Topical Encyclopedia
In biblical terms, the concept of "range" can be understood in various contexts, including geographical, metaphorical, and spiritual dimensions. The term itself may not appear frequently in the Bible, but the idea of range is implicit in many narratives and teachings.
Geographical RangeThe Bible often describes the geographical range of territories, journeys, and boundaries. For instance, the Promised Land's extent is detailed in several passages. In
Genesis 15:18, God makes a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates." This description outlines the range of the land promised to the Israelites, emphasizing God's provision and the vastness of His promise.
The journeys of the Israelites during the Exodus also illustrate the concept of range. The wilderness wanderings covered a significant geographical area, as described in the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Numbers 33 provides a detailed account of the stages of their journey, highlighting the range of their travels and the various locations they encountered.
Metaphorical RangeThe Bible uses the concept of range metaphorically to describe the breadth of God's attributes and actions.
Psalm 103:11 states, "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him." This verse uses the vast range of the heavens to illustrate the immeasurable extent of God's love and faithfulness.
Similarly, the range of God's forgiveness is depicted in
Psalm 103:12: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." The infinite range between east and west symbolizes the complete and total nature of God's forgiveness for those who repent.
Spiritual RangeThe spiritual range of a believer's life is also a theme in Scripture. The Apostle Paul speaks of the range of spiritual gifts and the diversity of roles within the body of Christ. In
1 Corinthians 12:4-6, he writes, "There are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people." This passage highlights the range of spiritual gifts and functions, emphasizing unity in diversity within the church.
The range of a believer's influence and witness is another aspect of spiritual range. Jesus' Great Commission in
Matthew 28:19-20 commands His followers to "go and make disciples of all nations," indicating the global range of the Christian mission. This directive underscores the expansive reach of the Gospel and the responsibility of believers to spread the message of Christ to the ends of the earth.
ConclusionWhile the term "range" may not be explicitly used in the Bible, its concept is woven throughout Scripture in various forms. Whether describing geographical territories, illustrating the vastness of God's attributes, or outlining the scope of spiritual gifts and missions, the idea of range serves to highlight the breadth and depth of God's work and the believer's role in His divine plan.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. (
n.) To set in a row, or in rows; to place in a regular line or lines, or in ranks; to dispose in the proper order; to rank; as, to range soldiers in line.
2. (n.) To place (as a single individual) among others in a line, row, or order, as in the ranks of an army; -- usually, reflexively and figuratively, (in the sense) to espouse a cause, to join a party, etc.
3. (n.) To separate into parts; to sift.
4. (n.) To dispose in a classified or in systematic order; to arrange regularly; as, to range plants and animals in genera and species.
5. (n.) To rove over or through; as, to range the fields.
6. (n.) To sail or pass in a direction parallel to or near; as, to range the coast.
7. (n.) To be native to, or to live in; to frequent.
8. (v. i.) To rove at large; to wander without restraint or direction; to roam.
9. (v. i.) To have range; to change or differ within limits; to be capable of projecting, or to admit of being projected, especially as to horizontal distance; as, the temperature ranged through seventy degrees Fahrenheit; the gun ranges three miles; the shot ranged four miles.
10. (v. i.) To be placed in order; to be ranked; to admit of arrangement or classification; to rank.
11. (v. i.) To have a certain direction; to correspond in direction; to be or keep in a corresponding line; to trend or run; -- often followed by with; as, the front of a house ranges with the street; to range along the coast.
12. (v. i.) To be native to, or live in, a certain district or region; as, the peba ranges from Texas to Paraguay.
13. (n.) A series of things in a line; a row; a rank; as, a range of buildings; a range of mountains.
14. (n.) An aggregate of individuals in one rank or degree; an order; a class.
15. (n.) The step of a ladder; a rung.
16. (n.) A kitchen grate.
17. (n.) An extended cooking apparatus of cast iron, set in brickwork, and affording conveniences for various ways of cooking; also, a kind of cooking stove.
18. (n.) A bolting sieve to sift meal.
19. (n.) A wandering or roving; a going to and fro; an excursion; a ramble; an expedition.
20. (v.) That which may be ranged over; place or room for excursion; especially, a region of country in which cattle or sheep may wander and pasture.
