לֶ֫חֶם
le.chem
food
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Explored# H3899: לֶחֶם (lechem) – Food The Hebrew word *lechem* carries the primary meaning of "food," functioning as a foundational vocabulary item in biblical texts with 72 documented occurrences. This frequency suggests the term addresses a concept of basic human importance, appearing regularly enough to warrant consistent use across biblical narratives and legal material. The simplicity of the definition—"food"—indicates that *lechem* serves as a general category word rather than a specialized culinary term. Unlike more specific vocabulary that might denote particular types of meals or ingredients, this lemma captures the broad concept of nourishment and sustenance itself. Its prevalence in biblical discourse (72 occurrences) reflects how frequently ancient Hebrew texts engaged with the fundamental concerns of obtaining and consuming food. The significance of this word extends beyond mere dietary reference; it appears substantial enough in biblical material to serve as a conceptual anchor in discussions of survival, provision, and human welfare. The straightforward definition and high occurrence rate together suggest that *lechem* was the standard, unmarked term for food in biblical Hebrew, making it essential vocabulary for understanding how biblical writers discussed basic human needs and daily sustenance.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
72 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
Job 20:14yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
Job 24:5Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
Job 30:4They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom tree are their food.
Psalms 42:3My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
Leviticus 3:16The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is Yahweh’s.
Psalms 104:14He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
Psalms 136:25who gives food to every creature; for his loving kindness endures forever.
Psalms 146:7who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners.
Psalms 147:9He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
Proverbs 23:3Don’t be desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food.
Proverbs 27:27There will be plenty of goats’ milk for your food, for your family’s food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.
Proverbs 27:27There will be plenty of goats’ milk for your food, for your family’s food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.
Proverbs 28:3A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.
Proverbs 30:8Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me,
Proverbs 30:22For a servant when he is king, a fool when he is filled with food,
Proverbs 30:25The ants are not a strong people, yet they provide their food in the summer.
Proverbs 31:14She is like the merchant ships. She brings her bread from afar.
Isaiah 65:25The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh.
Jeremiah 5:17They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.
Jeremiah 11:19But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. I didn’t know that they had devised plans against me, saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, and let’s cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”
Jeremiah 44:17But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then had we plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil.
Jeremiah 52:6In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.
Lamentations 4:4The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask bread, and no one breaks it for them.
Ruth 1:6Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread.
Ezekiel 16:49“ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
1 Samuel 20:27On the next day after the new moon, the second day, David’s place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why doesn’t the son of Jesse come to eat, either yesterday, or today?”
Ezekiel 44:7in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.
Ezekiel 48:18The remainder in the length, alongside the holy offering, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it shall be alongside the holy offering. Its increase shall be for food to those who labor in the city.
Daniel 10:3I ate no pleasant bread. No meat or wine came into my mouth. I didn’t anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.
Malachi 1:7You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
Genesis 37:25They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
Genesis 39:6He left all that he had in Joseph’s hand. He didn’t concern himself with anything, except for the food which he ate. Joseph was well-built and handsome.
Genesis 43:31He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, “Serve the meal.”
Genesis 43:32They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians don’t eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
Genesis 47:12Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household with bread, according to the sizes of their families.
Genesis 47:13There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
Genesis 47:15When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.”
Genesis 47:17They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.
Genesis 47:17They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.
Genesis 47:19Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.”
Genesis 49:20“Asher’s food will be rich. He will produce royal dainties.
Leviticus 3:11The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.
Leviticus 22:7When the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterward he shall eat of the holy things, because it is his bread.
Leviticus 22:11But if a priest buys a slave, purchased by his money, he shall eat of it; and those who are born in his house shall eat of his bread.
Leviticus 22:13But if a priest’s daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s bread; but no stranger shall eat any of it.
Numbers 21:5The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this disgusting food!”
Numbers 21:5The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this disgusting food!”
Numbers 28:2“Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, as a pleasant aroma to me, in their due season.’
Numbers 28:24In this way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh. It shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.