FLOURISH

flur'-ish (parach, tsuts; anathallo): The translation of parach, "to break forth" (Psalms 72:7; 92:12-13; Proverbs 14:11; Isaiah 66:14; Song of Solomon 6:11; 7:12; the Revised Version (British and American) "budded"); of tsuts "to bloom" (Psalms 72:16, Psalms 90:Psalms 6; 92:7; 103:15; 132:18); ra`anan, "green," "fresh," is translated "flourishing" in Psalms 92:14, the Revised Version (British and American) "green," and ra`anan, Aramaic in Daniel 4:4; nubh, "to sprout" (Zechariah 9:17, the King James Version "cheerful").

In an interesting passage (Ecclesiastes 12:5 the King James Version), the Hiphil future of na'ats, meaning properly "to pierce or strike," hence, to slight or reject, is translated "flourish"; it is said of the old man "The almond tree shall flourish," the Revised Version (British and American) "blossom" (so Ewald, Delitzsch, etc.); na'ats has nowhere else this meaning; it is frequently rendered "contemn;" "despise," etc. Other renderings are, "shall cause loathing" (Gesenius, Knobel, etc.), "shall be despised," i.e. the hoary head; "The almond tree shall shake off its flowers," the silvery hairs falling like the fading white flowers of the almond tree; by others it is taken to indicate "sleeplessness," the name of the almond tree (shaqedh) meaning the watcher or early riser (compare Jeremiah 1:11, "a rod of an almond-tree," literally, "a wakeful (or early) tree"), the almond being the first of the trees to wake from the sleep of winter.

See ALMOND .

"Flourish" appears once only in the New Testament, in the King James Version, as translation of anathallo, "to put forth anew," or "to make put forth anew" (Philippians 4:10): "Your care for me hath flourished again," the Revised Version (British and American) "Ye have revived your thought for me."

W. L. Walker

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.