חָלָב

Genesis 18:8 וְחָלָ֗ב and milk

Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate.

Genesis 49:12 מֵחָלָֽב׃ פ more than milk

His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

Exodus 3:8 חָלָ֖ב milk

I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Here: 'Milk,' mostly from goats and sheep. Milk is the product of good pasture and healthy flocks, so it stands for pastoral plenty.

Exodus 3:17 חָלָ֖ב milk

And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

Here: Mainly goat and sheep milk, a staple food (Prov 27:27). Plentiful milk means plentiful pasture and healthy flocks.

Exodus 13:5 חָלָ֖ב milk

And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you shall keep this service in this month.

Here: Mainly goat and sheep milk. It suggests flocks and good grazing land.

Exodus 23:19 בַּחֲלֵ֥ב in [the] milk of

Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Here: 'In the milk of'. In the Levant this mostly meant goat's milk. The same consonants written with different vowels spell 'fat' (ḥēleb), the word used in the verse before ('the fat of my feast'), which makes a sound-play between the two verses.

Exodus 33:3 חָלָ֖ב milk

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”

Here: Mostly goat and sheep milk. It points to good pasture and healthy flocks, which was the wealth of herding people.

Exodus 34:26 בַּחֲלֵ֥ב in [the] milk of

Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

Here: 'In the milk of'. Milk was the food that kept the kid alive, and here it would become the liquid it was cooked in.

Leviticus 20:24 חָלָ֖ב milk

But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance—a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.

Here: Mostly goat and sheep milk and the soured or curdled products made from it. It stands for flocks and herds, which means good pasture.

Numbers 13:27 חָלָ֥ב milk

And they gave this account to Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and indeed, it is flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit!

Here: Mainly the milk of goats and sheep. It points to rich pasture that can support large flocks.

Numbers 14:8 חָלָ֖ב milk

If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.

Here: Mostly goat and sheep milk, which points to rich pasture for flocks. For a herding people, this was the basic staple of a good life.

Numbers 16:13 חָלָב֙ milk

Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?

Numbers 16:14 חָלָ֤ב milk

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!”

Deuteronomy 6:3 חָלָ֖ב milk

Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

Here: Mainly goat and sheep milk. It points to rich pasture for flocks.

Deuteronomy 11:9 חָלָ֖ב milk

and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Here: "Milk," mostly from goats and sheep: a sign of good pasture and healthy flocks.

Deuteronomy 14:21 בַּחֲלֵ֥ב in [the] milk of

You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Here: 'In the milk of.' In the Bible milk stands for nourishment and life, as in 'a land flowing with milk and honey'. Here the milk is the very milk that fed the kid.

Deuteronomy 26:9 חָלָ֖ב milk

And He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deuteronomy 26:15 חָלָ֖ב milk

Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You swore to our fathers—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Here: 'Milk', chiefly from goats and sheep. It stands for good pasture and healthy flocks.

Deuteronomy 27:3 חָלָב֙ milk

Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

Deuteronomy 31:20 חָלָב֙ milk

When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.

Here: Goat and sheep milk: a sign of rich pasture and healthy flocks.

Deuteronomy 32:14 וַחֲלֵ֣ב and milk of

with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.

Here: 'And milk.' Spelled with the same consonants (ḥ-l-b) as 'fat' (ḥēleb) two words later. A hearer would catch the near-echo: milk and fat, the two signs of a rich land ('flowing with milk', Deut 31:20).

Joshua 5:6 חָלָ֖ב milk

For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Here: Mostly goat and sheep milk. It stands for good pasture and healthy flocks.

Judges 4:19 הֶחָלָ֛ב <the> milk

Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again.

Judges 5:25 חָלָ֣ב milk

He asked for water, and she gave him milk. In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds.

1 Samuel 7:9 חָלָב֙ milk

Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

Here: 'A lamb of milk' means a lamb still nursing, a very young animal. The law accepted animals from their eighth day (Lev 22:27; Exod 22:30).

