Spice
בֶּ֫שֶׂםStrong’s H1314besem (be-sem)
Appears in 25 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Besem is the Hebrew word usually translated “spices”, “spice” and “like the spice”. It appears in 25 verses of the Old Testament.
“Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,”
Meaning
- Spice, balsam, balsam tree, perfume
- (TWOT) sweet, sweet smell, sweet odour
How it's translated
- spices 8
- spice 5
- and spices 5
- like the spice 2
- the spices 2
- the spice 1
- and the spices 1
- of the spices 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Song of Solomon 6
- 2 Chronicles 5
- Exodus 4
- 1 Kings 3
- 1 Chronicles 2
- Isaiah 2
9 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Exodus 30:23Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,
- Exodus 35:8And oil for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,
- Exodus 35:28And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
- 1 Kings 10:2And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
- 1 Kings 10:10And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
- 1 Kings 10:25And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
Hebrew dictionary
בֶּ֫שֶׂם besem · spice
1) spice, balsam, balsam tree, perfume 2) (TWOT) sweet, sweet smell, sweet odour
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “spice” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
SPICE, noun
- A vegetable production, fragrant or aromatic to the smell and pungent to the taste; used in sauces and in cookery.
- A small quantity; something that enriches or alters the quality of a thing in a small degree, as spice alters the taste of a thing.
- A sample.
All definitions and other forms of “spice”
SPICE, verb transitive
- To season with spice; to mix aromatic substances with; as, to spice wine.
- To tincture; as the spiced Indian air.
- To render nice; to season with scruples.
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.