Paradise

Paradise uninc. town (1990 pop. 25,406), Butte co., N central Calif., in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. It is mainly residential with a growing population. Cattle are raised and fruits, olives, nuts, wheat, and nursery stock are grown. Gold was discovered nearby in 1859.

paradise The Greek term used (Gen. 2: 8) in LXX for the garden of Eden; originally a Persian word. It became associated with the time of primeval bliss and so also of the destination of the righteous in the age to come. Paul uses the image when he haltingly describes his mystical experience of elevation to the ‘third heaven’ (2 Cor. 12: 1–4), and Jesus promised this reward to one of the two felons convicted with him on crosses (Luke 23: 43). The Church in Ephesus is also promised a reward for faithfulness in the paradise of God, where its members will eat from the tree of life (Rev. 2: 7).

Paradise (Gk., possibly from Pers. pardes/pairidaeza, ‘enclosure, park’, hence ‘garden’). Idyllic state in the presence of God, especially after death, hence often a synonym for heaven. The Septuagint uses the word of a literal garden (Ecclesiastes 2. 5; Song of Songs 4. 12), but the reference is more often the Garden of Eden (Paradise Lost) or the restored Garden (e.g. Ezekiel 36. 35, 47. 12; Isaiah 51. 3—Paradise Regained).