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H717 · Hebrew · Old Testament
אָרָה
Arah
Verb
To gather, to pluck

Definition

Arah (אָרָה) means to gather or pluck, particularly referring to the gathering of fruit or flowers. The verb appears rarely but evokes the images of harvest and collection. It is also reflected in the related noun orach (path/way) and connects to the root meaning of bringing things together.

Theological Significance

The gathering motif in Scripture ultimately points to the eschatological harvest, when God gathers His people from all nations. The imagery of arah — careful, purposeful gathering — suggests the precision and intentionality of God's redemptive work. "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Matthew 9:37) — the divine gathering is always in progress.

Key Scripture Passages

Psalm 80:12
Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
Song of Solomon 5:1
I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey.
Isaiah 17:5
And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears.
Numbers 11:8
The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it.
Ruth 2:3
So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz.

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