Hebrew word · H3843
לְבֵנָה
levenah
brick
A molded clay or mud brick, usually sun-dried and sometimes kiln-fired. It was the basic material for houses and city walls across the ancient Near East. The related verb lavan means “to make bricks.”
Appears 12 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
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
- Range of meaning
A molded clay or mud brick, usually sun-dried and sometimes kiln-fired. It was the basic material for houses and city walls across the ancient Near East. The related verb lavan means “to make bricks.”
- Against the English
English “bricks” suggests sturdy fired-clay masonry. In Iron Age Israel most bricks were sun-dried mud, a cheap material that eroded easily.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Genesis 11:3 (“let us make bricks,” nilbenah levenim, at Babel); Exodus 1:14 and Exodus 5 (Israel's forced brick-making in Egypt); Isaiah 65:3 (altars of brick). The Septuagint's “let us build ourselves a tower” in this verse shows that ancient translators already heard an echo of Babel in the bricks.
From the study of Exodus 24:10
- Range of meaning
A brick (sun-dried or kiln-fired clay), a tile, or a paving slab. It is related to the verb 'to make bricks' and possibly to lavan, 'white', since dried clay is pale.
- Against the English
Most versions translate the sense rather than the word: 'pavement' or 'paved work'. YLT's 'white work' follows the possible link to 'white'. None keep the plain word 'brick', so English readers miss its echo.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Gen 11:3 (the bricks of Babel). Exod 1:14 and 5:7, 8, 16, 18, 19, where it is the brick quota of Israel's slavery in Egypt. Isa 9:10 and 65:3; Ezek 4:1 (a clay tablet). Ugaritic lbnt is used of the bricks of Baal's palace. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and the midrash connect this verse to the Egyptian bricks.
- Range of meaning
Brick, made of sun-dried or kiln-fired clay. Also a flat brick or tile (Ezekiel draws Jerusalem on a lǝbēnâ, Ezek 4:1).
- Against the English
BSB and NIV say 'altars of brick', which interprets the bricks as altars. KJV says 'altars of brick' with 'altars' supplied. WEB, NASB and YLT keep the bare 'bricks', leaving open whether altars, rooftops or tiles are meant.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Gen 11:3 (the bricks of Babel); Exod 1:14 and 5:7 (Egyptian brick-making); Isa 9:10 ('bricks have fallen, we will build with dressed stone'). The law of the altar (Exod 20:24–25) requires earth or uncut stone, which rules out a made product. Rooftop worship with burnt offerings: 2 Kgs 23:12; Jer 19:13; 32:29; Zeph 1:5. Brick construction was characteristic of Mesopotamia, which led some interpreters to see a Babylonian-style practice here.
Where it appears
Genesis · 2
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Genesis 11:3 לְבֵנִ֔ים הַלְּבֵנָה֙ bricks, <the> brick
And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.
Here: The noun echoes the verb right before it: 'let us brick bricks'. The repetition gives the speech a busy, chant-like sound.
Exodus · 7
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Exodus 1:14 וּבִלְבֵנִ֔ים and in bricks
and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.
Here: 'And in bricks': sun-dried mud bricks, the standard building material of Egyptian state projects such as the store-cities named in 1:11.
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Exodus 5:7 הַלְּבֵנִ֖ים the bricks
“You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw.
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Exodus 5:8 הַלְּבֵנִ֜ים the bricks
But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’
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Exodus 5:16 וּלְבֵנִ֛ים and bricks
No straw has been given to your servants, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
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Exodus 5:18 לְבֵנִ֖ים bricks
Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”
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Exodus 5:19 מִלִּבְנֵיכֶ֖ם from bricks your
The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce your daily quota of bricks.”
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Exodus 24:10 לִבְנַ֣ת <the> pavement of
and they saw the God of Israel. Under His feet was a work like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.
Here: Literally 'brick' or 'tile', the same word used for the bricks Israel made as slaves (Exod 1:14; 5:7–19). Here it is a paving block or slab, so translators render it 'pavement'.
Isaiah · 2
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Isaiah 9:10 לְבֵנִ֥ים bricks
“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
Here: Mud bricks, usually sun-dried, which were the ordinary and cheap way to build walls. The word comes first for emphasis: it is the humble material that has failed.
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Isaiah 65:3 הַלְּבֵנִֽים׃ the bricks
to a people who continually provoke Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens and burning incense on altars of brick,
Here: 'The bricks': man-made, shaped clay. God's law asked for altars of earth or uncut stone (Exod 20:24–25). Brick altars, or flat brick rooftops like those used for star worship, are therefore a sign of illegitimate worship. The text does not say which is meant.
Ezekiel · 1
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Ezekiel 4:1 לְבֵנָ֔ה a brick
“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.
Here: A molded clay brick, the everyday building block of Babylonia where Ezekiel lived. He is going to scratch lines into it, so it must have been soft, unfired clay, or at least clay that could be cut.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.