21. (v.) Extent or space taken in by anything excursive; compass or extent of excursion; reach; scope; discursive power; as, the range of one's voice, or authority.
22. (n.) The region within which a plant or animal naturally lives.
23. (n.) The horizontal distance to which a shot or other projectile is carried.
24. (v.) Sometimes, less properly, the trajectory of a shot or projectile.
25. (n.) A place where shooting, as with cannons or rifles, is practiced.
26. (v.) In the public land system of the United States, a row or line of townships lying between two successive meridian lines six miles apart.
27. (v.) See Range of cable, below.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
RANGEranj: "Range" and "rank" have the same derivation, and in the sense of a "row" (of men, etc.) they were formerly interchangeable. "Range" with this meaning is found in2 Kings 11:8, 15 the King James Version parallel2 Chronicles 23:14 (the Revised Version (British and American) "rank"; sedherah, "row"). Hence, "to range" is "to set in a line" (Judith 2:16; 2 Maccabees 12:20, diatasso) or "to move in a line" or, simply, "to roam," whence "a ranging bear" (Proverbs 28:15; shaqaq, "run to and fro"). A cooking "range" is a stove on which pots, etc., can be set in a row, but the kirayim ofLeviticus 11:35 is a much more primitive affair, composed, probably, of two plates (kirayim is a dual). InJob 39:8 "range of the mountains" is good modern use, but ythr, should be pointed yathur (not yethur as in Massoretic Text) and connected with tur, "search." So translate. "He searcheth out the mountains as his pasture."
Burton Scott Easton
Greek
498. antitasso -- torange in battle against, to set oneself...... to
range in battle against, to set oneself against. Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: antitasso Phonetic Spelling: (an-tee-tas'-som-ahee) Short Definition
...4748. stoicheo -- to be in rows, fig. to walk by rule
... From a derivative of steicho (torange in regular line); to march in (military)
rank (keep step), ie (figuratively) to conform to virtue and piety -- walk...
2791. Kilikia -- Cilicia, a province of Asia Minor
... Kilikia Phonetic Spelling: (kil-ik-ee'-ah) Short Definition: Cilicia Definition:
Cilicia, a Roman province between the Taurusrange of mountains and the coast...
2048. eremos -- solitary, desolate
... vegetation"). This root () does "not suggest absolute barrenness but territory
affording freerange for shepherds and their flocks....
4151. pneuma -- wind, spirit
... of 4151 (). The Hebrew counterpart () has the samerange of meaning as 4151 (),
ie it likewise can refer to , , or .]. Word Origin...
Strong's Hebrew
3491. yethur --range... yethur. 3492 .
range. Transliteration: yethur Phonetic Spelling: (yaw-thoor')
Short Definition:
range. Word Origin another reading for tur, qv.
range...3844. Lebanon -- a wooded mountainrange on the N. border of Isr.
... Lebanon. 3845 . a wooded mountainrange on the N. border of Isr.... Word Origin from
laben Definition a wooded mountainrange on the N. border of Isr....
8165. Seir -- a mountainrange in Edom, also its inhab., also a...
... Seir. 8166 . a mountainrange in Edom, also its inhab., also a mountain in Judah.
Transliteration: Seir Phonetic Spelling: (say-eer') Short Definition: Seir....
4278. mechqar -- arange (an area to explore)
... 4277, 4278. mechqar. 4279 . arange (an area to explore). Transliteration:
mechqar Phonetic Spelling: (mekh-kawr') Short Definition: depths....
3600. kir -- cooking furnace
... a cookingrange. A form for kuwr (only in the dual); a cookingrange (consisting
of two parallel stones, across which the boiler is set): see HEBREW kuwr....
7713. sederah -- row, rank (of soldiers)
... board,range. From an unused root meaning to regulate; a row, ie Rank (of soldiers),
story (of rooms) -- board,range. 7712, 7713. sederah. 7714 ....
8264. shaqaq -- to run, run about, rush
... have appetite, long,range, run to and fro. A primitive root; to course
(like a beast of prey); by implication, to seek greedily...
