Hebrew word · H400

אֹ֫כֶל

'okhel

food

Food in general, whatever is eaten: grain rations (Genesis 41:35; 42:7), people's food, animals' food or prey (Job 9:26; Psalm 104:21, 27). It comes from the common verb ʾākhal, 'to eat'.

Appears 43 times in 40 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) food

1a) cereal

1b) meat

2) food supply

3) meal, dinner

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 Psalm 145:15

Range of meaning

Food in general, whatever is eaten: grain rations (Genesis 41:35; 42:7), people's food, animals' food or prey (Job 9:26; Psalm 104:21, 27). It comes from the common verb ʾākhal, 'to eat'.

Against the English

KJV 'meat' was accurate in 1611, when 'meat' meant food of any kind. Modern versions rightly say 'food'.

How it drifted

From the 1600s on, English 'meat' narrowed to animal flesh. A modern reader of the KJV can wrongly hear a reference to meat specifically.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Psalm 104:21, 27 the same word covers lions' prey and the food of sea creatures. In Genesis 41–42 it covers stored grain.

From the study of Job 36:31

Range of meaning

Food in general: grain, provisions, rations (Gen 41:35, Joseph storing 'food'; Ps 104:27, creatures waiting for God to give them their 'food' in season). It comes from the verb ʾakhal, 'to eat'.

Against the English

KJV 'meat' is old English for food of any kind. Modern versions rightly say 'food'.

How it drifted

In 1611 'meat' meant food in general (compare 'meat and drink'). Its narrowing to animal flesh happened later, so KJV readers today can misread it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 104:27 and 145:15 ('you give them their food in its season') make the same link between God giving and food. This was a common idea in Israelite praise of God the Creator.

From the study of Psalm 104:27

Range of meaning

Food in general, whatever is eaten. It can mean grain (Gen 41:35), provisions or rations (Gen 42:7), or prey (Job 9:26, the eagle swooping on its food).

Against the English

KJV's 'meat' was simply the ordinary word for food in 1611. Modern translations say 'food'.

How it drifted

English 'meat' narrowed after the 1600s to mean animal flesh. KJV readers today may picture only carnivores being fed.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 104:21 uses the same word with the same 'their' ending: 'the young lions roar for prey, seeking their food (ʾokhlām) from God.' Ps 145:15 has the same phrase as here.

Where it appears

Genesis · 16
  1. Genesis 14:11 אָכְלָ֖ם food their

    The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way.

  2. Genesis 41:35 אֹ֙כֶל֙ אֹ֥כֶל [the] food of, food

    Under the authority of Pharaoh, let them collect all the excess food from these good years, that they may come and lay up the grain to be preserved as food in the cities.

    Here: Food in general, literally "what is eaten" (from the verb akhal, to eat). Here it means the edible produce of the good years, a broader word than the "grain" that follows.

  3. Genesis 41:36 הָאֹ֤כֶל the food

    This food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine to come upon the land of Egypt. Then the country will not perish in the famine.”

  4. Genesis 41:48 אֹ֣כֶל׀ אֹ֖כֶל אֹ֧כֶל [the] food of, food

    During those seven years, Joseph collected all the excess food in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities. In every city he laid up the food from the fields around it.

  5. Genesis 42:7 אֹֽכֶל׃ food

    And when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We are here to buy food.”

  6. Genesis 42:10 אֹֽכֶל׃ food

    “Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food.

  7. Genesis 43:2 אֹֽכֶל׃ food

    So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

    Here: "Food" in general, from the same root as "to eat" earlier in the verse. The verse runs from eating to food: what they ate is gone, so they must go and get more to eat.

  8. Genesis 43:4 אֹֽכֶל׃ food

    If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.

  9. Genesis 43:20 אֹֽכֶל׃ food

    “Please, sir,” they said, “we really did come down here the first time to buy food.

  10. Genesis 43:22 אֹ֑כֶל food

    We have brought additional silver with us to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.”

    Here: Food as provisions, here the grain rations Egypt was selling (41:35, 48; 42:7, 10).

  11. Genesis 44:1 אֹ֔כֶל food

    Then Joseph instructed his steward: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack.

  12. Genesis 44:25 אֹֽכֶל׃ food

    Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’

  13. Genesis 47:24 וּֽלְאָכְלְכֶ֛ם and to food your

    At harvest time, you are to give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours as seed for the field and food for yourselves and your households and children.”

