on “Lightless Photosynthesis”) Noteworthy, too, is the fact that the process of photosynthesis is still only vaguely understood. As to pollination, even today this is not accomplished by insects alone. Many plants are self-fertilized or are pollinated by the wind. At times water serves as an agent in pollination. And, again, we must recognize our lack of knowledge as to the exact conditions prevailing on earth during the third creative “day” and the propagation of vegetation in that period.—See the book Is the Bible Really the Word of God?, pages 23-25.

God gave green vegetation to man and the animals as part of their original food supply, later expanding mankind’s diet to include meat from which the blood had been drained. (Gen. 1:29, 30; 9:3, 4) Sinful man was compelled to toil for the vegetation he ate (Gen. 3:18, 19), but Jehovah remained the Provider of it for man and beast alike, for He is the Provider of the sunshine and rain essential to its growth.—Ps. 104:14; 106:20; Mic. 5:7; Zech. 10:1; Heb. 6:7; compare Deuteronomy 32:2.

Growth of vegetation can be controlled by God according to his purpose. He assured the Israelites that their obedience would be rewarded with rain and vegetation for their domestic animals. (Deut. 11:13-15) However, if they abandoned their covenant with God, he would make their land devoid of vegetation. (Deut. 29:22-25; compare Isaiah 42:15; Jeremiah 12:4; 14:6.) One blow from Jehovah against ancient Egypt consisted of hail that struck all sorts of vegetation. In another God-sent blow, locusts devoured all the vegetation the hail had left.—Ex. 9:22, 25; 10:12, 15; Ps. 105:34, 35; compare Amos 7:1-3.

FIGURATIVE USE

During the Palestinian dry season, vegetation, when subjected to the scorching heat of the sun or a parching east wind, quickly dries up. Accordingly, people about to be subjugated by military conquest are likened to “vegetation of the field and green tender grass, grass of the roofs, when there is a scorching before the east wind.” (2 Ki. 19:25, 26; Isa. 37:26, 27) Similarly, when severely afflicted, the psalmist exclaimed: “My heart has been struck just like vegetation and is dried up.” “I myself am dried up like mere vegetation.”—Ps. 102:4, 11.

Under favorable conditions vegetation sprouts in great profusion, making it an appropriate figure to represent numerous descendants. (Job 5:25) During Solomon’s reign, for example, “Judah and Israel were many” and flourished, “eating and drinking and rejoicing.” (1 Ki. 4:20) This is evidently alluded to in a psalm regarding Solomon: “Those who are from the city will blossom like the vegetation of the earth.” (Ps. 72:16) On the other hand, though the wicked for a time may sprout like vegetation, they are not flourishing because of God’s blessing but are in line to be “annihilated forever.”—Ps. 92:7.

In the Scriptures, trees at times represent those who are prominent and lofty (compare Ezekiel 31:2-14), whereas the lowly vegetation, like the bramble, grass or rushes, can represent people generally. (Compare Judges 9:8-15; 2 Kings 14:8-10; Isaiah 19:15; 40:6, 7.) This aids in understanding the significance of Revelation 8:7, which speaks of the burning up of a “third of the trees” and “all the green vegetation.”

VEIL

See DRESS.

VENGEANCE

[from Heb., na·qamʹ, having the primary idea of breathing forcibly; to avenge, to take vengeance; and Gr., ek·di·keʹo (ek, from, plus diʹke, justice), to avenge, to take vengeance]. Infliction of punishment in return for an injury or offense; retributive action. The word has, in its application, the suggestion of justice achieved. As used in the Bible, the term usually applies to retribution paid by God in behalf of justice, but it may also refer to one’s executing that which he may view as just, or as equalizing matters to his own satisfaction.

BELONGS TO JEHOVAH

Unless one is qualified as executioner of vengeance by appointment of Jehovah, or by being designated as such by his Word, he does wrong if he attempts to avenge himself or others. “Vengeance is mine, and retribution,” says Jehovah. (Deut. 32:35) God is addressed by the psalmist: “O God of acts of vengeance, Jehovah.” (Ps. 94:1) Accordingly, the individual is condemned by God if he bears a grudge or seeks personal vengeance for real or fancied wrongs done to himself or to someone else.—Lev. 19:18; Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30.

The Scriptures point out that God’s anger rests upon all sinners and transgressors, and that only through God’s undeserved kindness in providing the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ is there a basis for mitigating or withholding the full retributive justice against the sinner. (Rom. 5:19-21; 2 Cor. 5:19; Heb. 2:2, 3; see RANSOM.) God maintains his righteousness in thus forgiving sin, and also is righteous in bringing judgment upon sinners who reject his provision; such cannot escape the divine vengeance.—Rom. 3:3-6, 25, 26; compare Psalm 99:8.

