Hebrew word · H3842

לְבָנָה

khalevanah

moon

Poetic names: levanah 'the white one' (from lavan, 'white'), chammah 'the hot one' (from cham, 'hot'). The ordinary words are yareach (moon) and shemesh (sun).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 24, 2026

What it means

moon (as white)

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 24:23

Range of meaning: Poetic names: levanah 'the white one' (from lavan, 'white'), chammah 'the hot one' (from cham, 'hot'). The ordinary words are yareach (moon) and shemesh (sun).
Against the English: All English versions simply say 'moon' and 'sun'. That is accurate, but it loses the description built into the names: the brightness and the burning are the very qualities being shamed.
Used elsewhere in the period: The same pair appears in Isa 30:26 ('the light of the white one will be like the light of the hot one') and in Song 6:10 ('fair as the white one, bright as the hot one'). It is a poetic way of speaking. Neighboring cultures worshipped the moon-god (Sin/Yarikh) and sun-god (Shamash/Shemesh), and Israel's Torah warned against worshipping them (Deut 4:19; 2 Kgs 23:5).

From the study of Isaiah 30:26

Range of meaning: Levanah means 'the white one', the moon. Ḥammah means 'the hot one', the sun. Both are poetic names, used alongside the everyday words yareaḥ (moon) and shemesh (sun).
Against the English: Every English version just says 'moon' and 'sun', which is correct. What gets lost is the picture inside the names: the pale one and the hot one.
Used elsewhere in the period: The pair appears together only three times: here, Isaiah 24:23 ('the White One will be ashamed and the Hot One abashed, for the LORD of hosts reigns') and Song 6:10 ('fair as the White One, bright as the Hot One'). Ḥammah also appears in Job 30:28 and Ps 19:6.

From the study of Song of Songs 6:10

Range of meaning: lᵉbānâ is 'the white one', a poetic name for the moon (the everyday word is yārēaḥ). ḥammâ is 'the hot one', a poetic name for the sun (the everyday word is šemeš). As a pair they appear only here, in Isaiah 24:23 and in Isaiah 30:26.
Against the English: All versions say simply 'moon' and 'sun', which is correct but loses the descriptive names: the pale-white one and the blazing one. NASB's 'full moon' (and the supplied gloss) is an inference from the whiteness, not a separate meaning.
Used elsewhere in the period: Isaiah 24:23: 'the white one will be ashamed and the hot one abashed' before the LORD. Isaiah 30:26: 'the light of the white one will be like the light of the hot one'. Ancient Egyptian love poetry likewise praises the beloved as 'shining, precious, white of skin… like the star rising at the start of a good year' (Papyrus Chester Beatty I).

Where it appears

Song of Songs · 1

Song of Songs 6:10 כַלְּבָנָ֗ה like the full moon

Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?

Here: A rare poetic name for the moon, built from the word for 'white'. It pictures the moon's pale radiance, especially in its full brightness.

Isaiah · 2

Isaiah 24:23 הַלְּבָנָ֔ה the moon

The moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great glory.

Here: A poetic name for the moon taken from its pale whiteness, used in place of the ordinary word yareach. It focuses on the moon's shining, which is exactly what will be outshone.
Isaiah 30:26 הַלְּבָנָה֙ the moon

The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.

Here: A poetic name for the moon, from the root for 'white'. The pale night-light is pictured blazing like the noonday sun.

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