Forest for'-est:
(1) choresh (compare proper name Harosheth), 2 Chronicles 27:4. In 1 Samuel 23:15 ff translated "wood"; in Isaiah 17:9, "wood"; in Ezekiel 31:3, "forest-like shade." Applied to any thick growth of vegetation but not necessarily so extensive as (3).
(2) pardec: Nehemiah 2:8, margin "park"; Ecclesiastes 2:5, the King James Version "orchards," the Revised Version (British and American) "parks"; Song of Solomon 4:13, English Versions of the Bible "orchard," the Revised Version, margin "paradise." A word of Persian origin signifying probably an enclosure.
See PARADISE.
(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" (Isaiah 21:13, margin "thickets"); "the forest of Carmel" (2 Kings 19:23 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "of his fruitful field"); "the forest of Hereth" (1 Samuel 22:5); "the forest of Lebanon" (1 Kings 7:2, 1 Kings 10:17-21, 2 Chronicles 9:16-20); "the forest of Ephraim," East of the Jordan (2 Samuel 18:6, 2 Samuel 18:8, 2 Samuel 18:17). The word ya`ar appears also in well- known Kiriath-jearim, "the city of forests," and Mr. Jearim (Joshua 15:10). Among numerous other references the following may be cited: Deuteronomy 19:5, Joshua 17:15, Joshua 17:18, 1 Chronicles 16:33, 2 Kings 2:24, Psalms 80:13, Psalms 83:14, Psalms 96:12, Psalms 132:6, Ecclesiastes 2:6, Song of Solomon 2:3, 1 Samuel 7:2, 1 Samuel 14:25, 1 Samuel 14:26, Jeremiah 4:29, Jeremiah 46:23, Ezekiel 34:29, Micah 3:12, Micah 7:14.
(4) cebhakh, from root meaning "to interweave." A "thicket" (Genesis 22:13, Jeremiah 4:7); "thicket of trees" (Psalms 74:5); "thickets of the forest" (Isaiah 9:18, Isaiah 10:34).
(5) 'adbhim, "thicket" (Jeremiah 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 see BOTANY.
E. W. G. Masterman