Furrow

an opening in the ground made by the plough ( Psalms 65:10 ; Hosea 10:4 Hosea 10:10 ).

Groove in the earth made by a plow.

If my land cry against me, or that the FURROWS likewise thereof complain; if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended. ( Job 31:38-40 )

FURROW

fur'-o (telem):

The word is translated "furrows" in Job 39:10; 31:38; Psalms 65:10; Hosea 10:4; 12:11 (Psalms 65:10 the King James Version, "ridges"). In these passages the fields are pictured as they were in the springtime or late autumn. When the showers had softened the earth, the seed was sown and the soil turned over with the plow and left in furrows, not harrowed and pulverized as in our modern farming. The Syrian farmer today follows the custom of his ancient predecessors.

Another word, ma`anah, occurs in two passages, first in the figurative sense in Psalms 129:3, and second in an obscure passage in 1 Samuel 14:14. Three other words, gedhudhah, `arughah, `ayin, translated "furrows" in the King James Version, are probably more properly rendered in the American Standard Revised Version "ridges" (Psalms 65:10), "beds" (Ezekiel 17:7,10), and "transgressions" (Hosea 10:10).

See AGRICULTURE; PLOW.

James A. Patch