Bible Dictionary
Flag
Flag refers to a reed, sedge, or water plant growing in marshes, along rivers, or in the sea. The term is also associated with the “Sea of Reeds,” traditionally rendered the Red Sea.
Definition
Flag refers to a reed, sedge, or water plant growing in marshes, along riverbanks, or in the sea. The term can also denote reed-grass or meadow vegetation.
Biblical Usage
The word appears in descriptions of plants growing beside water and in the expression “Sea of Reeds,” traditionally rendered “Red Sea.” Jonah uses related language for seaweed.
Historical Background
Two Hebrew terms are involved: one broadly includes freshwater weeds and seaweeds, while the other denotes reed-grass or sedge requiring water and mire.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Heb., or rather Egyptian, ahu, Job 8:11), rendered “meadow” in Gen. 41:2, 18; probably the Cyperus esculentus, a species of rush eaten by cattle, the Nile reed. It also grows in Palestine. In Ex. 2:3, 5, Isa. 19:6, it is the rendering of the Hebrew suph_, a word which occurs frequently in connection with _yam; as yam suph, to denote the “Red Sea” (q.v.) or the sea of weeds (as this word is rendered, Jonah 2:5). It denotes some kind of sedge or reed which grows in marshy places. (See PAPER, REED.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
There are two Hebrew words rendered “flag” in our Bible:
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>Two Hebrew words:</p><p>(1) cuph (Ex 2:3,1, "flags"; Isa 19:6, "flags"; Jon 2:5, "weeds"). This is apparently a general name which includes both the fresh-water weeds growing along a river bank and "seaweeds." The Red Sea was known as Yam cuph.</p><p>(2) 'achu (Ge 41:2,18, the King James Version "meadow," the Revised Version (British and American) "reed-grass"; Job 8:11, "Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag (margin "reed-grass") grow without water?"). Some such general term as "sedges" or "fens" would better meet the requirements.</p>