Hebrew word · H829

אֶשְׁפָּר

ve'eshpar

raisin bun

Uncertain. The word occurs only here and in 1 Chr 16:3. Proposals: (1) a cake or baked item, often guessed to be a date cake; (2) a portion of meat, especially from the sacrificed animals; (3) a measured portion of some kind. Its derivation is disputed. Rabbinic tradition read it as a play on words.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

piece of meat, measured portion, date-cake (meaning and significance obscure)

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 6:19

Range of meaning

Uncertain. The word occurs only here and in 1 Chr 16:3. Proposals: (1) a cake or baked item, often guessed to be a date cake; (2) a portion of meat, especially from the sacrificed animals; (3) a measured portion of some kind. Its derivation is disputed. Some link it to the root š-p-r, 'to be fair, good' (hence 'a good portion'). Rabbinic tradition read it as a play on words.

Against the English

KJV 'a good piece [of flesh]' (the words in brackets are italics added by the translators, not in the Hebrew). ESV 'a portion of meat'. BSB, NIV, NLT 'a date cake' or 'a cake of dates'. WEB 'dates'. YLT just transliterates: 'one eshpar'. Each rendering is a choice made under real uncertainty.

How it drifted

Neither 'date cake' nor 'meat' is confirmed. English readers see a confident word where the Hebrew is actually unclear.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has escharitēs, a cake baked on the hearth. The Vulgate has roughly 'a piece of roasted beef' (assaturam bubulae carnis). The Babylonian Talmud (Pesachim 36b) explains eshpar by wordplay as 'one sixth of a bull'. Medieval Jewish commentators (Rashi, Kimchi) follow that line, and through them the KJV. Modern lexicons (BDB, HALOT) mark the meaning as doubtful.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 6:19 וְאֶשְׁפָּ֣ר and a date-cake

    Then he distributed to every man and woman among the multitude of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. And all the people departed, each to his own home.

    Here: A rare word, found only here and in the parallel at 1 Chr 16:3. Some take it as a cake (often 'date cake'), others as a portion of meat from the sacrifices. See the study below.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 16:3 וְאֶשְׁפָּ֖ר and a date-cake

    Then he distributed to every man and woman of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake.

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