erez · cedar

What it means

erez (אֶרֶז) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “cedar”.

A large tree with fragrant, lasting wood.

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. A great tree of Lebanon, with fine fragrant wood.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Cedar: a great tree of Lebanon, with fragrant and lasting wood, the noble tree above all others in the Old Testament.

• Cedar wood in the rites of purification Leviticus 14:4Numbers 19:6
• Building timber for houses and for the temple 2 Samuel 7:21 Kings 5:61 Kings 6:9
• An image of height and strength Psalms 92:12Ezekiel 31:3
• The cedars of Lebanon that the voice of YHWH breaks Psalms 29:5

Historical and cultural background

David lived “in a house of cedar” while the ark was in a tent (2 Samuel 7:2). Solomon asked Hiram for “cedars from Lebanon” for the temple, because the Sidonians knew how to cut timber (1 Kings 5:6). In the cleansing of the leper, “cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop” were used (Leviticus 14:4).

How we translate it

Always “cedar” (46 times) or “cedars” (27). When the Hebrew gives only the name of the tree to speak of its wood, it is translated “of cedar” (“a house of cedar”, 2 Samuel 7:2).

How it is translated

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

• cedar ×46
• cedars ×27

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Leviticus×5
• Numbers×2
• Judges×1
• 2 Samuel×3
• 1 Kings×20
• 2 Kings×2
• 1 Chronicles×5
• 2 Chronicles×5
• Ezra×1
• Job×1
• Psalms×6
• Song of Songs×3
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×4
• Ezekiel×6
• Amos×1
• Zechariah×2

• Leviticus 14:4

  the priest shall command that they take for the one being purified two clean living birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.

• Leviticus 14:6

  The living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the living water.

• Leviticus 14:49

  To purify the house he shall take two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.

• Leviticus 14:51

  He shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the living water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

• Leviticus 14:52

  He shall purify the house with the blood of the bird and with the living water and with the living bird and with the cedar wood and with the hyssop and with the scarlet.

• Numbers 19:6

  And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet yarn and throw them into the midst of the burning of the cow.

• Numbers 24:6

  Like valleys they stretch out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes YHWH has planted, like cedars beside the waters.

• Judges 9:15

  The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come, take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

• 2 Samuel 5:11

  Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and craftsmen in wood and craftsmen in wall stone, and they built a house for David.

• 2 Samuel 7:2

  that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See, please: I live in a house of cedar, but the ark of Elohim remains inside the curtain.”

• 2 Samuel 7:7

  Wherever I have moved about among all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

• 1 Kings 4:33

  And he spoke of the trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that comes out in the wall; and he spoke of the beasts, and of the birds, and of the creeping things, and of the fish.

• 1 Kings 5:6

  And now, command that they cut for me cedars from Lebanon; and my servants shall be with your servants, and the wages of your servants I will give you according to all that you say; for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

• 1 Kings 5:8

  And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard what you sent to me; I will do all your pleasure concerning timber of cedar and timber of cypress.

• 1 Kings 5:10

  So Hiram was giving Solomon timber of cedar and timber of cypress, all his pleasure.

• 1 Kings 6:9

  So he built the house and finished it, and he roofed the house with coffers and rows of cedar.

• 1 Kings 6:10

  And he built the annex against all the house, five cubits its height, and it fastened onto the house with timbers of cedar.

• 1 Kings 6:15

  And he built the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling he overlaid them with wood on the inside; and he overlaid the floor of the house with boards of cypress.

• 1 Kings 6:16

  And he built the twenty cubits at the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls; and he built them for it on the inside as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place.

• 1 Kings 6:18

  And the cedar of the house inside had carvings of gourds and open flowers; all was cedar; no stone was seen.

• 1 Kings 6:20

  And the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, and twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits its height; and he overlaid it with fine gold; and he overlaid an altar of cedar.

• 1 Kings 6:36

  And he built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of beams of cedar.

• 1 Kings 7:2

  And he built the house of the Forest of Lebanon: a hundred cubits its length, and fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height, on four rows of pillars of cedar, with beams of cedar on the pillars.

• 1 Kings 7:3

  And it was roofed with cedar above, over the beams that were on the pillars: forty and five, fifteen to the row.

• 1 Kings 7:7

  And the portico of the Throne, where he would judge, the portico of Judgment, he made; and it was roofed with cedar from the floor to the floor.

• 1 Kings 7:11

  And above were costly stones by the measures of hewn stone, and cedar.

• 1 Kings 7:12

  And the great court all around had three rows of hewn stone and a row of beams of cedar, as also for the inner court of the house of YHWH and the portico of the house.

• 1 Kings 9:11

  — Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with timber of cedar and timber of cypress and with gold, according to all his pleasure — that then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

• 1 Kings 10:27

  And the king made silver in Jerusalem like stones, and cedars he made like the sycamores that are in the Shephelah, in abundance.

• 2 Kings 14:9

  Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that is in Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ Then an animal of the field that is in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.

• 2 Kings 19:23

  Through your messengers you have taunted Adonai, and you have said, ‘With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, to the remotest parts of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars, its choicest cypresses; I will enter its farthest lodging, the forest of its orchard.

• 1 Chronicles 14:1

  Huram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and craftsmen in wall and craftsmen in wood, to build him a house.

• 1 Chronicles 17:1

  And it happened, when David lived in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I live in the house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of YHWH is under curtains.”

• 1 Chronicles 17:6

  Wherever I have moved about among all Israel, did I speak a word with one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedars?”’

• 1 Chronicles 22:4

  and timbers of cedar without number, for the Sidonians and the Tyrians had brought timbers of cedar in abundance to David.

• 2 Chronicles 1:15

  The king made the silver and the gold in Jerusalem like stones, and the cedars he made like the sycamores that are in the Shephelah, in abundance.

• 2 Chronicles 2:3

  Solomon sent to Huram, king of Tyre, saying, “Do with me as you did with David my father, when you sent him cedars to build himself a house to live in.

• 2 Chronicles 2:8

  And send me cedar timber, cypress, and algum from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut the timber of Lebanon. And look, my servants will be with your servants,

• 2 Chronicles 9:27

  The king made the silver in Jerusalem like stones, and the cedars he made like the sycamores that are in the Shephelah, in abundance.

• 2 Chronicles 25:18

  Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that is in Lebanon sent to the cedar that is in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ Then an animal of the field that is in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.

And 33 more times.