A tree (from its firmness); hence, wood (plural sticks)
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עֵץ (ets) is the Hebrew word for tree and wood — one of Scripture's most theologically loaded images, locally indexed at about 330 occurrences from Genesis to the edge of the canon. Two trees stand at the center of the Garden: the ets hayyim (tree of life, H6086 + H2416) and the ets hada'at tov vara (tree of the knowledge of good and evil).
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Full entry for עֵץ (H6086) · Open the biblical lexicon
עֵץ (ets) is the Hebrew word for tree and wood — one of Scripture's most theologically loaded images, locally indexed at about 330 occurrences from Genesis to the edge of the canon. Two trees stand at the center of the Garden: the ets hayyim (tree of life, H6086 + H2416) and the ets hada'at tov vara (tree of the knowledge of good and evil).
The BSB source-word alignment has 329 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include wood (62), tree (27), the trees (25), trees (20), . . . (15).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (45), Exodus (31), Genesis (30), 1 Kings (29).
עֵץ (ets) is the Hebrew word for tree and wood — one of Scripture's most theologically loaded images, locally indexed at about 330 occurrences from Genesis to the edge of the canon. Two trees stand at the center of the Garden: the ets hayyim (tree of life, H6086 + H2416) and the ets hada'at tov vara (tree of the knowledge of good and evil). The history of humanity turns on what was done with those two trees, and the entire arc of Scripture can be traced through the ets: from the garden ets to the wooden ark to the acacia-wood tabernacle to the cursed tree of Deuteronomy 21 to the tree on which the Son of God hung — and finally to the ets hayyim restored in Revelation 22.
Genesis 2:9 introduces both trees: 'And out of the ground YHWH God made to spring up every tree (ets) that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life (ets hayyim) was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (ets hada'at).' The ets hayyim is the gift — sustained life in the presence of God. The ets hada'at is the test — the boundary of human knowledge set by divine command. Chapter 3's entire drama happens around the ets: seeing the fruit, taking the fruit, eating the fruit (akal, H398), and the consequence of exile from the ets hayyim.
Psalm 1:3 uses the ets as the primary image for the blessed man: 'He shall be like a tree (ets) planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.' The righteous person is the ets that was designed to be in the garden: rooted, nourished, fruitful, and unwithering. The ungodly, by contrast, are like chaff — no root, no fruit, no standing. The two trees of Genesis 2 become the two destinies of Psalm 1.
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 introduces the cursed ets: 'If a man has committed a crime punishable by death... and you hang him on a tree (ets), his body shall not remain all night on the tree, for a hanged man is cursed by God (qillat Elohim).' The ets of execution is the ets of curse — and Paul makes the connection in Galatians 3:13: 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree (ets)."' The cross is the cursed ets of Deuteronomy 21 on which the curse was absorbed and reversed.
For the preacher, עֵץ (ets) traces the whole gospel: from the tree of life lost to the cursed tree borne to the tree of life restored.
עֵץ (ets) is locally indexed at about 330 occurrences. Genesis uses it for the two garden trees and for the wood of Noah's ark. The Torah uses it for the acacia wood of the tabernacle furniture. Psalms and wisdom literature use it for the image of the flourishing tree as the righteous person. Deuteronomy 21 uses it for the cursed tree of execution — the text that anchors the NT's cross theology.
Ezekiel 47 uses it for the eschatological healing trees. Revelation 22 brings back the ets hayyim in the new creation. The word holds in one vessel the full range of meaning from the material (lumber, wood) to the eschatological (the restored tree of life).
Out of the ground the Lord God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The two founding trees: ets hayyim (tree of life) and ets hada'at (tree of knowledge). Both grow in the garden; both are accessible before the fall. The ets hayyim is the gift of sustained life with God; the ets hada'at is the test of trust and the boundary of human knowledge. What happens at the tree in Gen 3 — the seeing, the taking, the eating (akal) — is the original transgression.
The loss of access to the ets hayyim (Gen 3:24, the cherubim and flaming sword) is the consequence the whole canon works to reverse.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
The righteous person as the ets planted by water: rooted, nourished, fruitful in season, unwithering. Psalm 1 opens the Psalter with this ets image — the alternative to the chaff of the ungodly. The tree planted by water does not depend on the weather of circumstances; its root system reaches deeper than surface conditions. The fruitfulness 'in its season' acknowledges rhythm and time — the tree does not bear fruit always, but when it does, the fruit is real.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 uses the same image for the one who trusts in YHWH.
