Hebrew word · H1690

דְּבֵלָה

develah

fig cake

A cake or block of dried figs pressed into a mould: a compact, long-lasting food. The root (d-b-l) is linked with pressing things together into a lump. The word always means a food item, never a medical term in itself.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

fig cake, lump of pressed figs

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 38:21

Range of meaning

A cake or block of dried figs pressed into a mould: a compact, long-lasting food. The root (d-b-l) is linked with pressing things together into a lump. The word always means a food item, never a medical term in itself.

Against the English

KJV "lump of figs" and BSB "lump of pressed figs" are good. WEB/ESV/NASB "cake of figs" is the most exact. YLT "bunch of figs" is misleading because it suggests fresh figs on a stem. NIV/NLT turn the word into its use ("poultice" or "ointment of figs"), which interprets rather than translates.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elsewhere in the Bible it is food for people on the move: Abigail's 200 fig cakes (1 Samuel 25:18), the starving Egyptian revived with fig cake and raisins (1 Samuel 30:12), supplies brought to David at Hebron (1 Chronicles 12:40). Ugaritic texts treating horses (13th century BC, published by Cohen and Sivan) prescribe dblt (the same word) and raisins as remedies, so pressed figs were used as medicine in the Levant centuries before Isaiah. Later Greek and Roman medical writers (Dioscorides, Pliny the Elder) recommend figs as a poultice for softening and drawing swellings.

From the study of 1 Chronicles 12:40

Range of meaning

Develah is a block of pressed dried figs. Isaiah uses one as a poultice (Isa 38:21; 2 Kgs 20:7). Tsimmuqim are dried grapes, clusters of raisins or raisin cakes.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: 'cakes of figs, (clusters/bunches of) raisins'. BSB: 'fig cakes and raisin cakes'. All are accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same pair turns up whenever people bring supplies to David: Abigail (1 Sam 25:18), the revived Egyptian (1 Sam 30:12), Ziba (2 Sam 16:1). It was the standard field food of the region. Pressed fig cakes and raisins are also well documented archaeologically and in other ancient Near Eastern texts as preserved foods for travel.

From the study of 1 Samuel 30:12

Range of meaning

A cake or block of figs, dried and pressed together. It was a long-keeping, portable food and was also used as a medicinal poultice.

Against the English

"Cake of figs" (KJV, WEB), "fig cake" (BSB), "cake of pressed figs" (NIV). YLT's "bunch of dried figs" is looser. To a modern reader "cake" suggests something baked. This was not baked: it was fruit compressed into a firm slab that could be sliced.

How it drifted

Only the word "cake" might mislead. The food itself is well understood.

Used elsewhere in the period

Abigail brings David 200 fig cakes and 100 raisin clusters as provisions for his men (1 Sam 25:18). Fig cakes and raisins are brought as supplies to David at Hebron (1 Chr 12:40). A fig cake is laid on Hezekiah's boil (2 Kgs 20:7; Isa 38:21). The cognate dblt appears in Ugaritic texts treating ailing horses, where it was likely a medicinal fig preparation. The Septuagint renders it palathē, the ordinary Greek word for a cake of pressed fruit.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 25:18 דְּבֵלִ֑ים fig cakes

    Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys

    Here: Dried figs pressed into a block or ring. They keep for a long time and were also used as a poultice (2 Kgs 20:7). Good food for men living rough in the wilderness.

  2. 1 Samuel 30:12 דְּבֵלָ֜ה fig cake

    a piece of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins. So he ate and was revived, for he had not had any food or water for three days and three nights.

    Here: A firm block of dried figs pressed together: a standard ration for travel and war. It is very sweet and quick to eat, which makes it ideal for a man close to collapse.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 20:7 דְּבֶ֣לֶת a cake of

    Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” So they brought it and applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah recovered.

    Here: A block of dried figs pressed together, an ordinary food that kept well (1 Sam 25:18; 30:12; 1 Chr 12:40). Here it is the thing to be used, 'a cake of', which is joined to the next word.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 12:40 דְּבֵלִ֨ים fig cakes

    And their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen—abundant supplies of flour, fig cakes and raisin cakes, wine and oil, oxen and sheep. Indeed, there was joy in Israel.

    Here: Dried figs pressed into blocks. They kept well and travelled well, a standard food for journeys and armies (1 Sam 25:18; 30:12).

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 38:21 דְּבֶ֣לֶת a cake of

    Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

    Here: A solid block of dried figs pressed together. It was an everyday preserved food, the kind Abigail packed for David's men (1 Samuel 25:18). Here a household staple becomes the remedy.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.