דְּבַשׁ
honey
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 52 times (96%)
- Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 2 times (4%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 54 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H1706 appears — 54 distinct verses across 19 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Genesis 1 verse
Exodus 5 verses
- Exodus 3:8 וּ/דְבָ֑שׁ conj + n c ms I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large 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 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms 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 וּ/דְבָ֑שׁ conj + n c ms It shall be, when Yahweh shall bring you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month.
- Exodus 16:31 בִּ/דְבָֽשׁ prep + n c ms The house of Israel called the name of it Manna, and it was like coriander seed, white; and its taste was like wafers with honey.
- Exodus 33:3 וּ/דְבָ֑שׁ conj + n c ms to a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you in the way."
Leviticus 2 verses
- Leviticus 2:11 דְּבַ֔שׁ n c ms "'No meal offering, which you shall offer to Yahweh, shall be made with yeast; for you shall burn no yeast, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 20:24 וּ/דְבָ֑שׁ conj + n c ms But I have said to you, "You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am Yahweh your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
Numbers 4 verses
- Numbers 13:27 וּ/דְבַ֛שׁ conj + n c ms They told him, and said, We came to the land where you sent us; and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
- Numbers 14:8 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms If Yahweh delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
- Numbers 16:13 וּ/דְבַ֔שׁ conj + n c ms is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must needs make yourself also a prince over us?
- Numbers 16:14 וּ/דְבַשׁ֙ conj + n c ms Moreover you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: will you put out the eyes of these men? we won't come up.
Deuteronomy 8 verses
- Deuteronomy 6:3 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Deuteronomy 8:8 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey;
- Deuteronomy 11:9 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Deuteronomy 26:9 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Deuteronomy 26:15 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Deuteronomy 27:3 וּ/דְבַ֔שׁ conj + n c ms and you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you are passed over; that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
- Deuteronomy 31:20 וּ/דְבַ֔שׁ conj + n c ms For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then will they turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.
- Deuteronomy 32:13 דְבַשׁ֙ n c ms He made him ride on the high places of the earth, He ate the increase of the field; He made him to suck honey out of the rock, Oil out of the flinty rock;
Joshua 1 verse
Judges 3 verses
- Judges 14:8 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms After a while he returned to take her; and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
- Judges 14:9 הַ/דְּבָֽשׁ ptcl def.art + n c ms He took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went; and he came to his father and mother, and gave to them, and they ate: but he didn't tell them that he had taken the honey out of the body of the lion.
- Judges 14:18 מִ/דְּבַ֔שׁ prep + n c ms The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? He said to them, If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, You wouldn't have found out my riddle.
1 Samuel 5 verses
- 1 Samuel 14:25 דְבַ֖שׁ n c ms All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground.
- 1 Samuel 14:26 דְּבָ֑שׁ n c ms When the people were come to the forest, behold, the honey dropped: but no man put his hand to his mouth; for the people feared the oath.
- 1 Samuel 14:27 הַ/דְּבָ֑שׁ ptcl def.art + n c ms But Jonathan didn't hear when his father charged the people with the oath: therefore he put forth the end of the rod who was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.
- 1 Samuel 14:29 דְּבַ֥שׁ n c ms Then said Jonathan, My father has troubled the land. Please look how my eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
- 1 Samuel 14:43 דְּבַ֖שׁ n c ms Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. Jonathan told him, and said, I did certainly taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and, behold, I must die.
2 Samuel 1 verse
1 Kings 1 verse
2 Kings 1 verse
2 Chronicles 1 verse
Job 1 verse
Psalms 3 verses
- Psalms 19:10 מִ֝/דְּבַ֗שׁ prep + n c ms More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.
- Psalms 81:16 דְּבַ֣שׁ n c ms But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock."
- Psalms 119:103 מִ/דְּבַ֥שׁ prep + n c ms How sweet are your promises to my taste, More than honey to my mouth!
Proverbs 4 verses
- Proverbs 16:24 דְּ֭בַשׁ n c ms Pleasant words are a honeycomb, Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
- Proverbs 24:13 דְבַ֣שׁ n c ms My son, eat honey, for it is good; The droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste:
- Proverbs 25:16 דְּבַ֣שׁ n c ms Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, Lest you eat too much, and vomit it.
- Proverbs 25:27 דְּבַ֣שׁ n c ms cs It is not good to eat much honey; Nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.
Song of Solomon 2 verses
- Song of Solomon 4:11 דְּבַ֤שׁ n c ms Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
- Song of Solomon 5:1 דִּבְשִׁ֔/י n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cs I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. Beloved
Isaiah 2 verses
- Isaiah 7:15 וּ/דְבַ֖שׁ conj + n c ms He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
- Isaiah 7:22 וּ/דְבַשׁ֙ conj + n c ms and it shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left in the midst of the land.
Jeremiah 3 verses
- Jeremiah 11:5 וּ/דְבַ֖שׁ conj + n c ms that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then answered I, and said, Amen, Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 32:22 וּ/דְבָֽשׁ conj + n c ms and gave them this land, which you did swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
- Jeremiah 41:8 וּ/דְבָ֑שׁ conj + n c ms But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, Don't kill us; for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he stopped, and didn't kill them among their brothers.