You must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
The cursed ets: hanging on the tree is the sign of divine curse (qillat Elohim). The body must be removed before nightfall to prevent the defilement of the land. Paul's Galatians 3:13 is the NT exegesis: 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree (ets).' The cross is the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 21:23: Jesus became the cursed one, hanging on the ets, so that the curse of the law falls on him and those in him are redeemed from it.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”
The eschatological healing ets: trees by the river that issues from the sanctuary, bearing fruit monthly, leaves for healing, never withering. This is the reversal of the Genesis 3 exile from the garden trees — the ets hayyim is restored, multiplied, and made accessible to all. The river of Ezekiel 47 flows from the temple into the Dead Sea, making even the most barren waters teem with life.
Revelation 22:2 quotes this directly: 'the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.'
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
Wisdom personified as the ets hayyim: to grasp her is to take hold of the tree of life. Proverbs 3:18 applies the ets hayyim image to hokmah (wisdom, H2451) — wisdom is what the ets hayyim produces in the practical life. The one who grasps wisdom grasps life. Proverbs 11:30 extends this: 'The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.' The ets hayyim is not only the eschatological goal but the present reality of the wise and righteous life.
It makes wisdom a moral ecology: the righteous person is the ets (Ps 1:3), and the fruit of that ets is itself ets hayyim for others.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. a tree (from its firmness); hence, wood (plural sticks)
a tree (from its firmness); hence, wood (plural sticks) BDB: tree Usage: carpenter, gallows, helve, pine, plank, staff, stalk, stick, stock, timber, tree, wood.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
עֵץ is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
עֵץ (ets) gives the preacher the Bible's most persistent image of what went wrong and what will be restored. Two trees stand in the garden; one was withheld and then taken; access to the other was cut off by exile; and the entire canon labors to get back to the ets hayyim. The preacher who follows the ets through Scripture has a complete gospel arc in a single image.
Psalm 1:3's righteous person as a planted ets gives the congregation a picture of spiritual health: rooted, nourished from deeper sources than circumstances, fruitful in season, unwithering. This is what the new creation in Christ is supposed to look like — not chaff blown by every wind but an ets by the stream. Deuteronomy 21:23 and Galatians 3:13 supply the theological pivot: the cursed ets of execution became the place where the curse was absorbed.
The cross is not a tragic interruption of the ets-hayyim story — it is the mechanism by which the ets hayyim is restored. Ezekiel 47 and Revelation 22 close the arc: the healing ets, the ets hayyim multiplied and made accessible, the leaves for the healing of the nations. The congregation lives between the cursed ets (absorbed in Christ) and the ets hayyim restored (coming in the new creation).
The preacher's word for now: you are a tree planted by streams — bear fruit in season, for the ets hayyim is your destiny.
Gen.2.9
עֵץ (ets) is a common noun covering both living trees and processed wood. Context distinguishes the two: ets planted and flourishing is a living tree; ets used for the ark, the tabernacle, or the cross is timber or wood. The same word spans the full life-cycle of the material — from growing organism to cut lumber — which gives the ets-as-cross its resonance: the living tree becomes the instrument of death before the tree of life is restored.
The Greek xylon (G3586) is the NT's equivalent for both wood and tree — it is the word used for the cross in Acts 5:30, Gal 3:13, and 1 Pet 2:24, and it is the word used for the tree of life in Rev 22:2. The use of xylon (ets) for both the cross and the tree of life in Revelation is the explicit canonical echo: what was lost at the tree is restored through the tree.
The NT's ets-theology is concentrated at two points: the cross and the tree of life. Galatians 3:13 quotes Deuteronomy 21:23 to interpret the cross: the cursed ets of the law becomes the place where Christ absorbs the curse. Acts 5:30 and 10:39 describe the crucifixion as hanging 'on a tree (xylon)' — the wood is the theological point, not merely the physical apparatus.
First Peter 2:24 — 'He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (xylon)' — makes the same move. Revelation 22:2 restores the ets hayyim: 'on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.' The same word (xylon) that carried the curse in Galatians 3:13 bears the healing in Revelation 22:2.
This is the canon's most compressed image of the gospel: the cursed tree bears the curse so the tree of life can be restored.
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