Gather

gath´er (אסף, ’aṣaph, קבץ, ḳābhac; συλλέγω, sullégō, συνάγω, sunágō): “Gather,” transitive “to bring together,” “collect,” etc., and intransitive “to come together,” “assemble,” etc., occurs frequently and represents many Hebrew and Greek words. It is the translation of ’āṣaph, “to bring together,” in Jos 6:9, the King James Version margin “gathering host”; Psa 27:10, the King James Version margin “The Lord will gather me”; compare Num 12:14, Num 12:15; Isa 52:12 King James Version margin. The phrases “gather thee unto thy fathers,” “gathered unto his fathers,” “gathered into the grave,” etc., are frequently used for “to die” and “death” (Gen 25:8, Gen 25:17; Gen 49:29, Gen 49:33; Deu 32:50; 2Ki 22:20; 2Ch 34:28; Job 27:19; compare Jer 8:2), etc.; ḳābhac, “to take or grasp with the hand,” is frequently used of the Divine “gathering” or restoration of Israel (Deu 30:3, Deu 30:1; Neh 1:9; Psa 106:47; Isa 43:5, etc.; Eze 20:34, etc.; Hos 8:10; Mic 2:12; Zep 3:19, Zep 3:20; Zec 10:8, Zec 10:10); figuratively, Isa 40:11, “He shall gather the lambs with (the Revised Version (British and American) “in”) his arm” (compare Psa 27:10 King James Version margin); sometimes it denotes bringing together for punishment or destruction (Mic 4:12), “He hath gathered them as the sheaves to the threshing-floor.”

In the New Testament we have sullegō, “to lay together,” “to collect” (Mat 13:28, Mat 13:29, Mat 13:30, Mat 13:40, Mat 13:41, Mat 13:48); sunagō “to lead or bring together,” “to gather,” “to collect” (Mat 25:26, “seek returns”; Joh 4:36, “fruit unto life eternal”); episunágō, “to lead or bring together” (Mat 23:37, “even as a hen gathereth her chickens”); anakephalaióomai, “to sum up under one head,” “to recapitulate” (Eph 1:10, “that he might gather together in one all things in Christ,” the Revised Version (British and American) “to sum up all things in Christ”; compare Eph 2:14; in Rom 13:9 the passive is translated “be briefly comprehended,” the Revised Version (British and American) “summed up”).

“To gather,” in the sense of “to infer,” occurs in Act 16:10 as the translation of sumbibázō, “to bring together” (here, in mind), “assuredly gathering,” the Revised Version (British and American) “concluding” (compare Act 9:22, “proving”).

Gatherer occurs in Amo 7:14 as the translation of bōleṣ, from bālaṣ, to cultivate figs or sycamores, “a gatherer of sycamore fruit,” the Revised Version (British and American) “a dresser of sycomore-trees” (“a nipper of sycomore figs, i.e. helping to cultivate a sort of figs or mulberries produced by the real sycamore tree” (used only by the poorest), which requires nipping in the cultivation, perhaps an occupation of shepherds; Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible, 390-405 ad) vellicans sycamnia).

Gathering is the translation of episunagōgḗ, “leading together unto” (2Th 2:1), “our gathering together unto him”; in 1Co 16:2 we have “gathering” (logı́a from legō) in the sense of a collection of many, the Revised Version (British and American) “collection,” as the King James Version in 1Co 16:1.

“Gather,” etc., occurs frequently in Apocrypha, e.g. “will gather us out of all the nations,” sunagō (Tobit 13:5); “gather them together” (1 Macc 9:7; 10:8); “Gather together our dispersion,” episunágage tḗn diasporán hēmṓn (2 Macc 1:27); “gathered to his fathers” prosetéthē prós tón laón autoú, the Revised Version (British and American) “people” (Judith 16:22; Bel and the Dragon verse 1, toús patéras; 1 Macc 2:69); “gathering up briefly,” the Revised Version (British and American) “gather,” suntémnō (2 Macc 10:10); “gathering” in the sense of a collection of money (2 Macc 12:43), the Revised Version (British and American) “collection.”

Among the changes in the Revised Version (British and American) we have “hold firm” for “gather” (Jer 51:11); “Gather thee together” for “Go one way or other” (Eze 21:16 margin, “Make thyself one”); for “gather blackness” (Nah 2:10), “are waxed pale”; for “or gather together” (Job 11:10), “and call unto judgment,” margin Hebrew “call an assembly”; for “even as a hen doth gather her brood” (Luk 13:34) “gathereth her own brood”; for “as the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not,” the American Standard Revised Version has “that sitteth on eggs which she hath not laid,” margin “gathereth young which she hath not brought forth,” text of the English Revised Version and the King James Version margin (Jer 17:11).

Isa 5:2 (b) In this way the Lord tells us that when He established Israel in their new land of Canaan, He destroyed the enemies, He removed the opposition, and He gave them the land prepared for their use.

Mat 3:12 (a) This action is used as a type of the work of our Lord when He brings together His own people to dwell in His eternal Kingdom. The Christians are the wheat. All others are the unsaved who are chaff, tares, etc. (See also Luk 3:17).

Mat 12:30 (a) The Lord uses this term to indicate the cooperation and fellowship of His own servants who work with Him and for Him, and according to His instructions. They are bringing into the Kingdom, into the Church, believers from many fields. (See also Luk 11:23).

Mat 13:28 (a) By this type the Lord is telling us of the day when He will separate the unsaved from the Christians in order that His children may be with Him and all the ungodly sent off to their eternal punishment.

Mat 24:28 (b) This expression is used to describe the great hordes of the ungodly who will gather over and around the dead bodies of those who oppose GOD’s people, GOD’s Gospel, and GOD’s Word. The picture is that of the eagles, or the vultures who assemble around the carcass of an animal to devour it. (See also Luk 17:37).

Joh 11:52 (a) Our wonderful Saviour is telling us in this way that one day He will bring together Jews and Gentiles to make one worshipping body of people who will own Him as their Shepherd. (See also Psa 50:5).

Joh 15:6 (b) By this term is indicated the way that men will unite in their thinking against those who profess to be Christians, but whose lives deny it. Those who presume to teach and preach the tenets of religion must themselves show the effects in their own lives, or else they will be rejected by men as imposters.