chalav · milk

What it means

chalav (חָלָב) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “milk”.

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 white food given by mothers and animals; also cheeses.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Milk: that of goats, sheep and cows, the daily food of a people of shepherds. With honey, it is the image of the abundance of the promised land. It is written with the same consonants as חֵלֶב, ‘fat’ (H2459).

• “A land flowing with milk and honey” Exodus 3:8Numbers 13:27Deuteronomy 6:3
• Milk for the guest or the thirsty Genesis 18:8Judges 4:19Judges 5:25
• “You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother” Exodus 23:19Exodus 34:26Deuteronomy 14:21
• Buying wine and milk without silver Isaiah 55:1Joel 3:18
• Images of whiteness and sweetness Genesis 49:12Song of Songs 4:11Lamentations 4:7

Historical and cultural background

The law forbids three times boiling a young goat in the milk of its mother (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21). Abraham serves his guests “curds and milk and the calf” (Genesis 18:8).

How we translate it

Always “milk” (42 times). In 1 Samuel 17:18 the Hebrew expression, ‘cuts of milk’, is rendered “ten cheeses”. In Ezekiel 34:3, where the text reads ‘the fat’, a note gives the other reading, ‘the milk’.

How it is translated

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

• milk ×42
• cheeses ×1
• nursing ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

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

• Genesis 18:8

  He took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

• Genesis 49:12

  His eyes are dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

• 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 23:19

  The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of YHWH your Elohim. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.

• 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.”

• Exodus 34:26

  The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of YHWH your Elohim. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.”

• 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 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 14:21

  You shall not eat any carcass; to the resident alien who is within your gates you may give it, and he may eat it, or sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to YHWH your Elohim. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.

• 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 32:14

  curds of cattle and milk of the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, sons of Bashan, and male goats, with the fat of the kidneys of wheat; and the blood of the grape you drank, foaming wine.

• 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 4:19

  He said to her, “Give me to drink, please, a little water, for I am thirsty.” She opened the skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him.

• Judges 5:25

  Water he asked, milk she gave; in a bowl of nobles she presented curds.

• 1 Samuel 7:9

  So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it up as a burnt offering, whole, to YHWH; and Samuel cried out to YHWH for Israel, and YHWH answered him.

• 1 Samuel 17:18

  And these ten cheeses bring to the commander of the thousand; and look after the welfare of your brothers, and take a pledge from them.

• Job 10:10

  Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?

• Job 21:24

  his vessels are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist.

• Proverbs 27:27

  and enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household, and life for your maidservants.

• Proverbs 30:33

  For the pressing of milk brings out butter, and the pressing of the nose brings out blood, and the pressing of anger brings out strife.

• Song of Songs 4:11

  Your lips drip honeycomb, bride; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

• Song of Songs 5:1

  I have come to my garden, my sister, bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, companions; drink, and be drunk with love!

• Song of Songs 5:12

  His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathing in milk, sitting beside the abundance.

• Isaiah 7:22

  And it will happen that from the abundance of milk produced he will eat butter; for butter and honey will be eaten by everyone who is left in the midst of the land.

• Isaiah 28:9

  “Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those weaned from milk, those taken from the breasts?

• Isaiah 55:1

  “Ho! All who are thirsty, come to the waters! And the one who has no silver, come, buy and eat; come, buy without silver and without price wine and milk.

• Isaiah 60:16

  And you will suck the milk of nations, and the breast of kings you will suck; and you will know that I, YHWH, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

• Jeremiah 11:5

  so as to fulfill the oath that I swore to your fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.’” And I answered and said: “Amen, YHWH.”

• Jeremiah 32:22

  and you gave them this land that you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

• Lamentations 4:7

  Purer than snow were her Nazirites, whiter than milk; ruddier in body than pearls, like sapphire their form.

And 4 more times.