Hebrew word · H6400

פֶּ֫לַח

felach

millstone

pelaḥ comes from the verb plḥ, 'to cleave, split', and means a cut-off piece or slice. rimmôn means pomegranate (and also a pomegranate shape used as decoration).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) cleavage, mill-stone, cut, slice, part cut off

1a) mill-stone

1b) cleavage, slice

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 Song of Songs 4:3

Range of meaning

pelaḥ comes from the verb plḥ, 'to cleave, split', and means a cut-off piece or slice. rimmôn means pomegranate (and also a pomegranate shape used as decoration).

Against the English

KJV has 'piece of a pomegranate'. BSB and NASB have 'slice', and NIV and ESV 'halves'. YLT's 'work of the pomegranate' looks like it was taken from a different root (Aramaic plḥ, 'to work, serve') and should not be followed. NLT's 'rosy pomegranates' drops the cut and goes straight to the colour.

Used elsewhere in the period

pelaḥ is used for a cake of figs (1 Sam 30:12) and the upper millstone (Judg 9:53; 2 Sam 11:21). Pomegranates are ornaments on Solomon's temple pillars (1 Kgs 7:18–20) and on the hem of the high priest's robe, where they are worked in scarlet yarn among other colours (Exod 28:33–34). In the Song the pomegranate belongs to the garden of love (4:13; 6:11; 7:12; 8:2, 'juice of my pomegranates'). The Septuagint has λέπυρον ῥοᾶς, 'rind / shell of a pomegranate'.

Where it appears

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 9:53 פֶּ֥לַח a mill-stone of

    But a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head, crushing his skull.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 30:12 פֶ֨לַח a slice of

    a piece of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins. So he ate and was revived, for he had not had any food or water for three days and three nights.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 11:21 פֶּ֨לַח a mill-stone

    Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”

Job · 1

  1. Job 41:24 כְּפֶ֣לַח like a mill-stone

    His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!

Song of Songs · 2

  1. Song of Songs 4:3 כְּפֶ֤לַח [is] like [the] slice of

    Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

    Here: 'Like a slice / cut half'. The word means a piece cut or split off. Elsewhere it describes a slice of fig-cake (1 Sam 30:12) and, in the phrase 'slice of riding-stone', the upper millstone (Judg 9:53). Here it means a pomegranate that has been cut open.

  2. Song of Songs 6:7 כְּפֶ֤לַח [is] like [the] slice of

    Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

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