for'-est:
(1) choresh (compare proper name Harosheth),2Ch 27:4. In1Sa 23:15ff translated "wood"; inIsa 17:9, "wood"; inEze 31:3, "forest-like shade." Applied to any thick growth of vegetation but not necessarily so extensive as (3).
(2) pardec:Ne 2:8, margin "park";Ec 2:5, the King James Version "orchards," the Revised Version (British and American) "parks";So 4:13, English Versions of the Bible "orchard," the Revised Version, margin "paradise." A word of Persian origin signifying probably an enclosure.
SeePARADISE.
(3) ya`ar from root meaning "rugged"; compare Arabic wa`ar, "a rugged, stony region." It is sometimes rendered "forest" and sometimes (but less often in the Revised Version (British and American)) "wood." It is used of certain definite wooded tracts: "the forest in Arabia" (Isa 21:13, margin "thickets"); "the forest of Carmel" (2Ki 19:23the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "of his fruitful field"); "the forest of Hereth" (1Sa 22:5); "the forest of Lebanon" (1Ki 7:2f; 10:17-21;2Ch 9:16-20); "the forest of Ephraim," East of the Jordan (2Sa 18:6,8,17). The word ya`ar appears also in well- known Kiriath-jearim, "the city of forests," and Mr. Jearim (Jos 15:10). Among numerous other references the following may be cited:De 19:5;Jos 17:15,18;1Ch 16:33;2Ki 2:24;Ps 80:13;83:14;96:12;132:6;Ec 2:6;So 2:3;1Sa 7:2;14:25,26;Jer 4:29;46:23;Eze 34:29;Mic 3:12;7:14.
(4) cebhakh, from root meaning "to interweave." A "thicket" (Ge 22:13;Jer 4:7); "thicket of trees" (Ps 74:5); "thickets of the forest" (Isa 9:18;10:34).
(5) 'adbhim, "thicket" (Jer 4:29).
From many references it is evident that Palestine had in Old Testament times much more extensive forests and woodlands than today. For a discussion of the subject seeBOTANY.
E. W. G. Masterman