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# בֶּשֶׂם

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H1314

**spice** — used 30 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

spice [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1314/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

בֹּ֫שֶׂם: n.m. spice, balsam, balsamtree [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1314/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. 1 K 10:10 spice, balsam, balsamtree (Arabic بَشَامٌ, Aramaic בּוּסְמָא, ܒܶܣܡܳܐ, Gk. βάλσαμον; cf. Löw53)—ב׳ Is 3:24 +, בֶּ֫שֶׂם Ex 30:23 v. infr., בְּשָׂמִי Ct 5:1 (as if from בָּשָׂם); pl. בְּשָׂמִים Ex 25:6 + 18 times, בְּשָׂמָיו Ct 4:16;— spice, perfume, sweet odour Is 3:24; קִנְּמָן־בֶּשֶׂם Ex 30:23 (ב׳ perhaps so pointed to distinguish it from) קְנֵה־בֹשֶׂם v 23;—with this cf. Aramaic ܩܢܝܐ ܕܒܣܡܐ, קני בוסמא;—spices as costly, token of wealth 2 K 20:13 = Is 39:2 cf. 2 Ch 32:27; royal gifts 1 K 10:2, 10, 25 = 2 Ch 9:1, 19, 24; cf. sg. 1 K 10:10 = 2 Ch 9:9; as article of commerce Ez 27:22; burnt at burial 2 Ch 16:14; appointed for ingredient of the anointing oil Ex 25:6; 35:8 cf. v 28 (all P), cf. 1 Ch 9:30 (Palm. v. supr.); stored in temple 1 Ch 9:29; used for purifying the women of Ahasuerus Est 2:12; elsewhere only Ct 4:10, 14 spices, v 16 balsam-juice, gathered Ct 5:1; balsam-tree הָרֵי ב׳ Ct 8:14; beds of balsam עֲרֻגוֹת בּ׳ Ct 6:2; cf. עֲרוּגֵת בּ׳ Ct 5:13 sim. of lover’s cheeks.

Why these entries: BDB: same consonants, part of speech agrees, 26 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (5 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (3 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: spices (17); spice (7); of spice (2).

## In the verses

[1 Chronicles 9:30](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/1CH.9.30/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/1CH.9.30/#tree)

וּמִן־בְּנֵי֙ הַכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים רֹקְחֵ֥י הַמִּרְקַ֖חַת לַבְּשָׂמִֽים׃

*Word for word:* and some.of the.sons of the.priests \[were.those.who\].mixed (of).the ointment.mixture of the spices

*JPS 1917:* And some of the sons of the priests prepared the confection of the spices.

[Exodus 25:6](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.25.6/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.25.6/#tree)

שֶׁ֖מֶן לַמָּאֹ֑ר בְּשָׂמִים֙ לְשֶׁ֣מֶן הַמִּשְׁחָ֔ה וְלִקְטֹ֖רֶת הַסַּמִּֽים׃

*Word for word:* oil for the light spices for the.oil of the.anointing and for the.incense of the.perfume(s)

*JPS 1917:* oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense;

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1314/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).