Ezekiel 6 verses
- Ezekiel 3:3 כִּ/דְבַ֥שׁ prep + n c ms He said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
- Ezekiel 16:13 וּ/דְבַ֛שׁ conj + n c ms Thus was you decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were exceeding beautiful, and you did prosper to royal estate.
- Ezekiel 16:19 וּ/דְבַשׁ֙ conj + n c ms My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you did even set it before them for a sweet savor; and [thus] it was, says the Lord Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 20:6 וּ/דְבַ֔שׁ conj + n c ms in that day I swore to them, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.
- Ezekiel 20:15 וּ/דְבַ֔שׁ conj + n c ms Moreover also I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
- Ezekiel 27:17 וּ/דְבַ֤שׁ conj + n c ms Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your traffickers: they traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, and confections, and honey, and oil, and balm.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
דבש (dᵉbash) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “honey.” It first appears in Genesis 43:11. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 54 verses — moderately common. Sharing its root, it stands alongside דבשת and ידבש. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1706 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 54
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 54 distinct verses.
- 19 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 19 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #696
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 696 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 54 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Deuteronomy 8 verses 15%
- Ezekiel 6 verses 11%
- Exodus 5 verses 9%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 54 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 23 verses · 43%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 20 verses · 37%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 11 verses · 20%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Honey 44×, Than honey 2×
- American Standard Version: Honey 43×, Than honey 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Honey 47×, Than honey 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Honey 49×, Than honey 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1706 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 2 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1706 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1706 across 52 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 2 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1706 across 54 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in BDB
The 1 sense BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- honey
Word origin
n.m. 1 S 14:29 honey (named from colour according to Fl NHWBi. 439; Arabic دِبْسٌ (دُبْسٌ, دِبِسٌ) date-honey; NH דְּבַשׁ, Aramaic דּובשא, ܕܒܰܫ, ܕܶܒܫܳܐ, honey both of fruits and of bees; cf. also Assyrian dišpu COTGloss. ZimBP 84 DlPr 70)—abs. ד׳ Gn 43:11 + 33 times; דְּבָ֑שׁ Ex 3:8 + 18 times; sf. דִּבְשִׁי Ct 5:1;—honey, product of bees, used as food Ju 14:8, 9, 18 (in lion’s carcass); found in (clefts of) rock Dt 32:13 (ד׳ מִסֶּלַע, in song, JE), ψ 81:17 (מִצּוּר ד׳); in forest, on ground 1 S 14:25 (על־פני השׂדה) v 26 (הֵלֶךְ ד׳; but read rather הָלַךְ דְּבֹרוֹ its bees had departed, We Dr after 𝔊) v 29, 43; transported in jar or bottle בַּקְבֻּק ד׳ 1 K 14:3; contrib. to priests and Levites 2 Ch 31:5; ‖ חֶמְאָה 2 S 17:29 Is 7:15, 22 (in last two the being limited to such food is apparently token of destitution); kept in store Je 41:8; a choice gift Gn 43:11 (J); article of trade Ez 27:17 (in these two perhaps = grape syrup, mod. dibs, cf. Di Gn 43:11 v. RobBR ii. 81); forbidden as burnt offering Lv 2:11 (‖ שְׂאֹר); honey comb = יַעְרַת הַדּ׳ 1 S 14:27 (cf. יַעְרִי Ct 5:1); also צוּף ד׳ Pr 16:24 (cf. נֹפֶת צופים ψ 19:11); most often in phrase describing abundance in land of Canaan אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּד׳ Ex 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3 (all JE) Lv 20:24 (H) Nu 13:27; 14:8; 16:14 (all JE) Dt 6:3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; 31:20 (all D) Jos 5:6 (D) Je 11:5; 32:22 Ez 20:6, 15; cf. Dt 8:8 2 K 18:32 (of land of captivity), of Egypt Nu 16:13 (JE); v. also Ez 16:13, 19 Jb 20:17 נַחֲלֵי ד׳ וְחֶמְאָה; honey, used to illustrate moral teachings Pr 24:13 (‖ נֹפֶת), 25:16, 27 (danger of surfeit); sim. of sweetness of taste Ez 3:3 (the roll), cf. כְּצַפִּיחִת בִּד׳ Ex 16:31 (P; description of manna); of sweetness of the law ψ 19:11 (‖ נֹפֶת צוּפִים) cf. 119:103; (of pleasant words Pr 16:24 cf. supr.); sweetness of lips ד׳ וְחָלָב Ct 4:11; fig. of love דִּבְשִׁי Ct 5:1 (‖ יַעְרִי, יֵינִי, חֲלָבִי).
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: from an unused root meaning to be gummy
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
דָּבַשׁ
- , Hif. הִדְבִּישׁ to become liquid, to ferment (of honey). B. Mets. 38ᵃ. Snh. 101ᵃ. Sabb. 154ᵇ
דְּבַשׁ
- preced.) glutinous substance, honey (of bees, dates &c.). Bekh. 7ᵇ. Ter. XI, 2 ד׳ תמרים; a. fr.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 26 distinct written forms H1706 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1706, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 52 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 54 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 43:11
- Exodus 3:8
- Leviticus 2:11
- Numbers 13:27
- Deuteronomy 6:3
- Joshua 5:6
- Judges 14:8
- 1 Samuel 14:25
- 2 Samuel 17:29
- 1 Kings 14:3
- 2 Kings 18:32
- 2 Chronicles 31:5
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
