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GRASS.—(1) chatsîr—equivalent of Arab. [Note: Arabic.] khudra, which includes green vegetables; many references, e.g. 1Ki_18:6, 2Ki_19:26; tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘hay’ in Pro_27:25, Isa_15:6, and in Num_11:5 ‘leeks’; refers to herbage in general. (2) deshe’ (Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] dethe), Jer_14:5, Pro_27:25, Job_38:27, Isa_66:14 (‘pasture land’), Dan_4:15; Dan_4:23 (‘tender grass’). (3) yereq, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘grass,’ Num_22:4; see Herb. (4) çseb, Deu_11:15; Deu_32:2 etc., but tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘herb’ in other places; see Herb. (5) chortos, Mat_6:30, Mar_6:39 etc. Pasturage, as it occurs in Western lands, is unknown in Palestine. Such green herbage appears only for a few weeks, and when the rains cease soon perishes. Hence grass is in the OT a frequent symbol of the shortness of human life (Psa_90:5-7; Psa_103:15, Isa_40:6; cf. 1Pe_1:24). Even more brief is the existence of ‘the grass upon the [mud-made] housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up’ (Psa_129:6).
E. W. G. Masterman.