1 Samuel 17:18 הֶֽחָלָב֙ <the> milk

Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them.

Job 10:10 כֶ֭חָלָב like <the> milk

Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?

Job 21:24 חָלָ֑ב milk

His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.

Here: Milk is what the pails or flanks are full of. In a herding economy it is the plainest sign of thriving livestock and good food. The same consonants can also be read 'fat', which is how the ancient Greek and Latin translators read them.

Proverbs 27:27 חֲלֵ֬ב [the] milk of

You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed you—food for your household and nourishment for your maidservants.

Proverbs 30:33 חָלָ֡ב milk

For as the churning of milk yields butter, and the twisting of the nose draws blood, so the stirring of anger brings forth strife.”

Here: Ordinary milk from goats, sheep or cows, a basic food in Israelite herding life. It is the harmless starting point of the series.

Song of Songs 4:11 וְחָלָב֙ and milk

Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon.

Here: "And milk," usually from goats or sheep in Israel's hill country. It adds richness to the sweetness, and the pair recalls the famous description of the land, though in reverse order.

Song of Songs 5:1 חֲלָבִ֑י milk my

I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, and drink; drink freely, O beloved.

Here: "My milk." Recalls 4:11 and, with honey, the proverbial land "flowing with milk and honey," a picture of rich abundance. Notice the eight times "my" is repeated through these lines: everything in the garden is now freely his.

Song of Songs 5:12 בֶּֽחָלָ֔ב in <the> milk

His eyes are like doves beside the streams of water, bathed in milk and mounted like jewels.

Isaiah 7:22 חָלָ֖ב milk

and from the abundance of milk they give, he will eat curds; for all who remain in the land will eat curds and honey.

Here: Fresh milk from the one heifer and two sheep or goats of v. 21. It is the word in the old promise of a land "flowing with milk and honey," which gives the scene an ironic edge.

Isaiah 28:9 מֵֽחָלָ֔ב from milk

Whom is He trying to teach? To whom is He explaining His message? To infants just weaned from milk? To babies removed from the breast?

Here: "From milk," meaning breast milk. With "weaned" it paints a child only just off the breast.

Isaiah 55:1 וְחָלָֽב׃ and milk

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost!

Here: Milk, the food of a land rich in flocks ('flowing with milk and honey'). Paired with wine it pictures a full table of plenty.

Isaiah 60:16 חֲלֵ֣ב [the] milk of

You will drink the milk of nations and nurse at the breasts of royalty; you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Here: 'Milk of', the basic food of infants and a stock image of plenty (a 'land flowing with milk and honey'). Here it stands for the rich resources the nations will supply (compare 'the wealth of the nations' in 60:5, 11).

Jeremiah 11:5 חָלָ֛ב milk

This was in order to establish the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is to this day.” “Amen, LORD,” I answered.

Here: Goat and sheep milk, which comes from good pasture for the flocks. It stands for herding wealth.

Jeremiah 32:22 חָלָ֖ב milk

You gave them this land that You had sworn to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Here: Mainly goat and sheep milk. It stands for well-fed flocks and pasture: the pastoral side of the land's wealth.

Lamentations 4:7 מֵחָלָ֑ב more than milk

Her dignitaries were brighter than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than rubies, their appearance like sapphires.

Ezekiel 20:6 חָלָב֙ milk

On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.

Here: "Milk": mostly from goats and sheep. It points to good pasture and healthy flocks.

Ezekiel 20:15 חָלָב֙ milk

Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands—

Here: Mainly goat and sheep milk, a sign of rich pasture and healthy flocks.

Ezekiel 25:4 חֲלָבֵֽךְ׃ milk your

therefore I will indeed give you as a possession to the people of the East. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.

Joel 3:18 חָלָ֔ב milk

And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. All the streams of Judah will run with water, and a spring will flow from the house of the LORD to water the Valley of Acacias.

Here: Milk from goats and sheep. There is only milk when there is rich pasture, so this says the grass has come back. It also echoes the old promise of 'a land flowing with milk and honey.'