PLAIN (plan). Several Hebrew words are thus translated: 1. Aw-bale' (Heb. ;?,.`). This word perhaps answers more nearly to our word "meadow"than any other. It occurs in the names of ABEL-MAIM, ABEL-MEHOLAH, ABEL-SHITTIM, and is rendered "plain;" in Judg. xi:33, "plain of vineyards." 2. Shef-ay-law(Heb. the invariable desig nation of the depressed, flat or gently undulating re intervened between the highlands of Judah and the Mediterranean.
3. Bik-aw' (Heb. We are able to identify the most remarkable of the Ilik-aws' of the Bible, and thus to ascertain the force of the term. The great plain or valley of Cock-Syria, the "hollow land" of the Greeks, which separates the two ranges of Lebanon and Antilebanon, is the most remarkable of them all. Out of Palestine we find denoted by the word Bik-aw' the "plain of the land of Shmar" (Gen. xi:2), the "plain of Mesopo tamia" (Ezek. iii :22, 23; viii :4; xxxvii :1, 2), and the "plain in the province of Dura" (Dan. iii :I).
4. Ay-lone' (Heb. this is properly "oak" or "grove of oaks." The passages in which the word
occurs erroneously translated "plain" are Gen. xii :6; Deut. xi :3o; "Plain of Mamre," Gen. xiii: 18; xiv :t3; xviii :1 ; "Plain of Zaanaim," Judg. iv: 1 ; "Plain of the Pillar," Judg. ix :6; "Plain of Meonenim," Judg. ix:37; "Plain of Tabor," I Sam. x :3.
5. Kik-kawr This seems to mean "a region round about" (Gen. xiii :to, I I, 12; xix: 17; 2 Chron. IV :17 ; NCI]. Hi :22 ; :2.8).
6. Afee-shore' (Heb. 1t.':';'), a level country (Ps. xxvia2; xxvii:Ii; Deut. iii:to; iv:43; Josh. xiii:9, 16, 17, 21; xx:8; I Kings xx:23, 25; 2 Chron. xxvi:lo; Jer. xlviii:8, 21).
7. Ar-aw-baw' (Heb. an arid region (Deut. 7; xi:3o; Ezek. xlvii:8).
Figurative. (i) "Plain" words or speeches arc such as are easily understood (Mark vii :35). (2) A "plain path" or way is one without hin drances, temptations, stumbling, inconsistency (Ps. xxvii ; Prov. xv:19). (3) A "plain" man (Heb. tome) is one candid, kind, hon est and simple (Gen. xxv :27).