Hebrew word · H8350

שָׁשֵׁר

bashashar

vermilion

A bright red pigment. It may be red ochre (iron oxide), minium (red lead), or cinnabar/vermilion (mercury sulfide). The exact mineral cannot be identified. It is used for painting walls and carvings.

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

What it means

1) red colour, vermilion

1a) formerly gained from 'kermes' insect

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 Ezekiel 23:14

Range of meaning

A bright red pigment. It may be red ochre (iron oxide), minium (red lead), or cinnabar/vermilion (mercury sulfide). The exact mineral cannot be identified. It is used for painting walls and carvings.

Against the English

KJV and BSB 'vermilion,' YLT 'red lead,' WEB 'red.' All are reasonable. 'Vermilion' strictly means cinnabar, which is more specific than the evidence allows.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is used only here and in Jer 22:14, where Jehoiakim builds a lavish palace 'paneled with cedar and painted with shashar.' Jeremiah condemns this as showy luxury paid for with unpaid labor. It is probably borrowed from Akkadian šaršerru, a red paste or pigment. Mesopotamian reliefs and glazed bricks often used strong reds.

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 22:14 בַּשָּׁשַֽׁר׃ with <the> vermilion

    who says, ‘I will build myself a great palace, with spacious upper rooms.’ So he cuts windows in it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion.

    Here: 'With red paint': a bright, costly red pigment (probably red ochre or red lead). It appears elsewhere only in Ezekiel 23:14, for Babylonian figures painted on walls.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 23:14 בַּשָּׁשַֽׁר׃ with <the> vermilion

    But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,

    Here: "With the red pigment": the carved lines were filled or painted in bright red, which made the figures striking. The only other use is Jer 22:14, where King Jehoiakim paints his luxurious palace with it. It is a color of royal display.

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