Jehovah’s vengeance has a purpose

Jehovah’s vengeance brings relief and benefit when he acts in behalf of those who trust in him; additionally, it procures praise to him as the just Judge. The psalmist says: “The righteous one will rejoice because he has beheld the vengeance. . . . And mankind will say: ‘Surely there is fruitage for the righteous one. Surely there exists a God that is judging in the earth.’” (Ps. 58:10, 11) Therefore, the primary purpose for God’s taking of vengeance is to vindicate and glorify his own name and sovereignty. (Ex. 14:18; Ps. 83:13-18; Isa. 25:1-5; Ezek. 25:14, 17; 38:23) His action also vindicates his servants as being truly his representatives, as well as delivering them from undesirable circumstances.—Ex. 14:31; 15:11-16; Ezek. 37:16, 21-23; Ps. 135:14; 148:14; Prov. 21:18.

A fixed time for God’s vengeance

The Scriptures indicate that God has a due time for large-scale expressions of his vengeance upon his enemies. The prophet Isaiah was commissioned to proclaim “the day of vengeance on the part of our God.” God’s vengeance was expressed against ancient Babylon, the oppressor of his people, when the armies of Medo-Persia were used to break her power in 539 B.C.E. (Isa. 61:1, 2; 13:1, 6, 9, 17) Jesus Christ, when on earth, quoted part of Isaiah’s prophecy (61:1, 2) and applied it to himself. (Luke 4:16-21) Though the record does not say that he quoted the part concerning the “day of vengeance,” in actuality he did proclaim that “day,” which came upon Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Jesus foretold the encampment by armies (of the Romans) around the city, telling his followers to flee from Jerusalem when they saw this, “because these are days for meting out justice [literally, “days of vengeance”], that all the things written may be fulfilled.”—Luke 21:20-22, Kingdom Interlinear Translation; compare AT, AV, Ro, RS.

Jesus Christ further said, before his death and resurrection: “Concerning that day and hour [of executing judgment on the present-day system of things] nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36) He thereby revealed that vengeance was sure to be executed at a time known and set by God. He illustrated the sureness of God’s action in his due time in behalf of his name and his servants, speaking of a judge who, because of a widow’s persistence in asking for justice, decided: “I will see that she gets justice [literally, “I shall exact vengeance for her”].” Jesus applied the illustration to God, saying: “Certainly, then, shall not God cause justice to be done for [literally, “do the avenging of”] his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night, even though he is long-suffering toward them?”—Luke 18:2-8, Kingdom Interlinear Translation.

Furthermore, in the apostle John’s vision recorded in the book of Revelation, John saw the souls of those slaughtered because of the word of God and because of the witness work they used to have, crying out: “Until when, Sovereign Lord holy and true, are you refraining from judging and avenging our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?” The answer they received shows that there is a definite time for the vengeance to be carried out, namely, when “the number [would be] filled also of their fellow slaves and their brothers who were about to be killed as they also had been.”—Rev. 6:9-11.

The Scriptures reveal that this execution of vengeance begins on Babylon the Great, then proceeds to come upon the “wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies.”—Rev. 19:1, 2, 19-21.

APPOINTED EXECUTIONERS OF VENGEANCE

The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s Chief Executioner of vengeance. The apostle Paul comforts Christians with the words: “It is righteous on God’s part to repay tribulation to those who make tribulation for you, but, to you who suffer tribulation, relief along with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. These very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and from the glory of his strength.”—2 Thess. 1:6-9.

Christ’s apostles and other overseers in the Christian congregation

The apostles were appointed under Jesus Christ to care for the Christian congregation and to protect it from uncleanness and loss of Jehovah’s favor. In harmony with his God-given authority, the apostle Paul wrote to the congregation at Corinth, which was experiencing divisions and troubles from “false apostles”: “We are holding ourselves in readiness to inflict punishment for [literally, “to avenge”] every disobedience.”—2 Cor. 10:6, Kingdom Interlinear Translation; 11:13; 13:10.

Other older men in the congregation, though not having special apostolic powers, were appointed as judges to throw wicked persons outside, where they faced destruction from God’s execution of vengeance upon the wicked. (1 Cor. 5:1-5, 13) The Scriptures show that Jehovah first judges his own people, then those not his own. (1 Pet. 4:17) Therefore the Christian who takes up unrighteousness, as, for example, fornication, is in danger, “because Jehovah is one who exacts punishment [literally, is the “avenger”] for all these things.”—1 Thess. 4:3-6, Kingdom Interlinear Translation.

