Hebrew word · H2556

חָמֵץ

chametz

to leaven

Two roots share these consonants. The common one (ḥāmēṣ) means "be sour, leavened" (leaven, vinegar). Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) list a second, rare root meaning "be bright-coloured, red", which seems to occur only here. The colour is vivid, glaring red.

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament.

What it means

1) to be leavened, be sour

1a) (Qal) to be leavened

1b) (Hiphil) to taste something leavened

1c) (Hithpael) to be embittered, grieved

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 63:1

Range of meaning

Two roots share these consonants. The common one (ḥāmēṣ) means "be sour, leavened" (leaven, vinegar). Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) list a second, rare root meaning "be bright-coloured, red", which seems to occur only here. The colour is vivid, glaring red.

Against the English

KJV/WEB/YLT "dyed garments"; BSB "crimson-stained"; NASB "garments of glowing colors"; ESV "crimsoned"; NIV "stained crimson". "Dyed" can make a modern reader think of deliberately coloured cloth, perhaps luxurious. The context (vv. 2–3) makes clear the colour comes from splashed blood.

How it drifted

In 1611 "dyed" simply meant "coloured, stained". Today it suggests a textile process, so the KJV wording now hides the gore the original makes plain.

Used elsewhere in the period

The colour sense is effectively unique to this verse, so its meaning is set by context: v. 2 asks "Why is your clothing red (ʾādōm)?" Ancient translators understood it as colour: the Septuagint has erythēma himatiōn, "redness of garments", and the Vulgate tinctis vestibus, "with stained/dyed garments".

From the study of Exodus 12:39

Range of meaning

As a verb: to become sour or fermented, to be leavened. Related words are chamets ("leavened bread," Exod 12:15), chomets ("vinegar," Num 6:3), and a sense "to be embittered" (Ps 73:21). Leavening was done with se'or (12:15, 19), a lump of old fermented dough kept back and kneaded into the new batch.

Against the English

BSB's "their dough had no leaven" suggests there was no leavening agent in it. The Hebrew only says "it had not fermented/risen." Verse 34 says the dough was taken "before it was leavened" (terem yechmats), which points to timing. KJV/WEB "it was not leavened" and YLT "it hath not fermented" stay closer.

How it drifted

Modern baking uses commercial yeast that is added deliberately, so English readers imagine leaven as an ingredient that was left out rather than a process that never had time to finish.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same root covers sourness and fermentation in other Semitic languages, for example Aramaic chamia' and Arabic ḥamuḍa ("to be sour"). In the Bible the noun is the forbidden item of the festival (Exod 12:15, 19–20; 13:3, 7) and is also offered at certain festivals (Lev 7:13; 23:17).

Similar words

Where it appears

Exodus · 4

  1. Exodus 12:19 מַחְמֶ֗צֶת a thing leavened

    For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.

  2. Exodus 12:20 מַחְמֶ֖צֶת thing leavened

    You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”

  3. Exodus 12:34 יֶחְמָ֑ץ it was leavened

    So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing.

  4. Exodus 12:39 חָמֵ֑ץ it was leavened

    Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

    Here: "It had not become leavened," meaning it had not fermented and risen. The issue is time, not missing ingredients. Leavened bread is chamets, the word for what Israel must remove at the festival (12:15).

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 71:4 וְחוֹמֵץ׃ and [the] ruthless

    Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.

  2. Psalm 73:21 יִתְחַמֵּ֣ץ it was embittered

    When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within,

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 63:1 חֲמ֤וּץ red of

    Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.”

    Here: "Red / glowing-red of": a rare colour word, apparently a second root separate from the common ḥāmēṣ "be sour, leavened". Verses 2–3 show the red is blood splashed on him in battle, not dye.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 7:4 חֻמְצָתֽוֹ׃ is leavened it

    They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker who needs not stoke the fire from the kneading to the rising of the dough.

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