Dictionaries :: Root

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Root:

root (shoresh; rhiza): Frequently mentioned in the Old Testament and New Testament, but almost always in a figurative sense, e.g. "root of the righteous" (Pr 12:3,12); "root that beareth gall" (De 29:18); "Their root shall be as rottenness" (Isa 5:24); "root of bitterness" (Heb 12:15). Also of peoples: "they whose root is in Amalek" (Jud 5:14); of Assyria (Eze 31:7); "Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up" (Ho 9:16); "Judah shall again take root downward" (2Ki 19:30; compare Isa 27:6; 37:31); the root of Jesse (Isa 11:10; Ro 15:12); root of David (Re 5:5; 22:16).

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Root:

is used

(a) in the natural sense, Mat 3:10; 13:6, 21; Mar 4:6, 17; 11:20; Luk 3:9; 8:13;

(b) metaphorically

(1) of "cause, origin, source," said of persons, ancestors, Rom 11:16-18 (twice); of things, evils, 1Ti 6:10, RV, of the love of money as a "root" of all "kinds of evil" (marg., "evils;" AV, "evil"); bitterness, Hbr 12:15;

(2) of that which springs from a "root," a shoot, said of offspring, Rom 15:12; Rev 5:5; 22:16.

Root:

"to cause to take root," is used metaphorically in the Passive Voice in Eph 3:17, of being "rooted" in love; Col 2:7, in Christ, i.e., in the sense of being firmly planted, or established. In the Sept., Isa 40:24; Jer 12:2.

Root:

"to root out or up" (ek, "out," and No. 1), is rendered "to root up" in Mat 13:29; 15:13; see PLUCK.