STRAW

The dried stalks of grains such as wheat and barley; in the Bible, particularly the fragments remaining after the completion of the threshing operation. Anciently straw, either by itself or mixed with other provender, was used as fodder for domestic animals. (Gen. 24:25, 32; Judg. 19:19; 1 Ki. 4:28; Isa. 11:7; 65:25) Straw was also employed in the manufacture of bricks. (Ex. 5:7-18; see BRICK.) It appears in illustrative settings with reference to the destruction of the wicked (Job 21:18) and the subjugation and humiliation of Moab. (Isa. 25:10-12) Mighty Leviathan is depicted as accounting iron like mere straw.—Job 41:1, 27.