Exodus · 4
  1. Exodus 12:4 אָכְל֔וֹ food his

    If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly.

  2. Exodus 16:16 אָכְל֑וֹ food his

    This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. You may take an omer for each person in your tent.’”

  3. Exodus 16:18 אָכְל֖וֹ food his

    When they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall. Each one gathered as much as he needed to eat.

    Here: "His eating": his consumption, what he (and his household, v.16) would actually eat. The measure is set by real appetite and need, not by how hard he worked or how much he wanted.

  4. Exodus 16:21 אָכְל֑וֹ food his

    Every morning each one gathered as much as was needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

Leviticus · 2
  1. Leviticus 11:34 הָאֹ֜כֶל the food

    Any food coming into contact with water from that pot will be unclean, and any drink in such a container will be unclean.

  2. Leviticus 25:37 אָכְלֶֽךָ׃ food your

    You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit.

Deuteronomy · 3
  1. Deuteronomy 2:6 אֹ֣כֶל food

    You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

  2. Deuteronomy 2:28 אֹ֣כֶל food

    You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot,

  3. Deuteronomy 23:19 אֹ֑כֶל food

    Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.

Ruth · 1
  1. Ruth 2:14 הָאֹ֗כֶל the meal

    At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here; have some bread and dip it into the vinegar sauce.” So she sat down beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left over.

Job · 5
  1. Job 9:26 אֹֽכֶל׃ food

    They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

  2. Job 12:11 אֹ֣כֶל food

    Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?

  3. Job 36:31 אֹ֥כֶל food

    For by these He judges the nations and provides food in abundance.

    Here: Food in general, mainly the grain and produce that grow from the rain. Not 'meat' in the modern sense.

  4. Job 38:41 אֹֽכֶל׃ food

    Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

    Here: Food in general, the ordinary word for something to eat. It comes last, so the line ends on the empty belly.

  5. Job 39:29 אֹ֑כֶל food

    From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar.

Psalms · 6
  1. Psalm 78:18 אֹ֥כֶל food

    They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.

    Here: Food in general, anything you eat. The psalm goes on to tell of manna, the 'grain of heaven' (v. 24), and then meat, the quail (v. 27). The word is broad and does not mean only meat.

  2. Psalm 78:30 אָכְלָ֥ם food their

    Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths,

  3. Psalm 104:21 אָכְלָֽם׃ food their

    The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.

    Here: 'Their food', the ordinary word for anything eaten. Placed at the end, it moves from the violent 'prey' to plain 'food', the meal God gives.

  4. Psalm 104:27 אָכְלָ֣ם food their

    All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.

    Here: 'Their food.' A general word for whatever a creature eats. It covers the lions' prey as well as grass and grain: the same word appears in v. 21, where young lions 'seek their food from God'.

  5. Psalm 107:18 אֹ֭כֶל food

    They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.

  6. Psalm 145:15 אָכְלָ֣ם food their

    The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.

    Here: 'Their food': any kind of food, from grain to prey, the ordinary daily food each creature needs. It does not mean meat in particular.

Proverbs · 1
  1. Proverbs 13:23 אֹ֭כֶל food

    Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, but without justice it is swept away.

Lamentations · 2
  1. Lamentations 1:11 בְּאֹ֖כֶל for food

    All her people groan as they search for bread. They have traded their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. Look, O LORD, and consider, for I have become despised.

  2. Lamentations 1:19 אֹ֙כֶל֙ food

    I called out to my lovers, but they have betrayed me. My priests and elders perished in the city while they searched for food to keep themselves alive.

Joel · 1
  1. Joel 1:16 אֹ֣כֶל food

    Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Habakkuk · 1
  1. Habakkuk 3:17 אֹ֑כֶל food

    Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,

    Here: 'Food' in general, here mostly grain for bread. It is not 'meat' in the modern sense, despite the KJV.

Malachi · 1
  1. Malachi 1:12 אָכְלֽוֹ׃ food its

    “But you profane it when you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is contemptible.’

    Here: “Its food”: the sacrifices, which the Torah calls “the food of God” (Leviticus 21:6; Numbers 28:2). Some of that food went back to the priests as their portion. The verse ends on this word, so the sentence lands on the meal itself.

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