חציר. In the two places where this word occurs, Prov. xxvii, 25,
and Isaiah xv, 16, our translators have very improperly rendered it
“hay.” But in those countries they made no hay; and, if they did, it
appears from inspection that hay could hardly be the meaning of the word
in either of those texts. The author of “Fragments,” in continuation of
Calmet, has the following remarks: “There is a gross impropriety in our
version of Prov. xxvii, 25: ‘The hay appeareth, and the tender grass
showeth itself, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered.’ Now,
certainly, if the tender grass is but just beginning to show itself, the
hay, which is grass cut and dried after it has arrived at maturity,
ought by no means to be associated with it, still less ought it to be
placed before it. And this leads me to observe, that none of the
dictionaries which I have seen seem to me to give the accurate import of
the word, which, I apprehend, means _the first shoots_, _the rising_,
_budding_, _spires of grass_. So, in the present passage, גלה חציר, ‘the
tender shoots of the grass rise up; and the buddings of grass,’ grass in
its early state, as is the peculiar import of רשא, ‘appear; and the
tufts of grass,’ proceeding from the same root, ‘collect themselves
together, and, by their union, begin to clothe the mountain tops with a
pleasing verdure.’” Surely, the beautiful progress of vegetation, as
described in this passage, must appear too poetical to be lost; but what
must it be to an eastern beholder! to one who had lately witnessed all
surrounding sterility, a grassless waste!
and Isaiah xv, 16, our translators have very improperly rendered it
“hay.” But in those countries they made no hay; and, if they did, it
appears from inspection that hay could hardly be the meaning of the word
in either of those texts. The author of “Fragments,” in continuation of
Calmet, has the following remarks: “There is a gross impropriety in our
version of Prov. xxvii, 25: ‘The hay appeareth, and the tender grass
showeth itself, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered.’ Now,
certainly, if the tender grass is but just beginning to show itself, the
hay, which is grass cut and dried after it has arrived at maturity,
ought by no means to be associated with it, still less ought it to be
placed before it. And this leads me to observe, that none of the
dictionaries which I have seen seem to me to give the accurate import of
the word, which, I apprehend, means _the first shoots_, _the rising_,
_budding_, _spires of grass_. So, in the present passage, גלה חציר, ‘the
tender shoots of the grass rise up; and the buddings of grass,’ grass in
its early state, as is the peculiar import of רשא, ‘appear; and the
tufts of grass,’ proceeding from the same root, ‘collect themselves
together, and, by their union, begin to clothe the mountain tops with a
pleasing verdure.’” Surely, the beautiful progress of vegetation, as
described in this passage, must appear too poetical to be lost; but what
must it be to an eastern beholder! to one who had lately witnessed all
surrounding sterility, a grassless waste!