Hebrew word · H4303

מַטְעָם

mat'amim

delicacy

Tasty, seasoned dishes, delicacies. It comes from the root ṭ-ʿ-m, 'to taste'. The related noun ṭaʿam means both 'taste, flavour' and 'good sense, judgement' (1 Sam 25:33, Abigail's 'discretion'; Ps 119:66, 'good judgement').

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

tasty or savory food, delectable food, dainties

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 Proverbs 23:3

Range of meaning

Tasty, seasoned dishes, delicacies. It comes from the root ṭ-ʿ-m, 'to taste'. The related noun ṭaʿam means both 'taste, flavour' and 'good sense, judgement' (1 Sam 25:33, Abigail's 'discretion'; Ps 119:66, 'good judgement').

Against the English

'Delicacies' (BSB, NIV) and 'dainties' (KJV, WEB, YLT) are both accurate. 'Dainties' is old-fashioned but means the same thing: choice, fine food.

Used elsewhere in the period

Most famously in Genesis 27 (vv. 4, 7, 9, 14, 17, 31), the savoury dish Isaac loves and that Rebekah and Jacob use to deceive him. Here the delicacies are again bound up with deception, though it cannot be shown that Proverbs is deliberately echoing Genesis.

From the study of Proverbs 23:6

Range of meaning

Tasty dishes, savoury food, delicacies, from ṭā'am, 'to taste.' Outside Proverbs 23 the word appears almost only in Genesis 27, for the savoury dish Isaac loved, which Rebekah and Jacob used to deceive him.

Against the English

KJV has 'dainty meats.' Modern versions have 'delicacies.' 'Delicacies' is accurate. KJV's 'dainty meats' is misleading today (see drift).

How it drifted

In 1611 'dainty' meant choice or delicious, and 'meat' meant food of any kind. Today 'dainty' suggests small and delicate, and 'meat' means animal flesh.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 27:4, 7, 9, 14, 17, 31; Prov 23:3, 6. A related form, man'ammîm, appears in Ps 141:4.

From the study of Genesis 27:4

Range of meaning

From the root ṭ-ʿ-m, 'to taste'. It means tasty, well-prepared food: delicacies, a savory dish. A closely related form (mat'ammot) appears in Proverbs 23:3, 6 for a ruler's or stingy host's 'delicacies' that a wise guest should be wary of.

Against the English

KJV 'savoury meat' (in older English 'meat' meant food in general, though here it really is game). WEB 'savory food'. BSB 'a tasty dish'. YLT 'tasteful things'. All are accurate. The Hebrew plural suggests a dish worked up with seasoning, not a plain piece of roast meat.

Used elsewhere in the period

Six times in this chapter (vv. 4, 7, 9, 14, 17, 31) and nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Related forms appear in Proverbs 23. The Greek Septuagint uses ἐδέσματα, 'dishes, things to eat'.

Where it appears

Genesis · 6

  1. Genesis 27:4 מַטְעַמִּ֜ים savory food<s>

    Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

    Here: Literally 'tasty things', from the root for 'taste'. The plural points to a well-seasoned, special dish rather than everyday food. The word is a keyword of Genesis 27 and shows up nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.

  2. Genesis 27:7 מַטְעַמִּ֖ים savory food<s>

    ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’

  3. Genesis 27:9 מַטְעַמִּ֛ים savory food<s>

    Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves.

    Here: Literally "tasty things", from the root for "taste". It means a flavourful, well-prepared dish. It is the exact word Isaac used in v. 4, so Rebekah plans to copy what he asked for.

  4. Genesis 27:14 מַטְעַמִּ֔ים savory food<s>

    So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved.

  5. Genesis 27:17 הַמַּטְעַמִּ֛ים the savory food<s>

    Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.

  6. Genesis 27:31 מַטְעַמִּ֔ים savory food<s>

    He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 23:3 לְמַטְעַמּוֹתָ֑יו for dainties his

    Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.

    Here: 'For his tasty dishes': rich, specially seasoned food, from the root meaning 'taste'. 'His' points back to the ruler of verse 1. This is banquet food, the kind an ordinary person did not see on his own table.

  2. Proverbs 23:6 לְמַטְעַמֹּתָֽיו׃ for dainties his

    Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;

    Here: From the root 'to taste.' These are savoury, specially prepared foods, the impressive part of the spread. The word recalls the dish Rebekah and Jacob used to deceive Isaac (Gen 27), and 23:3 calls such food 'bread of lies.'

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