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BAY-TREE

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אזרח. It is mentioned only in Psalm xxxvii, 35, 36: “I have
seen the ungodly in great power, and flourishing like a green bay-tree.
Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. Yea, I sought him, but he could
not be found.” Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, Jerom, and some others say
that the original may mean only _a native tree_; a tree growing in its
native soil, not having suffered by transplantation. Such a tree spreads
itself luxuriantly. The Septuagint and Vulgate render it _cedars_; but
the high Dutch of Luther’s Bible, the old Saxon, the French, the
Spanish, the Italian of Diodati, and the version of Ainsworth, make it
the laurel.
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