Occurrences in the Bible
The English word "green" is recorded 41 times in 41 King James Bible verses. The word "greenish" occurs twice (Leviticus 13:49, 14:37) with "greenness" appearing once (Job 8:12) for 44 total appearances. This color, in the New Testament, is mentioned only four of these forty-four times (twice in Revelation and once each in Mark and Luke).
In the Bible, the color green is referenced the most in the book of Jeremiah (6 times) followed by the books of Leviticus, Job and the Psalms (4 each).
Twenty of the forty Old Testament appearances of "green" come from the Hebrew raanan (Strong's Concordance #H7488) which means verdant, new, fresh, flourishing or can figuratively symbolize prosperity. The remaining Old Testament occurrences come from a variety of other Hebrew words.
Green, in the New Testament, is derived from two Greek words. The first, chloros (Strong's Concordance #G5515), is used for this color in Mark 6:39, Revelation 8:7 and 9:4. Chloros is the base word from which we get the English words chlorine and chlorophyll. The Greek hugros (Strong's #G5200) is translated as this color only in Luke 23:31.
Background
The color green has an HTML hex code of #008000. It is a color, on the visible spectrum, between cyan and yellow, with a wavelength between 495 and 570 nanometers.
Green is considered a primary color, along with red and blue (RGB), for displaying images on electronic devices such as televisions, computer screens, smartphones and video projectors. Mixing these in equal amounts produces white light.
Pigments for green were historically derived from natural sources such as malachite, cobalt oxide, zinc oxide, and copper acetate. Some sources for the color, like copper arsenite, were toxic.
Biblical Symbolism
Green is the first color recorded in the King James Bible as it is mentioned by God during his first interaction with Adam and Eve as a couple. It symbolized healthy plants that could be eaten for food. After blessing them with the ability to produce many offspring, he informs them what they (and all non-aquatic life) could eat.
Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth . . . And to every animal of the earth and to every fowl of heaven and to all the living creatures that crawl upon the earth, every green plant is given for food (Genesis 1:29 - 30).
God warned his people that, when they received their land inheritance in Canaan, they were to destroy all the places where pagan gods were worshipped. One of the primary places this took place was under green trees. God's people, sadly, ignored this warning, linking this color to idolatrous and sinful practices.
You shall utterly destroy all the sacred places where the nations which you shall possess have served their gods - on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. (Deuteronomy 12:2).
And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done, for they also built high places for themselves, and images and Asherim, on every high hill and under every green tree. (1Kings 14:22 - 23).
The sighting of this color on a human, on anything they touched, or in a house they lived in, could be a sign of leprosy. A house that may be infected with the disease was quarantined for seven days.
And if the plague is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in an article of leather, either in the spun yarn or in the woven cloth, or in anything of leather, it is a plague of mold leprosy. And it shall be shown to the priest. (Leviticus 13:49).
And he shall look on the mold plague. And behold, if the mold plague is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall,
Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. (Leviticus 14:37 - 38).
The Hidden Color of Death!
There is a hidden prophetic occurrence of green that, surprisingly, symbolizes death! The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent curses allowed to come upon humanity in the End Time just before Jesus' return. In the King James, and many other translations, the fourth horse of this set is stated to be pale in color.
And I looked, and behold a pale (Greek chloros) horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:8, KJV).
Chloros, however, in its three other New Testament appearances (see above), is translated as "green." The color of the fourth horse, ridden by Death, is therefore better translated as "pale green" or "greenish." This coloration seems to make more Biblical sense, as people with lighter skin usually appear to look a pale greenish within 15 to 25 minutes after they die.
The Prophetic Green Tree
Jesus, as he was being led away to be crucified, ran across women mourning his torture and impending death. Rather than ignoring them, he offered an amazingly compassionate prophetic warning involving green.
But Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children . . . "Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us'; and to the hills, 'Cover us.'
"For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall take place in the dry?" (Luke 23:28, 30 - 31).
One interpretation of the meaning of the green and dry tree of Luke 23:31 is the following. If they (the Roman Empire and by extension the world) is willing to kill someone who has done no wrong (Jesus), what will they do to all others?
Jesus' statement clearly pointed to Rome's utter destruction of Jerusalem and its inhabitances in 70 A.D. This destruction came to the city due to its sin and unwillingness to accept Jesus as its Savior (Matthew 23:37 - 39, Luke 19:41 - 44, 21:20 - 24).
The phrases "fall on us" and "cover (hid) us," however, still have a future fulfillment as they will be uttered in the end time by those also unwilling to repent!
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the powerful men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains;
And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb Because the great day of His wrath has come, and who has the power to stand?" (Revelation 6:15 - 17).
Precious Stones
Quite a few of the precious gemstones mentioned in God's word are either green or have a noticeable greenish tint to them.
Emeralds are a deep green variety of Beryl stones. God used these stones not only to adorn Lucifer when he created him, he also insured the High Priest's breastplate contained them!
You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the turquoise, and the emerald . . . (Ezekiel 28:13).
And you shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones. The first row shall be a sardius, topaz, and carbuncle in the row. And the second row: an emerald, a sapphire and a diamond. (Exodus 28:18).
These beautiful green gems will also be a part of the future New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:19). Other precious stones such as Chrysoprase (chrysoprasus, Revelation 21:20), Jasper (Ezekiel 28:13), Topaz (Revelation 21:20), and Peridot (Ezekiel 28:13) can have green in them as well.
More Info on Green
A person is sometimes said to be green with envy when they are very jealous of someone else. A person who is labeled this color is usually someone who is inexperienced at some job or task.
This wavelength of this color is exactly in the middle of the visible spectrum which ranges from violet (380 - 450 nm) to red (625 - 750 nm). According to Isaac Newton, our eyes can detect Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. These can easily be remembered through the famous abbreviation "Roy G. Biv."