Hebrew word · H7054

קָמָה

kamah

standing grain

Grain still standing in the field, not yet reaped: ripe or ripening wheat or barley on the stalk. It comes from qûm, "to stand, rise". It is used for a crop that can be trampled, burned or reaped (Exodus 22:6; Judges 15:5; 2 Kings 19:26; Isaiah 17:5).

Appears 10 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

standing grain

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 Deuteronomy 23:25

Range of meaning

Grain still standing in the field, not yet reaped: ripe or ripening wheat or barley on the stalk. It comes from qûm, "to stand, rise". It is used for a crop that can be trampled, burned or reaped (Exodus 22:6; Judges 15:5; 2 Kings 19:26; Isaiah 17:5).

Against the English

KJV "standing corn" is accurate in old British English, where "corn" means any grain. BSB and NIV "grainfield" turn a word about the crop into a word about the plot of land. That is not wrong, but it loses the sense of a ripe, uncut crop standing ready for harvest.

How it drifted

Only the KJV's "corn" has drifted, toward American "corn" (maize). The Hebrew word has not.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 22:6 makes a man who starts a fire that burns another person's standing grain pay for it, so standing grain is clearly protected property. Deuteronomy 16:9 dates the start of harvest from "when the sickle is first put to the standing grain", using the same pair of words, sickle and standing grain, as this verse.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 22:6 הַקָּמָ֖ה the standing grain

    If a fire breaks out and spreads to thornbushes so that it consumes stacked or standing grain, or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make full restitution.

Deuteronomy · 3

  1. Deuteronomy 16:9 בַּקָּמָ֔ה in the standing grain

    You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain.

  2. Deuteronomy 23:25 בְּקָמַ֣ת קָמַ֥ת in [the] standing grain of, [the] standing grain of

    When you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

    Here: "Into the standing grain of": grain still upright in the field and not yet cut. The word comes from the verb "to stand", so the picture is a ripe crop still growing.

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 15:5 בְּקָמ֣וֹת קָמָ֖ה among [the] standing grain<s> of, [the] standing grain

    Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 19:26 קָמָֽה׃ standing grain

    Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 17:5 קָמָ֔ה standing grain

    as the reaper gathers the standing grain and harvests the ears with his arm, as one gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

  2. Isaiah 37:27 קָמָֽה׃ standing grain

    Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 8:7 קָמָ֣ה standing grain

    For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

    Here: Grain still standing on the stalk in the field, before it is cut. Here it is mentioned only to say it is missing: the field has no crop standing in it.

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