Hebrew word · H3

אֵב

ve'ibo

greenery

Fresh green growth, young shoots, new vegetation. In Hebrew it occurs only here and in Job 8:12. The related Aramaic word ʾeb in Daniel 4:9, 11, 18 (English 4:12, 14, 21) means the "fruit" of a tree.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

freshness, fresh green, green shoots, or greenery

Aramaic equivalent: ev (אֵב "fruit" H0004)

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 Song of Songs 6:11

Range of meaning

Fresh green growth, young shoots, new vegetation. In Hebrew it occurs only here and in Job 8:12. The related Aramaic word ʾeb in Daniel 4:9, 11, 18 (English 4:12, 14, 21) means the "fruit" of a tree.

Against the English

KJV "fruits of the valley" follows the Aramaic meaning and suggests ripe harvest. BSB/ESV/NASB "blossoms" and NIV/NLT "new growth" give the Hebrew sense better: the first green of spring.

How it drifted

To a modern reader, KJV "fruits" means ripe produce. In 1611 "fruits" could mean produce in general, and the translators were also following the Aramaic. The season in this verse is early spring, when things are only starting to grow.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 8:12: a papyrus reed withers "while it is still in its greenness (bəʾibbô), not yet cut." The Greek Septuagint here has "in the produce (gennēmasin) of the winter-torrent."

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 8:12 בְ֭אִבּוֹ [is] in greenness its

    While the shoots are still uncut, they dry up more quickly than grass.

Song of Songs · 1

  1. Song of Songs 6:11 בְּאִבֵּ֣י on [the] green shoots of

    I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines were budding or the pomegranates were in bloom.

    Here: The fresh green growth of spring, new and tender. The only other place the word appears is Job 8:12, where a papyrus reed is "still in its greenness." It means new growth, not ripe fruit.

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