vā´pẽr : (1) אד , 'ēdh : "For he draweth up the drops of water, which distill in rain from his vapor" ( Job 36:27 ); "There went up a mist ['edh from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground" (Genesis 2:6 ). (2) נשׂיא , nāsı̄' , "vapor," i.e. that which rises, from root נשׂא , nāsā' , "to lift": "Who causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth" (Psalm 135:7; compare Jeremiah 10:13; Jeremiah 51:16 ); also translated "clouds": "as clouds and wind without rain" (Proverbs 25:14 ). (3) In Job 36:33 , the King James Version has "vapour" ("concerning the vapour") for עלה , ‛ālāh , root עלה , ‛ālāh , "to go up," where the Revised Version (British and American) reads "concerning the storm that cometh up." (4) קיטור , ḳı̄ṭōr : "fire and hail, snow and vapor" (Psalm 148:8 ); elsewhere, "smoke": "The smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace" (Genesis 19:28 ); "I am become like a wineskin in the smoke" (Psalm 119:83 ).
(5) ἀτμίς , atmı́s : "blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke" ( Acts 2:19 ); "For ye are a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14 ). The first two of the preceding quotations are interesting as indicating the knowledge that vapor of water from the earth or sea is the source of the rain. Visible vapor, i.e. mist or fog, is much less common in Palestine than in many other countries. In the mountains, however, especially in Lebanon, mists are of frequent occurrence, appearing to those below as clouds clinging to the mountains.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) was edited by James Orr, John Nuelsen, Edgar Mullins, Morris Evans, and Melvin Grove Kyle and was published complete in 1939. This web site includes the complete text.
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