Those appointed to care for the congregation were authorized to carry out “vengeance” to the extent that they could take steps to bring about justice and to reestablish the congregation in righteousness before God, by correcting the wrong that had been done. This the governing members of the Corinthian congregation did, after Paul corrected them, so that Paul wrote in his second letter to them: “What a great earnestness it produced in you, . . . yes, righting of the wrong [literally, “avenging”]!” These men showed godly repentance after Paul’s first letter and cleared out the wicked man therein referred to, doing all they could to right matters before Jehovah. (2 Cor. 7:8-12, Kingdom Interlinear Translation) However, those men were not authorized to carry out on the wrongdoer the full penalty demanded by justice—full vengeance in putting him to death, as had been the prerogative of the judges under the Mosaic law. (Lev. 20:10; Heb. 10:28) They merely expelled such bad persons from the congregation, ‘handing them over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.’ (1 Cor. 5:5) If not repentant, such would eventually receive full justice for their misdeeds in everlasting death.—Heb. 10:29, 30.

Rulers

Governmental rulers, whose duty it is to see that justice is carried out, may be the ones to execute vengeance upon evildoers, including any Christians who break the laws of the land that are in harmony with what is right and consistent with the authority allowed those rulers by God. In such case, these rulers are indirectly executing God’s vengeance, as the apostle Paul writes: “For those ruling are an object of fear, not to the good deed, but to the bad. . . . it is God’s minister, an avenger to express wrath upon the one practicing what is bad.”—Rom. 13:3, 4; 1 Pet. 2:13, 14; compare Genesis 9:6.

IMPERFECT MAN’S TENDENCY TO SEEK VENGEANCE

It is a tendency of fallen, imperfect men to seek vengeance upon those who do them injustice, or upon persons whom they hate. The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife is in danger of retributive vengeance from the husband, as the Proverbs say: “For the rage of an able-bodied man is jealousy, and he will not show compassion in the day of vengeance. He will have no consideration for any sort of ransom, neither will he show willingness, no matter how large you make the present.” (Prov. 6:32-35) Nonetheless, vengeance taken by a person upon his own initiative is usually carried out in uncontrolled anger, and is to no good purpose, but brings God’s anger against the avenging individual.—Jas. 1:19, 20.

Enemies of God and of his servants

Those who hate God have ‘breathed forcibly’ (as is the basic meaning of the Hebrew word) against God’s servants, seeking to wreak vengeance upon them. This is not a true bringing about of justice, but a desire or action due to their hostility toward what is right and righteous, and to get rid of those righteous ones whose words and course of action convict them of wickedness. (Ps. 8:2; 44:15, 16) In some instances God’s servants have been killed with the perverted idea that justice was being carried out. (John 16:2) In executing this claimed or supposed “vindictive justice,” they have not pleased God, however, but, rather, have stored up vengeance for themselves. Jehovah at times used the nations, such as Babylon, to bring his own vengeance on his people Israel when they broke their covenant with him. (Lev. 26:25) But those nations, on their part, acted because of hatred and malice, expressing their own vengefulness, and for this Jehovah, in turn, took vengeance upon them.—Lam. 3:60; Ezek. 25:12-17; see AVENGER OF BLOOD; CITIES OF REFUGE.

VENOM

(venʹom).

Poisonous fluid secreted by certain snakes and some other creatures. (Num. 21:4-9; Deut. 8:15; Acts 28:3-6) One Hebrew word for the venom of reptiles is hhe·mahʹ (Deut. 32:24), also used to denote “rage,” “fury” and the like. (Deut. 29:28; Ezek. 19:12) It is from a root meaning “to be hot” and may allude to the inflammation or burning sensation associated with the bite of a venomous snake. Another Hebrew word (roʼsh or rohsh) is applied to the “poison” or “venom” of cobras, “poisoned” water, grapes of “poison” and a poisonous plant.—Deut. 32:32, 33; Job 20:16; Jer. 8:14; 9:15; 23:15; Lam. 3:19; see POISONOUS PLANT.

Though some animal poisons may seem to be only for protection or killing, of interest is this statement by H. Munro Fox in “Animal Poisoners”: “In some cases we know that poisons play a role in the functioning of the body of the animal which manufactures them. In many instances this may be the real raison dʼêtre [reason for existence] of the venoms, quite apart from any protective value. The poisonous