- Genesis 41:18Easton · Smith · ISBE
And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
- Exodus 2:5Easton · Smith · Nave 1. (R. V., bulrush.)
¶ And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
- Job 8:11Easton · ISBE · Nave 1. (R. V., bulrush.)
Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
- Jonah 2:5Easton · ISBE · Nave 1. (R. V., bulrush.)
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
- Exodus 2:1ISBE
And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 7 references
(Heb., or rather Egyptian, ahu, Job 8:11), rendered “meadow” in Gen. 41:2, 18; probably the Cyperus esculentus, a species of rush eaten by cattle, the Nile reed. It also grows in Palestine.
In Ex. 2:3, 5, Isa. 19:6, it is the rendering of the Hebrew suph_, a word which occurs frequently in connection with _yam; as yam suph, to denote the “Red Sea” (q.v.) or the sea of weeds (as this word is rendered, Jonah 2:5). It denotes some kind of sedge or reed which grows in marshy places. (See PAPER, REED.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 5 references
- A word of Egyptian origin, and denoting "any green and course herbage, such as rushes and reeds, which grows in marshy places." (Genesis 41:2,18) (here translated meadow). It is perhaps the Cyperus esculentus .
- A word which appears to be used in a very wide sense to denote "weeds of any kind." (Exodus 2:3,5; Isaiah 19:6)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 7 references
Two Hebrew words:
(1) cuph (Ex 2:3,1, "flags"; Isa 19:6, "flags"; Jon 2:5, "weeds"). This is apparently a general name which includes both the fresh-water weeds growing along a river bank and "seaweeds." The Red Sea was known as Yam cuph.
(2) 'achu (Ge 41:2,18, the King James Version "meadow," the Revised Version (British and American) "reed-grass"; Job 8:11, "Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag (margin "reed-grass") grow without water?"). Some such general term as "sedges" or "fens" would better meet the requirements.
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.