and often form thickets along the water courses. Their beauty is in their slender long leaves, hanging gracefully from the slender twigs and branches.

WIND

The Hebrew word ruʹahh, often rendered “spirit,” can also denote air in motion, wind. (Eccl. 1:6) Other Hebrew terms and expressions may be translated “stormwind” (Hos. 8:7), “tempest,” “whirling tempest” (Jer. 25:32; 23:19), “tempestuous wind” and “windstorm.” (Ps. 148:8; 2 Ki. 2:11) Although at John 3:8 pneuʹma (generally translated “spirit”) means “wind,” the Greek term aʹne·mos is the more frequently used designation for wind. (Matt. 7:25, 27; 11:7; John 6:18) “The breezy part [Heb., ruʹahh] of the day” apparently referred to the evening hours just before sunset, when refreshing cool breezes commonly arise in the region where the garden of Eden is thought to have been.—Gen. 3:8; see SPIRIT.

Jehovah God is the Creator of the wind. (Amos 4:13) Though not literally in it (1 Ki. 19:11; compare Job 38:1; 40:6; Psalm 104:3), God can control the wind and use it to serve his purposes, as when he employed it as an agent to cause the waters of the Flood to subside. (Gen. 8:1; Ex. 14:21; Num. 11:31; Ps. 78:26; 107:25, 29; 135:7; 147:18; Jer. 10:13; Jonah 1:4) His Son, when on earth, likewise displayed power to control the winds, causing them to abate. (Matt. 8:23, 27; 14:24-32; Mark 4:36-41; 6:48, 51; Luke 8:22-25) It was apparently only by Jehovah’s allowance that Satan was able to produce or control a “great wind” that brought death to Job’s children.—Job 1:11, 12, 18, 19.

Usually winds were named for the direction from which they came, the “east wind” blowing westward from the E. (Ex. 10:13, 19; Ps. 78:26; Song of Sol. 4:16) All four directions, N, S, E and W, are embraced by references to the “four winds” of heaven or earth. (Jer. 49:36; Ezek. 37:9; Dan. 8:8; Matt. 24:31) At Revelation 7:1 “four angels” are depicted as “standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding tight the four winds of the earth.” By standing at the “corners” the “angels” would let loose the winds obliquely from diagonal directions, sparing no quarter of the earth from the disastrous blowing of the winds.

North winds were cool and brought heavy rains. (Job 37:9; Prov. 25:23) The south wind blew over hot desert areas into Palestine and, therefore, could produce a heat wave (Luke 12:55); storm winds might also originate in the S. (Isa. 21:1; Zech. 9:14) In the dry season, the east wind, in moving toward Egypt and Palestine, crossed vast desert areas and so was hot and dry, scorching or drying up vegetation. (Gen. 41:6, 23, 27; Ezek. 17:7-10; compare Hosea 13:15; Jonah 4:8.) During the rainy season, west winds carried moisture into Palestine from the Mediterranean Sea and brought rain to the land. (1 Ki. 18:42-45) When observers there saw a cloud rising in the W, they could expect a storm. (Luke 12:54) In the dry summer, daily breezes from the Mediterranean made the weather more tolerable.—See CLOUD; EURO-AQUILO.

FIGURATIVE USE

Winds can spring up quickly and just as quickly die down, thus appropriately representing the transitoriness of man’s life. (Job 7:7; Ps. 103:15, 16) Having no solid substance, wind can denote vain knowledge and labor and empty words and hopes. (Job 15:1, 2; 16:3; Eccl. 5:16; Hos. 12:1), as well as nothingness. (Isa. 26:18; 41:29; Jer. 5:13) As vain works end up in futility, pursuing them is like “striving after wind.” (Eccl. 1:14; 2:11) And the man who brings ostracism upon his house takes “possession of wind.” He gains nothing that is worthwhile or has real substance.—Prov. 11:29.

Winds scatter and toss objects about and so being ‘scattered to every wind’ or ‘divided toward the four winds’ signifies complete dispersion or division. (Jer. 49:36; Ezek. 5:10; 12:14; 17:21; Dan. 11:4) Like a vessel with no set course that is tossed about by the winds, persons lacking Christian maturity are subject to being “carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error.”—Eph. 4:13, 14.

WINDOW

See HOUSE.

WINE AND STRONG DRINK

There are a number of original-language terms that usually designate some kind of wine (Heb., ti·rohshʹ [Gen. 27:28, 37; Hos. 2:8, 9, 22]; Heb., hheʹmer [Deut. 32:14; Isa. 27:2] and the corresponding Aramaic term hhamarʹ [Dan. 5:1, 2, 4, 23]; Gr., gleuʹkos [Acts 2:13, 15]). But the Hebrew word yaʹyin is found most frequently in the Scriptures. It first appears in Genesis 9:20-24, where the reference is to Noah’s planting a vineyard after the flood and then becoming intoxicated on the wine therefrom. The Greek word oiʹnos (basically corresponding to the Hebrew term yaʹyin) first occurs in Jesus’ comments on the inadvisability of using old wineskins for new, partially fermented wine, as the pressure developed through fermentation would burst the old wineskins.—Matt. 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, 38.

Various strong alcoholic liquors apparently derived from pomegranates, dates, figs, and the like, were usually designated by the Hebrew term she·kharʹ. (Num. 28:7; Deut. 14:26; Ps. 69:12) The Hebrew word ʽa·sisʹ, at The Song of Solomon 8:2, refers to the “fresh juice of pomegranates,” but in other passages the context points to wine. (Isa. 49:26; Joel 1:5) Beer may have been designated by the Hebrew word soʹveʼ.—Isa. 1:22; Nah. 1:10.

WINE MAKING

In Palestine the grapes were gathered during August and September, depending on the type of grapes and the climate of the region. The vintage season was practically over by the time the “festival of booths” was celebrated in the early part of autumn. (Deut. 16:13) After being picked, the grapes were placed in limestone vats or troughs where men usually crushed them barefooted, singing songs as they trod the winepress. (Isa. 16:10; Jer. 25:30; 48:33) With such comparatively gentle crushing methods the stems and seeds were not broken down, little of the tannic acid in the skins was expressed, and this, in turn, made for a high-quality wine, one that was smooth and soft on the palate. (Song of Sol. 7:9) Sometimes heavy stones were used instead of feet.—Isa. 63:3; see PRESS.

The first “must” or fresh juice that flows from the broken skins of the grapes, if kept separate from the greater volume of juice extracted under pressure, makes the richest and best wines. Fermentation begins within six hours after the crushing, while the juice is still in the vats, and slowly progresses for a period of several months. The alcohol content of the natural wines varies from 8 to 14 percent by volume, but this can be increased with the addition of sugar to the must or by adding alcoholic spirits later on. If grapes are low in sugar content, and fermentation continues too long, or if the wine is not properly protected from oxidizing, it turns to acetic acid or vinegar.—Ruth 2:14.

During the aging period the wine was kept in jars or skin bottles. (Jer. 13:12) These containers were probably vented in such a way as to allow the carbon dioxide gas (a by-product in the conversion of the sugars to alcohol through fermentation) to escape without admitting oxygen from the air to contact and contaminate the wine. (Job 32:19) As the wines were left undisturbed, they gradually clarified, the dregs falling to the bottom, with an improvement in the bouquet and flavor. (Luke 5:39) Thereafter wines were usually transferred to other vessels.—Isa. 25:6; Jer. 48:11; see DREGS.