Hebrew word · H8256
שִׁקְמָה
kashikmim
sycamore
The sycamore-fig (Ficus sycomorus), a broad tree common in the warm lowlands (the Shephelah and Jordan valley). It bore small figs and gave abundant but coarse timber.
Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
sycamore tree (bearing figs)
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
- Range of meaning
The sycamore-fig (Ficus sycomorus), a broad tree common in the warm lowlands (the Shephelah and Jordan valley). It bore small figs and gave abundant but coarse timber.
- Against the English
English readers may picture the American sycamore or the European maple called “sycamore.” Neither is meant. This is a fig tree.
- How it drifted
English Bibles borrowed “sycamore” through Greek sykomoros, a name later applied to unrelated northern trees.
- Used elsewhere in the period
1 Kings 10:27 and 2 Chronicles 1:15 (Solomon made cedar “as plentiful as sycamore-figs in the lowlands”: the pair stands for luxury versus commonplace); Amos 7:14 (Amos as a tender of sycamore-figs); Psalm 78:47.
- Range of meaning
The sycomore fig, Ficus sycomorus: a large, spreading, frost-sensitive fig tree of warm lowlands. Its fruit was cheap food, eaten especially by the poor, and its wood was common, light building timber.
- Against the English
English 'sycamore' names entirely different trees: in Britain a maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), in North America a plane tree (Platanus). BSB/NIV 'sycamore-fig' and ESV 'sycamore figs' guard against this. KJV's spelling 'sycomore' preserves the older, correct form (Greek sykon 'fig' + moron 'mulberry').
- How it drifted
In late medieval and early modern Europe the name 'sycamore' was transferred to the great maple, and in America to the plane tree, so most English readers now picture a shade tree with no edible fruit.
- Used elsewhere in the period
1 Kgs 10:27 and 2 Chr 1:15 ('as plentiful as sycomores in the Shephelah', the low hill country). 1 Chr 27:28 records a royal officer over 'olives and sycomores in the Shephelah'. Ps 78:47 mentions Egypt's sycomores. Isa 9:10 sets cheap sycomore against costly cedar. Luke 19:4 (Zacchaeus) uses Greek sykomorea for the same tree.
Where it appears
1 Kings · 1
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1 Kings 10:27 כַּשִּׁקְמִ֥ים like the sycamores
The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.
1 Chronicles · 1
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1 Chronicles 27:28 וְהַשִּׁקְמִים֙ and the sycamore-fig trees
Baal-hanan the Gederite was in charge of the olive and sycamore trees in the foothills. Joash was in charge of the stores of olive oil.
2 Chronicles · 2
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2 Chronicles 1:15 כַּשִּׁקְמִ֥ים like the sycamores
The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.
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2 Chronicles 9:27 כַּשִּׁקְמִ֥ים like the sycamores
The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 78:47 וְ֝שִׁקְמוֹתָ֗ם and sycamore-fig trees their
He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 9:10 שִׁקְמִ֣ים sycamores
“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
Here: Sycamore-fig trees (Ficus sycomorus, not the European or American sycamore). They were plentiful in the lowlands and supplied cheap, rough timber for beams. Like the bricks, they stand for the ordinary material.
Amos · 1
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Amos 7:14 שִׁקְמִֽים׃ sycamores
“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.
Here: 'Sycomores': the sycomore fig (Ficus sycomorus), a lowland fig tree whose cheap fruit and wood were common in Israel. It is not the maple or plane tree English speakers call 'sycamore'.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.