חָמֵץ
cha.mets
leaven
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# חָמֵץ (chamets): Leaven in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word chamets refers to leaven—a substance used to make dough rise. Based on its eleven occurrences in the Hebrew Bible, this term describes a practical element of ancient food preparation. The word's presence across multiple biblical passages suggests it was common enough in everyday life to warrant repeated reference, indicating its importance in the dietary practices of ancient Israel. The term's consistent definition as "leaven" across its eleven uses indicates a stable, recognizable concept in biblical vocabulary. The frequency of occurrence, while modest, suggests the word was part of standard biblical discourse about food preparation and religious observance. This concentration of references points toward specific contexts—likely connected to regulations about bread and fermentation—where the distinction between leavened and unleavened products carried particular significance for the biblical authors. Without access to the specific passages where chamets appears, the analysis must remain anchored to the core definition: leaven is a fermentation agent that causes dough to rise. The word's modest but consistent presence in the biblical text indicates it functioned as a straightforward technical term for a recognized substance, neither rare nor colloquial, but rather a standard element of vocabulary relevant to food preparation and whatever religious or practical distinctions the biblical text drew between leavened and unleavened states.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
11 total occurrences across the text
offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Exodus 12:15“ ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Exodus 13:3Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
Exodus 13:7Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and no leavened bread shall be seen with you. No yeast shall be seen with you, within all your borders.
Exodus 23:18“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.
Exodus 34:25“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning.
Leviticus 2:11“ ‘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 6:17It shall not be baked with yeast. I have given it as their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy, as are the sin offering and the trespass offering.
Leviticus 7:13He shall offer his offering with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving with cakes of leavened bread.
Leviticus 23:17You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to Yahweh.
Deuteronomy 16:3You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste) that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.