Bible Dictionary
VAPOR
Vapor is mist, steam, smoke, or moisture rising into the air. Scripture uses it in descriptions of rain and clouds and as a picture of human life, which appears briefly and then vanishes.
Definition
Vapor is moisture, mist, smoke, or another substance rising into the air. The term can describe water rising from the earth, clouds, storm, fire, or smoke, and it can also picture something brief and passing.
Biblical Usage
Biblical passages associate vapor with rain, mist, clouds, storms, smoke, and the signs preceding judgment. James uses it as an image of human life, which appears for a short time and then vanishes.
Historical Background
The supplied material notes that visible mist is less common in Palestine than in many countries, though mountain mists, especially around Lebanon, often appear as clouds clinging to the mountains.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>va'-per:</p><p>(1) edh: "For he draweth up the drops of water, which distill in rain from his vapor" (Job 36:27); "There went up a mist ['edh] from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground" (Ge 2:6).</p><p>(2) nasi', "vapor," i.e. that which rises, from nasa', "to lift": "Who causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth" (Ps 135:7; compare Jer 10:13; 51:16); also translated "clouds": "as clouds and wind without rain" (Pr 25:14).</p><p>(3) In Job 36:33, the King James Version has "vapour" ("concerning the vapour") for `alah, alah, "to go up," where the Revised Version (British and American) reads "concerning the storm that cometh up."</p><p>(4) qiTor: "fire and hail, snow and vapor" (Ps 148:8); elsewhere, "smoke": "The smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace" (Ge 19:28); "I am become like a wineskin in the smoke" (Ps 119:83).</p><p>(5) atmis: "blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke" (Ac 2:19); "For ye are a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (Jas 4:14).</p><p>The first two of the preceding quotations are interesting as indicating the knowledge that vapor of water from the earth or sea is the source of the rain. Visible vapor, i.e. mist or fog, is much less common in Palestine than in many other countries. In the mountains, however, especially in Lebanon, mists are of frequent occurrence, appearing to those below as clouds clinging to the mountains.</p><p>Alfred Ely Day</p>