To leaven
חָמֵץStrong’s H2556chamets (cha-mets)
Appears in 8 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Chamets is the Hebrew word usually translated “it was leavened”, “thing leavened” and “ruthless”. It appears in 8 verses of the Old Testament.
“Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.”
Meaning
- To be leavened, be sour(Qal) to be leavened · (Hiphil) to taste something leavened · (Hithpael) to be embittered, grieved
- To be red
- To be cruel, oppress, be ruthless
How it's translated
- it was leavened 2
- a thing leavened 1
- thing leavened 1
- and ruthless 1
- it was embittered 1
- red of 1
- is leavened it 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Exodus 4
- Psalms 2
- Isaiah 1
- Hosea 1
4 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Exodus 12:20Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
- Exodus 12:34And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
- Exodus 12:39And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
- Psalms 71:4Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
- Psalms 73:21Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
- Isaiah 63:1Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
Hebrew dictionary
חָמֵץ chamets · to leaven
1) to be leavened, be sour 1a) (Qal) to be leavened 1b) (Hiphil) to taste something leavened 1c) (Hithpael) to be embittered, grieved
חָמַץ chamats · be red
to be red
חָמַץ chamats · to oppress
to be cruel, oppress, be ruthless
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “leaven” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
LEAVEN, noun
lev'n. [Latin levo, Eng. to lift.]
- A mass of sour dough, which, mixed with a larger quantity of dough or paste, produces fermentation in it and renders it light. Exodus 12:15
- Any thing which makes a general change in the mass.“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” Matthew 16:6
All definitions and other forms of “leaven”
LEAVEN, verb transitive
lev'n.
- To excite fermentation in; to raise and make light, as dough or paste.“A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” 1 Corinthians 5:6
- to taint; to imbue.
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.