Hebrew word · H2557

חָמֵץ

chametz

leaven

From a root meaning "to be sour, fermented." As a noun it means leavened food, anything that has fermented and risen. The related word chomets means vinegar (Num 6:3; Ruth 2:14).

Appears 11 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

the thing leavened, leaven

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 Exodus 12:15

Range of meaning

From a root meaning "to be sour, fermented." As a noun it means leavened food, anything that has fermented and risen. The related word chomets means vinegar (Num 6:3; Ruth 2:14).

Against the English

KJV, WEB "leavened bread"; YLT "anything fermented"; BSB "anything leavened." YLT and BSB are closer: the word is not limited to loaves. Later Jewish law applies it to any fermented product of the five grains.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 12:19-20; 13:3, 7; 23:18; 34:25 (no chamets with the Passover sacrifice). It also appears positively: leavened loaves are offered at the Feast of Weeks (Lev 23:17) and with the thanksgiving offering (Lev 7:13). In the Mishnah, Pesachim 1–3 sets out the search for chamets and its destruction.

From the study of Exodus 13:3

Range of meaning

That which is leavened or soured: risen dough, leavened bread, anything fermented. Related words are chomets 'vinegar' and the verb chamets 'to be sour, leavened'. It is distinct from se'or, the leaven agent (a lump of old fermented dough kept back to start the next batch), and opposite to matsah, flat unleavened bread.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'leavened bread' narrows it to bread. YLT 'any thing fermented' and BSB 'nothing leavened' keep the wider reach. Renderings with 'yeast' suggest the modern packaged product, which did not exist.

How it drifted

Modern baking uses commercial yeast. Ancient leavening was sourdough: a piece of old fermented dough mixed into new dough.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 12:15–20, 39; 13:6–7; Deut 16:3–4 ('bread of affliction... for in haste you came out'). Lev 2:11 also bars leaven from grain offerings burned on the altar. Later Jewish practice (Mishnah tractate Pesachim) worked out the ban in detail, including removing chamets from the house.

Similar words

Where it appears

Exodus · 5

  1. Exodus 12:15 חָמֵ֗ץ leaven

    For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

    Here: Anything fermented and risen, i.e. the leavened product. It differs from seʾor, the starter: the house must be rid of the agent (seʾor), and no one may eat the product (chamets).

  2. Exodus 13:3 חָמֵֽץ׃ leaven

    So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.

    Here: Anything that has been leavened or fermented, such as risen dough or bread. It is different from 'se'or', the sourdough starter itself (v. 7). Nothing of the kind is to be eaten during the feast.

  3. Exodus 13:7 חָמֵ֗ץ leaven

    Unleavened bread shall be eaten during those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, nor shall leaven be found anywhere within your borders.

  4. Exodus 23:18 חָמֵ֖ץ leaven

    You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning.

  5. Exodus 34:25 חָמֵ֖ץ leaven

    Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to Me along with anything leavened, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.

Leviticus · 4

  1. Leviticus 2:11 חָמֵ֑ץ leaven

    No grain offering that you present to the LORD may be made with leaven, for you are not to burn any leaven or honey as a food offering to the LORD.

  2. Leviticus 6:17 חָמֵ֔ץ leaven

    It must not be baked with leaven; I have assigned it as their portion of My food offerings. It is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.

  3. Leviticus 7:13 חָמֵ֔ץ leaven

    Along with his peace offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of leavened bread.

  4. Leviticus 23:17 חָמֵ֖ץ leaven

    Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 16:3 חָמֵ֔ץ leaven

    You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

    Here: Anything made from dough that has soured and risen. Ancient leaven was a fermented lump of old dough kept back and worked into the new batch (verse 4 calls the starter seʾor). No commercial yeast existed.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 4:5 מֵֽחָמֵץ֙ from a thing leavened

    Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings. For that is what you children of Israel love to do,” declares the Lord GOD.

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