7751a. shut -- to go or rove about
... to go or rove about NASB Word Usage go to and fro (1), go about (2), go back (1),
go back and forth (1), gone about (1), move to and fro (1),range to and fro...
2022. har -- mountain, hill, hill country
... A shortened form of harar; a mountain orrange of hills (sometimes used figuratively) --
hill (country), mount(-ain), X promotion. see HEBREW harar....
2905. tur -- a row
... row. From an unused root meaning torange in a regular manner; a row; hence,
a wall -- row. 2904, 2905. tur. 2906 . Strong's Numbers.
Library
The WideRange of God's Grace
... EPHESIANS THE WIDERANGE OF GOD'S GRACE. 'Grace be with all them that
love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.'"Ephesians 6:24....
Curiosity Ought notRange Beyond the Rule of Faith Restless...
... The Prescription Against Heretics. Chapter XIV."Curiosity Ought NotRange Beyond
the Rule of Faith Restless Curiosity, the Feature of Heresy....
Synopsis. --A Clearer Conception of Miracle Approached. --Works of...
... of miracle approached."Works of Jesus once reputed miraculous not so reputed now,
since not now transcending, as once, the existingrange of knowledge and...
Wider Wooing.
... The peak is therange at its highest reach. The peak grows out of the
range and rests upon it and upon the earth under all. The...
Be Diligent
... The turn of a button determines itsrange.... Which is it to be? The shorterrange
shows you possibilities; the longer will show you certainties....
Kumaon.
... Kumaon is a sub-Himalayan region, with Nepal to the east, the snowyrange, separating
it from Tibet, to the north, Gurhwal and Dehra Doon to the west, and...
The Burning of Athens.
... Parnassus was the name of a short mountainousrange rather than of a single peak,
though the loftiest summit of therange was called Parnassus too....
Now Let us Shew Briefly, if You Will, that These Things were...
... the Prophets. You will yourself, since you are so minded, gather together
more from the amplerange of the Scriptures. The Prophet...
Arguments of the Psychics, Drawn from the Law, the Gospel, the...
... similarly of Stations either, which (they think) have withal days of their own
(the fourth and sixth days of the week), but yet take a widerange according to...
The Big Road
... Turning to the east he faces the magnificentrange of the Ho Mountains, in winter
covered with snow, and in warmer seasons touched with the beauty of ever...
Thesaurus
Range (9 Occurrences)... 1. (n.) To set in a row, or in rows; to place in a regular line or lines, or in
ranks; to dispose in the proper order; to rank; as, to
range soldiers in line.
...Lebanon (66 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary White, "the white mountain of Syria," is the
loftiest and most celebrated mountainrange in Syria. It...
Graecia
... Structure: The northern boundary of Greece is formed by an irregular series of mountain
chains, beginning on the West with the Acroceraunianrange and ending...
Edomites (22 Occurrences)
... The mountainrange East of the `Arabah is generally higher in the South
than in the North. Jebel Harun beside Petra, is 4,780 ft....
Edom (108 Occurrences)
... The mountainrange East of the `Arabah is generally higher in the South
than in the North. Jebel Harun beside Petra, is 4,780 ft....
Gilboa (8 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Boiling spring, a mountainrange, now Jebel Fukua', memorable
as the scene of Saul's disastrous defeat by the Philistines....
Shephelah (2 Occurrences)
... That is, the low hills west of Samaria are (to use the Hebrew phrase) 'ashedhoth,
or slopes of the centralrange, and not a separate group....
Seir (38 Occurrences)
... 25:8). (3.) A mountainrange (not the Edomiterange, Genesis 32:3) lying between
the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab (Joshua 15:10). Int....
Hauran (2 Occurrences)
... clearly distinguished in local speech: 3. En-Nuqrah: (1) En-Nuqrah, "the cavity."
This district touches the desert in the Southeast, the lowrange of ez Zumleh...
Ranges (5 Occurrences)
... the LORD. (KJV WBS). Job 39:8 Therange of the mountains is his pasture,
and he searcheth after every green thing. (See RSV NIV)....
Resources
What is the Anthropic Principle? | GotQuestions.orgWhat is generalism? | GotQuestions.orgWhat is Vaishnavism? | GotQuestions.orgRange: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.comBible Concordance •
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