achal · eat

What it means

achal (אָכַל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “eat”.

Also consume, devour (said of fire or the sword).

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. To bring food to the mouth and swallow it, above all at a shared table.
2. Literally "eat": to destroy something, as fire burns everything up.
3. To feed.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Eat, literally and figuratively (BDB). Said of fire or the sword, “devour”, “consume”. From the same root come אֹכֶל (H400) and מַאֲכָל, “food”.

• To eat food Genesis 2:16Genesis 3:6
• To sit down to eat; to eat the Passover Genesis 37:25Exodus 12:11
• What the law allows to be eaten Leviticus 11:2
• Fire that devours or consumes Leviticus 10:2Deuteronomy 4:24

Historical and cultural background

The Passover was eaten in haste, with “your waists belted, your sandals on your feet, and your walking stick in your hand” (Exodus 12:11). Leviticus 11 lists the animals that may be eaten.

How we translate it

“Eat” 425 times, “ate” 81, “eaten” 39; “devour” 46 and “devoured” 36, when the subject is fire, the sword or wild beasts. With fire also “consume” (“a consuming fire”, Deuteronomy 4:24).

How it is translated

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

• eat ×425
• ate ×81
• devour ×46
• eaten ×39
• devoured ×36
• eats ×34
• be eaten ×32
• consumed ×29
• eating ×23
• devours ×15
• others ×52

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×65
• Exodus×52
• Leviticus×104
• Numbers×27
• Deuteronomy×80
• Joshua×4
• Judges×17
• Ruth×4
• 1 Samuel×30
• 2 Samuel×25
• 1 Kings×37
• 2 Kings×33
• 1 Chronicles×2
• 2 Chronicles×7
• Ezra×4
• Nehemiah×9
• Esther×1
• Job×21
• Psalms×30
• Proverbs×15
• Ecclesiastes×15
• Song of Songs×3
• Isaiah×54
• Jeremiah×44
• Lamentations×4
• Ezekiel×57
• Daniel×5
• Hosea×14
• Joel×10
• Amos×15
• Obadiah×1
• Micah×3
• Nahum×6
• Habakkuk×2
• Zephaniah×2
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×8
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 2:16

  And YHWH Elohim commanded the man, saying, “From every tree of the garden you may freely eat;

• Genesis 2:17

  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat from it, for in the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”

• Genesis 3:1

  Now the serpent was more shrewd than any animal of the field that YHWH Elohim had made. And it said to the woman, “Did Elohim really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

• Genesis 3:2

  And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

• Genesis 3:3

  but from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden Elohim has said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, or you will die.’”

• Genesis 3:5

  for Elohim knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim, knowing good and evil.”

• Genesis 3:6

  And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable for gaining insight; and she took of its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

• Genesis 3:11

  And he said, “Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

• Genesis 3:12

  And the man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

• Genesis 3:13

  And YHWH Elohim said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

• Genesis 3:14

  And YHWH Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you from among all the livestock and from among every animal of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life.

• Genesis 3:17

  And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; with toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.

• Genesis 3:18

  And thorns and thistles it will make sprout for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

• Genesis 3:19

  By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return.”

• Genesis 3:22

  And YHWH Elohim said, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, so that he does not reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever—”

• Genesis 6:21

  And you, take for yourself of every food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for you and for them for food.”

• Genesis 9:4

  Only flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat.

• Genesis 14:24

  Nothing for me; only what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre: let them take their share.”

• 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 19:3

  But he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

• Genesis 24:33

  Then food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my errand.” He said, “Speak.”

• Genesis 24:54

  He and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they rose in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my lord.”

• Genesis 25:34

  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, rose, and went away. So Esau despised the birthright.

• Genesis 26:30

  He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

• Genesis 27:4

  and make me tasty food such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

• Genesis 27:7

  ‘Bring me game and make me tasty food, so that I may eat and bless you before YHWH before my death.’

• Genesis 27:10

  Then you will bring it to your father, and he will eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

• Genesis 27:19

  Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, so that you may bless me.”

• Genesis 27:25

  He said, “Bring it near to me, and let me eat of the game of my son, so that I may bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

• Genesis 27:31

  He also made tasty food and brought it to his father, and he said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

• Genesis 27:33

  Isaac trembled with a great trembling, exceedingly, and said, “Who then was he who hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of all before you came, and I blessed him? Indeed, he will be blessed.”

• Genesis 28:20

  Jacob made a vow, saying, “If Elohim is with me and keeps me on this way that I am going, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

• Genesis 31:15

  Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he sold us, and he has also completely eaten up our silver.

• Genesis 31:38

  These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and the rams of your flock I have not eaten.

• Genesis 31:40

  This is how I was: by day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

• Genesis 31:46

  And Jacob said to his brothers, “Gather stones.” They took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.

• Genesis 31:54

  Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his brothers to eat bread; they ate bread and spent the night on the mountain.

• Genesis 32:32

  That is why, to this day, the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon that is on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip, on the tendon.

• Genesis 37:20

  Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we will say, ‘A fierce animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”

• Genesis 37:25

  Then they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted their eyes and looked, and look, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying aromatic gum, balm, and ladanum, on their way to take it down to Egypt.

And 772 more times.