Topic
Irrigation
9 passages cited, from 3 classic reference works.
These works date from 1896–1915 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 They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently.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.
- Deuteronomy 11:10Easton · ISBE · Nave General scriptures concerning
¶ For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:
- Ecclesiastes 2:6ISBE · Nave General scriptures concerning
I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:
- Isaiah 58:11ISBE · Nave General scriptures concerning
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
- Deuteronomy 10:7ISBE
From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.
- Deuteronomy 11:11ISBE
But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
- Proverbs 21:1Nave General scriptures concerning
The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
- Ecclesiastes 2:5ISBE
I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
- 1 Corinthians 3:6Nave FIGURATIVE
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
- 1 Corinthians 3:8Nave FIGURATIVE
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 1 references
As streams were few in Palestine, water was generally stored up in winter in reservoirs, and distributed through gardens in numerous rills, which could easily be turned or diverted by the foot (Deut. 11:10).
For purposes of irrigation, water was raised from streams or pools by water-wheels, or by a shaduf, commonly used on the banks of the Nile to the present day.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 7 references
ir-i-ga'-shun: No equivalent for this word is found in Biblical writings, although the use of irrigation for maintaining vegetable life is frequently implied (Ec 2:5,6; Isa 58:11). To one familiar with the methods of irrigation practiced in Palestine, Syria and Egypt, the passage, "where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs" (De 11:10), is easily explained. The water is brought in channels to the gardens, where it is distributed in turn to the different square plots bounded by banks of earth, or along the rows of growing vegetables planted on the sides of the trenches. In stony soil the breach in the canal leading to a particular plot is opened and closed with a hoe. Any obstruction in the trench is similarly removed, while in the soft, loamy soil of the coastal plain or in the Nile valley these operations can be done with the foot; a practice still commonly seen.
The remains of the great irrigation works of the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians leave no doubt as to the extent to which they used water to redeem the deserts. In Palestine and Syria there was less need (De 10:7; 11:11) for irrigation. Here there is an annual fall of from 30 to 40 inches, coming principally during the winter. This is sufficient for the main crops. The summer supply of vegetables, as well as the fruit and mulberry trees, requires irrigation. Hardly a drop of many mountain streams is allowed to reach the sea, but is used to water the gardens of the mountain terraces and plains. This supply is now being supplemented by the introduction of thousands of pumps and oil engines for raising the water of the wells sufficiently to run it through the irrigation canals. Where a spring is small, its supply is gathered into a birket, or cistern, and then drawn off through a large outlet into the trenches, sometimes several days being required to fill the cistern. In Ec 2:6, Solomon is made to say, "I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest." This passage helps to explain the uses of the so-called Pools of Solomon, South of Jerusalem. In this same district are traces of the ancient terraces which were probably watered from these pools.
See AGRICULTURE; GARDEN.
James A. Patch
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); 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.