devash · honey

What it means

devash (דְּבַשׁ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “honey”.

Also sweet fruit syrup.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The thick sweet food bees make; a picture of what is richest and most pleasant.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Honey: that of bees. It is the measure of sweetness and, together with milk, the image of a rich land.

• “A land flowing with milk and honey” Exodus 3:8Numbers 13:27Deuteronomy 6:3
• Wild honey: in Samson’s lion, in the forest Judges 14:81 Samuel 14:27
• Sweeter than honey: the words of YHWH Psalms 19:10Psalms 119:103Ezekiel 3:3
• Advice about honey Proverbs 24:13Proverbs 25:16
• It was not offered on the altar Leviticus 2:11

Historical and cultural background

The grain offerings could not contain leaven or honey: “any leaven and any honey— you shall not offer up in smoke {any} of it as a fire offering to YHWH” (Leviticus 2:11). On the other hand, among the firstfruits the people brought in the time of Hezekiah was honey (2 Chronicles 31:5).

How we translate it

Always “honey” (53 times). When it goes with another Hebrew word for the comb, it reads “the comb of honey” (1 Samuel 14:27), and once “honeycomb” (Proverbs 16:24).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• honey ×53
• honeycomb ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×5
• Leviticus×2
• Numbers×4
• Deuteronomy×8
• Joshua×1
• Judges×3
• 1 Samuel×5
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Job×1
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×4
• Song of Songs×2
• Isaiah×2
• Jeremiah×3
• Ezekiel×6

• Genesis 43:11

  Israel their father said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choicest products of the land in your containers and carry down to the man a gift: a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and ladanum, pistachios and almonds.

• Exodus 3:8

  And I have come down to rescue them from the hand of Egypt and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

• Exodus 3:17

  and I have said: I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

• Exodus 13:5

  When YHWH brings you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall perform this service in this month.

• Exodus 16:31

  The house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey.

• Exodus 33:3

  Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stubborn people, lest I consume you on the way.”

• Leviticus 2:11

  No grain offering that you present to YHWH shall be made leavened, for any leaven and any honey— you shall not offer up in smoke any of it as a fire offering to YHWH.

• Leviticus 20:24

  But I said to you, ‘You shall possess their ground, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am YHWH your Elohim, who have separated you from the peoples.

• Numbers 13:27

  And they told him, and said, “We came to the land to which you sent us, and indeed it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

• Numbers 14:8

  If YHWH delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.

• Numbers 16:13

  Is it too little that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness, that you should make yourself a prince over us, even make yourself a prince?

• Numbers 16:14

  Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us an inheritance of field and vineyard. Will you gouge out the eyes of those men? We will not come up!”

• Deuteronomy 6:3

  Hear, Israel, and be careful to do it, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly, as YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, has spoken to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

• Deuteronomy 8:8

  a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees for oil and of honey;

• Deuteronomy 11:9

  and so that you may prolong your days on the land that YHWH swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey.

• Deuteronomy 26:9

  And he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

• Deuteronomy 26:15

  Look down from your holy dwelling, from the heavens, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

• Deuteronomy 27:3

  And you shall write on them all the words of this instruction when you cross, so that you may enter into the land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, has spoken to you.

• Deuteronomy 31:20

  For I will bring them into the land that I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they will eat and be satisfied and grow fat, and they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant.

• Deuteronomy 32:13

  He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field; he made him suck honey from the crag and oil from the flint of the rock,

• Joshua 5:6

  For forty years the sons of Israel walked in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, had come to an end, who did not listen to the voice of YHWH; to whom YHWH swore that he would not let them see the land that YHWH had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

• Judges 14:8

  After some days he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion; and look, a swarm of bees was in the body of the lion, and honey.

• Judges 14:9

  He scraped it out into his palms and went on, walking and eating; and he went to his father and to his mother and gave to them, and they ate; but he did not tell them that from the body of the lion he had scraped out the honey.

• Judges 14:18

  And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”

• 1 Samuel 14:25

  All the land came into the forest, and there was honey on the surface of the field.

• 1 Samuel 14:26

  The people came into the forest, and look, the honey was flowing, but no one was putting his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

• 1 Samuel 14:27

  But Jonathan had not heard when his father put the people under oath; and he stretched out the tip of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in the comb of honey, and brought back his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened.

• 1 Samuel 14:29

  Jonathan said, “My father has brought ruin on the land. See, please, how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

• 1 Samuel 14:43

  Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him and said, “I did indeed taste, with the tip of the rod that was in my hand, a little honey. Here I am; I will die.”

• 2 Samuel 17:29

  honey, curds, sheep, and cheese from the herd; they brought them near to David and to the people who were with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness.”

• 1 Kings 14:3

  Take in your hand ten loaves of bread, and cakes, and a jar of honey, and go in to him; he will tell you what will happen to the boy.”

• 2 Kings 18:32

  until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees of oil and honey, so that you may live and not die.” And do not listen to Hezekiah, for he incites you, saying, “YHWH will deliver us.”

• 2 Chronicles 31:5

  When the order spread, the sons of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, new wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field; and the tithe of everything they brought in abundance.

• Job 20:17

  He will not look on the streams, the rivers, the brooks of honey and curds.

• Psalms 19:10

  More desirable than gold, and than much fine gold; and sweeter than honey and than the drippings of the honeycomb.

• Psalms 81:16

  And he would feed him with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

• Psalms 119:103

  How sweet is your saying to my palate, more than honey to my mouth!

• Proverbs 16:24

  A honeycomb are pleasant sayings, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

• Proverbs 24:13

  Eat honey, my son, for it is good, and honeycomb is sweet to your palate;

• Proverbs 25:16

  Have you found honey? Eat what is enough for you, lest you be filled with it and vomit it.

And 14 more times.