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The oldest Latin version of Scripture translates the word for this tree as an evergreen oak called "ilex." The Authorized Version may be correct in rendering it "cypress." Nevertheless, it is a finely grained wood that grows abundantly on the mountains of Hermon, according to the Apocrypha. The wood has a durable quality, being very hard, and it bears dark, gloomy foliage. "Throughout the East it is used as a funereal tree; and its dark, tall, waving plumes render it peculiarly appropriate among the tombs" (Easton).
Walker says there are 10 known species in the Northern hemisphere and that explorers have told us it is the only tree that can survive the harsh conditions at the summit of Mount Lebanon. Her description of this tree is "tall with erect, close branches." There is a more elegant variety favored by Armenians for planting in cemeteries and other burial sites. Cypress wood is fragrant and reddish colored.
Some scholars consider cypress the right translation for Gopher wood, used by Noah to construct the ark. It is quite durable. At St. Peter's Church in Rome two large doors carved from cypress lasted 600 years. It is used for many things such as rafters, winepresses, joists and ship decks (Walker).
Smith's Bible Dictionary says the true cypress is native to Taurus.
Other names for cypress are camel-thorn or ilex. Cypress is translated as "holm tree" in the Revised Standard Version of Isaiah 44:14.
Isaiah 44:13 (KJV) The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
Isaiah 44:14 (KJV) He hewth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
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