Hebrew word · H4574

מַעֲדָן

ma'adanei-

delicacy

Delicacy, dainty food, luxury. It comes from the root 'dn, 'to be soft, luxuriant, delightful', the same root found in the name Eden. Used of Asher's 'royal delicacies' (Genesis 49:20) and of 'those who once ate delicacies' in Jerusalem before the siege (Lamentations 4:5).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

dainty (food), delight

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 29:17

Range of meaning

Delicacy, dainty food, luxury. It comes from the root 'dn, 'to be soft, luxuriant, delightful', the same root found in the name Eden. Used of Asher's 'royal delicacies' (Genesis 49:20) and of 'those who once ate delicacies' in Jerusalem before the siege (Lamentations 4:5).

Against the English

BSB and KJV 'delight', YLT 'delights'. These are accurate in sense but lose the picture of food. The image is of a luxurious feast, not an abstract feeling.

How it drifted

Not a drift so much as a lost picture: 'delight' turns a concrete image (rich food) into an abstraction.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 49:20; Lamentations 4:5. The LXX here reads kosmon, 'ornament, adornment' (see textual notes), apparently reading or interpreting the word differently.

Similar words

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 49:20 מַֽעֲדַנֵּי־ delicacies of

    Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 29:17 מַעֲדַנִּ֣ים delights

    Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will bring delight to your soul.

    Here: Literally 'delicacies': rich, luxurious food fit for a king (Genesis 49:20). The picture is a feast. A well-formed son is like a fine meal set before his parent.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 4:5 לְמַ֣עֲדַנִּ֔ים <to> delicacies

    Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.

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