Hebrew word · H5742

עֲדָשָׁה

'adashim

lentil

Lentils (Lens culinaris), one of the oldest cultivated crops of the Near East. In the southern Levant they were sown in winter and harvested in spring.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

lentil

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 2 Samuel 23:11

Range of meaning

Lentils (Lens culinaris), one of the oldest cultivated crops of the Near East. In the southern Levant they were sown in winter and harvested in spring.

Against the English

English versions are agreed on 'lentils'. The modern associations are the problem: to many readers lentils sound humble or trivial.

How it drifted

Some popular retellings call it a 'bean patch' and treat it as worthless. Nothing in the text supports that.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 25:34 (Jacob's lentil stew); 2 Sam 17:28 (lentils among the provisions brought to David's starving men at Mahanaim); Ezek 4:9 (lentils in siege bread). Archaeologists find lentils widely at Iron Age sites in Israel.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 25:34 עֲדָשִׁ֔ים lentils

    Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

2 Samuel · 2

  1. 2 Samuel 17:28 וַעֲדָשִׁ֖ים and lentils

    They brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, as well as wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils,

  2. 2 Samuel 23:11 עֲדָשִׁ֔ים of lentils

    And after him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines had banded together near a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them.

    Here: A staple protein crop of the ancient Near East. Lentils were food people lived on, not a trivial garden crop.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 4:9 וַעֲדָשִׁ֜ים and lentils

    But take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them in a single container and make them into bread for yourself. This is what you are to eat during the 390 days you lie on your side.

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