Hebrew word · H6194

עֲרֵמָה

'aremat

heap

A heap or pile, especially of threshed grain on the threshing floor (Ruth 3:7; Song 7:2 "a heap of wheat"; 2 Chron 31:6–9 heaps of tithes). It is also used of rubble heaps (Neh 4:2).

Appears 11 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

heap, pile

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 Haggai 2:16

Range of meaning

A heap or pile, especially of threshed grain on the threshing floor (Ruth 3:7; Song 7:2 "a heap of wheat"; 2 Chron 31:6–9 heaps of tithes). It is also used of rubble heaps (Neh 4:2).

Against the English

Most versions say "heap". BSB adds "of grain" and "ephahs", and NLT turns it into a "crop" measured in bushels. These are fair clarifications, but the Hebrew picture is concrete: a pile sitting on the threshing floor.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ruth 3:7: Boaz lies down "at the end of the heap (ʿaremah)" after winnowing. Threshing-floor heaps were the moment a farmer saw his year's yield, before it was measured into containers.

From the study of Nehemiah 13:15

Range of meaning

A heap or pile. It is used of grain piled on the threshing floor (Ruth 3:7; Song 7:2 'a heap of wheat'), of produce brought in as tithes (2 Chr 31:6–9), of grain in general (Hag 2:16), and even of rubble (Neh 4:2).

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'sheaves' suggests bound bundles of cut stalks, which Hebrew calls by other words (ʿōmer, ʾălummâ). BSB 'grain' and others' 'heaps of grain' are closer.

How it drifted

'Sheaves' probably comes through the Greek Septuagint, which here (2 Esdras 23:15) uses a word for handfuls or sheaves (dragmata).

Used elsewhere in the period

Ruth 3:7 (Boaz lies down at the end of the grain heap); 2 Chr 31:6 (tithes laid in heaps); Neh 3:34 [4:2] (heaps of rubble).

Where it appears

Ruth · 1

  1. Ruth 3:7 הָעֲרֵמָ֑ה the heap

    After Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth went in secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.

2 Chronicles · 5

  1. 2 Chronicles 31:6 עֲרֵמ֥וֹת עֲרֵמֽוֹת׃ ס heaps

    And the Israelites and Judahites who lived in the cities of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things consecrated to the LORD their God, and they laid them in large heaps.

  2. 2 Chronicles 31:7 הָעֲרֵמ֖וֹת the heaps

    In the third month they began building up the heaps, and they finished in the seventh month.

  3. 2 Chronicles 31:8 הָעֲרֵמ֑וֹת the heaps

    When Hezekiah and his officials came and viewed the heaps, they blessed the LORD and His people Israel.

  4. 2 Chronicles 31:9 הָעֲרֵמֽוֹת׃ the heaps

    Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and Levites about the heaps,

Nehemiah · 2

  1. Nehemiah 4:2 מֵעֲרֵמ֥וֹת from [the] heaps of

    before his associates and the army of Samaria, saying, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Can they restore the wall by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?”

    Here: Piles or mounds; the stones must be dug out of rubble heaps.

  2. Nehemiah 13:15 הָעֲרֵמ֣וֹת <the> heaps of grain

    In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day.

    Here: Piles of produce, most naturally heaps of threshed grain, as on a threshing floor (Ruth 3:7). They are not bound 'sheaves'. 'The heaps' suggests the usual piles of harvested produce.

Song of Songs · 1

  1. Song of Songs 7:2 עֲרֵמַ֣ת [is] a heap of

    Your navel is a rounded goblet; it never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by the lilies.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 50:26 עֲרֵמִ֖ים heaps

    Come against her from the farthest border. Break open her granaries; pile her up like mounds of grain. Devote her to destruction; leave her no survivors.

Haggai · 1

  1. Haggai 2:16 עֲרֵמַ֣ת a heap of

    from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.

    Here: The pile of threshed and winnowed grain on the threshing floor (as in Ruth 3:7). "A heap of twenty" means a pile that looked as if it would measure out twenty units.

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