Range

RANGE [ISBE]

RANGE - ranj: "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 in 2 Ki 11:8,15 the King James Version parallel 2 Ch 23:14 (the Revised Version (British and American) "rank"; sedherah, "row"). Hence, "to range" is "to set in a line" (Judith 2:16; 2 Macc 12:20, diatasso) or "to move in a line" or, simply, "to roam," whence "a ranging bear" (Prov 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 of Lev 11:35 is a much more primitive affair, composed, probably, of two plates (kirayim is a dual). In Job 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