scientific classification is not strictly adhered to, and it is therefore unlikely that the ancient Hebrews differentiated between the true grasses and grasslike herbs.

Brought into existence during the third creative day (Gen. 1:11-13), the grasses have served as a direct as well as an indirect source of food for man and the animals. Also, along with other plants, they have played a significant role in purifying the air by taking in carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen. The extensive root system of grasses serves as a deterrent to soil érosion. Appropriately, grass is referred to as one of Jehovah’s provisions, as are also the sunlight and the rain that are so vital for grass to flourish.—Ps. 104:14; 147:8; Zech. 10:1; 2 Sam. 23:3, 4; Job 38:25-27; Matt. 5:45.

The Israelites were very familiar with the withering of grass under the sun’s intense heat during the dry season. So the transitoriness of man’s life is fittingly likened to that of grass and is contrasted with the everlastingness of Jehovah and that of his “word” or “saying.” (Ps. 90:4-6; 103:15-17; Isa. 40:6-8; 51:12; 1 Pet. 1:24, 25) Evildoers also are compared to grass that quickly withers. (Ps. 37:1, 2) The haters of Zion as well as people about to be subjugated by military conquest are likened to shallow-rooted grass growing on earthen roofs, grass that withers even before being pulled up or that is scorched in the wake of the E wind.—Ps. 129:5, 6; 2 Ki. 19:25, 26; Isa. 37:26, 27.

A restoration prophecy foretold that the bones of God’s servants would ‘sprout like tender grass,’ that is, be invigorated with fresh strength.—Isa. 66:14; compare Isaiah 58:9-11.

GRASSHOPPER

This translates the word hha·gavʹ, but there is uncertainty as to the insect or insects designated by this Hebrew term. It is considered to be derived from a root meaning “to hide, to cover over.” Hence, hha·gavʹ may denote a variety of flying locust whose vast swarms virtually hide the sun and cover the ground. Or, since the fully developed, winged stage of locust (Heb., ʼar·behʹ) is mentioned along with the hha·gavʹ at Leviticus 11:22 (as being clean for food), hha·gavʹ may refer to a leaper rather than a flier.

The English designation “grasshopper” is applied to any of numerous leaping insects of the families Acridiidae (including the migratory locusts and the grasshoppers having short feelers) and Locustidae (including the grasshoppers with long feelers).

Aside from its being listed as an insect clean for food and the allusion to its destructiveness to vegetation (2 Chron. 7:13), the grasshopper appears in an illustrative setting in Scripture. The unfaithful Israelite spies reported that in size they were as grasshoppers in comparison with the inhabitants of Canaan. (Num. 13:33) Men are as grasshoppers from Jehovah’s standpoint and in view of his greatness. (Isa. 40:22) In portraying the difficulties of old age, the congregator employed the figure of a grasshopper dragging itself along, perhaps thereby depicting the aged person as bent and stiff in figure, arms thrust somewhat backward.—Eccl. 12:5; see LOCUST.

GRAVE

The English word “grave” is generally understood as applying to an excavation in the earth for use as a place of burial, though it may also apply to any place of interment. Since a common method of burial among the Hebrews and other Oriental peoples was by use of a natural cave or a rock-cut tomb or vault, the word “grave” may easily convey an inaccurate idea to the mind of the Occidental reader of the Bible accounts. The broader, more general term “burial place” may, therefore, be a preferable translation for the Hebrew word qeʹver, the common word used to designate a place of interment, a grave or graveyard. (Gen. 23:7-9; Isa. 22:16) The related word q^evu·rahʹ similarly may refer to an earthen grave or to a tomb excavated in rock.—Gen. 35:20; Deut. 34:6.

In Greek the common word for grave is taʹphos (Matt. 28:1), related to the verb (thaʹpto), meaning “to bury.” (Matt. 8:21, 22) The words mneʹma (Luke 23:53) and mne·meiʹon (Luke 23:55) refer to a tomb or memorial tomb.

Since these Hebrew and Greek words refer to an individual burial place or grave site, they are often used in the plural as referring to many such graves. They are, therefore, distinct from the Hebrew sh^eʼohlʹ and its Greek equivalent haiʹdes, which refer to the common grave of all mankind or gravedom and hence are always used in the singular. For this reason many modern translations have not followed the practice of the Authorized Version, in which sh^eʼohlʹ and haiʹdes are alternately rendered by the words “hell,” “grave” and “pit,” but have instead simply transliterated them into English.—See HADES; SHEOL.

Nevertheless, since one’s entry into Sheol is represented as taking place through burial in an individual grave or at a burial site, words pertaining to such places of interment are used as parallel though not equivalent terms with Sheol. (Job 17:1, 13-16; 21:13, 32, 33; Ps. 88:3-12) The grave may also be represented by such figurative expressions as man’s “long-lasting house,” and, perhaps, “the land down below” (in contrast with “the land of those alive”), although these expressions may well refer to Sheol, which, standing for gravedom, is a term of greater magnitude and extent.—Compare Ecclesiastes 12:5-7 with Job 17:13; and Ezekiel 32:24, 25 with Ezekiel 32:21.

At Romans 3:13 the apostle Paul quotes Psalm 5:9, likening the throat of wicked and deceitful men to “an opened grave.” As an opened grave is to be filled with the dead and with corruption, their throat opens for speech that is deadly and corrupt.—Compare Matthew 15:18-20.

Although the grave is likened to a pit from which man rightly desires to be delivered, Job draws attention to the despair of those suffering persons who, lacking a clear hope or understanding of their Creator’s purposes, seek death and “exult because they find a burial place.” (Job 3:21, 22) Such attitude contrasts sharply with that of men who devoted their lives to their Creator’s service and confidently embraced the promise of a resurrection.—Ps. 16:9-11; Acts 24:15; Phil. 1:21-26; 2 Tim. 4:6-8; Heb. 11:17-19; see BURIAL, BURIAL PLACES.

GRAVEL

Small stones or pebbles. In the Scriptures, “gravel” is used in an illustrative sense. The injurious aftereffects of gaining bread by falsehood are compared to having one’s mouth filled with gravel. (Prov. 20:17) Also, the severe treatment Jehovah meted out to unfaithful Jerusalem by means of the Babylonians is likened to ‘breaking teeth with gravel.’ (Lam. 3:16) According to traditional Jewish thought, this was actually experienced by those taken into Babylonian exile. The tradition claims that they were forced to bake bread in pits dug in the ground and that, as a result, the bread contained grit.

GRAY-HEADEDNESS

Caused by the reduction of pigment granules in the hair due to changes in body chemistry. There are infrequent cases of premature graying, but usually it accompanies older age. It is in this latter association that the Hebrew verb siv (grow, be gray, old), and more frequently the Hebrew noun seh·vahʹ (gray-headedness, age), occur in the Bible. (Ruth 4:15; 1 Sam. 12:2; 1 Ki. 2:6, 9; Job 15:10; Ps. 71:18) Abraham, Gideon and David lived to “a good old age [seh·vahʹ].”—Gen. 15:15; 25:8; Judg. 8:32; 1 Chron. 29:28.

The Bible recognizes both the beauty of youth and the splendor of old age. “The beauty of young men is their power, and the splendor of old men is their gray-headedness.” (Prov. 20:29) Especially is the latter true if such ones are found worshiping and serving Jehovah. “Gray-headedness is a crown of beauty when it is found in the way of righteousness.”