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Honey

דְּבַשׁ (devash)

SWEETENER

Animal product not addressed by Leviticus 11's clean/unclean framework

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Mentioned in 61 verses (KJV)

Sweetener

Description

Wild honey, gathered from bees nesting in rock crevices, tree hollows, or even an animal carcass, was one of the sweetest foods available in the ancient world and became half of Scripture’s classic description of the Promised Land’s abundance. John the Baptist lived on it alongside locusts in the wilderness.

Key verses

  • “And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”

    Exodus 3:8

  • “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:”

    Proverbs 24:13

Symbolism

The overflowing abundance of God’s promised blessing — ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’ (Exodus 3:8).

Fun fact

Samson once found a swarm of bees and honey inside the carcass of a lion he had killed — the strange discovery behind the riddle he posed at his own wedding (Judges 14:8).

All 61 referencesshow
  • 1 Kings 14:3
  • 1 Samuel 14:25
  • 1 Samuel 14:26
  • 1 Samuel 14:27
  • 1 Samuel 14:29
  • 1 Samuel 14:43
  • 2 Chronicles 31:5
  • 2 Kings 18:32
  • 2 Samuel 17:29
  • Deuteronomy 6:3
  • Deuteronomy 8:8
  • Deuteronomy 11:9
  • Deuteronomy 26:9
  • Deuteronomy 26:15
  • Deuteronomy 27:3
  • Deuteronomy 31:20
  • Deuteronomy 32:13
  • Exodus 3:8
  • Exodus 3:17
  • Exodus 13:5
  • Exodus 16:31
  • Exodus 33:3
  • Ezekiel 3:3
  • Ezekiel 16:13
  • Ezekiel 16:19
  • Ezekiel 20:6
  • Ezekiel 20:15
  • Ezekiel 27:17
  • Genesis 43:11
  • Isaiah 7:15
  • Isaiah 7:22
  • Jeremiah 11:5
  • Jeremiah 32:22
  • Jeremiah 41:8
  • Job 20:17
  • Joshua 5:6
  • Judges 14:8
  • Judges 14:9
  • Judges 14:18
  • Leviticus 2:11
  • Leviticus 20:24
  • Luke 24:42
  • Mark 1:6
  • Matthew 3:4
  • Numbers 13:27
  • Numbers 14:8
  • Numbers 16:13
  • Numbers 16:14
  • Proverbs 5:3
  • Proverbs 16:24
  • Proverbs 24:13
  • Proverbs 25:16
  • Proverbs 25:27
  • Proverbs 27:7
  • Psalms 19:10
  • Psalms 81:16
  • Psalms 119:103
  • Revelation 10:9
  • Revelation 10:10
  • Song of Solomon 4:11
  • Song of Solomon 5:1

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