WOE WORTH (wo worth), (Heb. haw), an expression of despair, (Ezek. xxx:2), equivalent tt: "woe he," i.e., to the day of which the prophet speaks. Worth, from the Anglo-Saxon, means "to be" or "become," like wereien in German.
WOLF (wqlf), (Heh. zeh-abe' ; Arab. reels; Coptic, ounch), a fierce carnivorous animal, very nearly allied to the dog, and so well known in the West as to require no particular description, excepting as regards the identity of the species in Palestine, which although often asserted, is by no means established ; for no professed zoologist has obtained the animal in Syria, while other travelers only pretend to have seen it. Unquestionably a true wolf, or a wild canine with very similar man ners, was not infrequent in that country during the earlier ages of the world, and even down to the commencement of our era. The prophets, as well as the Messiah, allude to it in explicit language. At this day the true wolf is still abundant in Asia Minor, as well as in the gorges of Cilicia, and from the traveling disposition of the species, wolves may be expected to reside in the forests of Libanus ; but there is no satisfactory evidence that this is at present the case. It may be, as there
are no forests to the south of Libanus, that these ravenous beasts, who never willingly range at a distance from cover, have forsaken the more open country.
Figurative. (i) The Chaldeans and the Jew ish rulers are likened to evening wolves, to mark their insatiable avarice, and readiness to destroy every one that comes in the way (Jer. v :6; Hab. i :8: Zeph. iii :3). (2) The tribe of Benjamin ravened as a wolf; their warriors were fierce; twice twenty-five thousand of them put about three hundred and sixty thousand of the other tribes to flight near Gibeah, and the remnant of them seized the young women of Shiloh (Judg. xx and xxi). (3) Isaiah (xi :6; lxv :25) foretells the peaceful reign of the Messiah under the meta phor of a wolf dwelling with a lamb. (4) Cruel persecutors are compared with wolves (Matt. x: 16; Acts xx False teachers are wolves (Matt. vii :Is). The devil is a wolf (John x :12).