Topic
Barley
28 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Exodus 9:31Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave A product of Egypt
And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled.
- Deuteronomy 8:8Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave Palestine
A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
- 1 Kings 4:28Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave Fed to horses
Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.
- John 6:9Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave Loaves of
There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
- Leviticus 27:16Easton · Smith · Nave Priests estimated value of
And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.
- Judges 7:13Easton · Smith · ISBE
And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it,…
- 2 Kings 4:42Easton · Smith · ISBE
¶ And there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat.
- John 6:13Smith · ISBE · Nave Loaves of
Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
- Numbers 5:15Easton · Nave Used in offerings
Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial,…
- Ruth 1:22Easton · Smith
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
- Ruth 2:17Smith · ISBE
So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
- 2 Samuel 21:9Easton · Smith
And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
Show 16 more
- Ruth 2:23 Smith
- 2 Samuel 10:1–19 Smith
- 2 Samuel 14:30 Nave Absalom burns Joab's field of
- 2 Kings 7:1 Nave Priests estimated value of
- 1 Chronicles 11:13 Nave Palestine
- 2 Chronicles 2:10 Nave Traffic in
- 2 Chronicles 27:5 Nave Tribute in
- Jeremiah 41:8 Nave Palestine
- Ezekiel 4:9 ISBE
- Ezekiel 4:12 ISBE
- Ezekiel 13:19 ISBE
- Ezekiel 45:15 Nave Used in offerings
- Hosea 3:2 Nave Traffic in
- Joel 1:11 ISBE
- John 6:10 ISBE
- Revelation 6:6 Nave Priests estimated value of
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 10 references
A grain much cultivated in Egypt (Ex. 9:31) and in Palestine (Lev. 27:16; Deut. 8:8). It was usually the food of horses (1 Kings 4:28). Barley bread was used by the poorer people (Judg. 7:13; 2 Kings 4:42). Barley of the first crop was ready for the harvest by the time of the Passover, in the middle of April (Ruth 1:22; 2 Sam. 21:9). Mention is made of barley-meal (Num. 5:15). Our Lord fed five thousand with “five barley loaves and two small fishes” (John 6:9).
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 13 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 14 references
bar'-li (se`orah):
(1) In the Bible, as in modern times, barley was a characteristic product of Palestine--"a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees," etc. (De 8:8), the failure of whose crop was a national disaster (Joe 1:11). It was, and is, grown chiefly as provender for horses and asses (1Ki 4:28), oats being practically unknown, but it was, as it now is, to some extent, the food of the poor in country districts (Ru 2:17; 2Ki 4:42; Joh 6:9,13). Probably this is the meaning of the dream of the Midianite concerning Gideon: "Behold, I dreamed a dream; and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came unto the tent, and smote it so that it fell, and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat. And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel" (Jud 7:13 f). Here the barley loaf is type of the peasant origin of Gideon's army and perhaps, too, of his own lowly condition.
Barley was (Eze 4:9) one of the ingredients from which the prophet was to make bread and "eat it as barley cakes" after having baked it under repulsive conditions (Eze 4:12), as a sign to the people. The false prophetesses (Eze 13:19) are said to have profaned God among the people for "handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread."
Barley was also used in the ORDEAL OF JEALOUSY (s. v.). It was with five barley loaves and two fishes that our Lord fed the five thousand (Joh 6:9,10).
(2) Several varieties of barley are grown in Palestine The Hordeum distichum or two-rowed barley is probably the nearest to the original stock, but Hordeum tetrastichum, with grains in four rows, and Hordeum hexastichum, with six rows, are also common and ancient; the last is found depicted upon Egyptian monuments.
Barley is always sown in the autumn, after the "early rains," and the barley harvest, which for any given locality precedes the wheat harvest (Ex 9:31 f), begins near Jericho in April--or even March--but in the hill country of Palestine is not concluded until the end of May or beginning of June.
The barley harvest was a well-marked season of the year (see TIME) and the barley-corn was a well-known measure of length.
See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
E. W. G. Masterman
In the topical indexes
Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 16 references, grouped by sub-topic
- → A product of Egypt Ex 9:31
- → Palestine De 8:8; 1Ch 11:13; Jer 41:8
- → Fed to horses 1Ki 4:28
- → Used in offerings Nu 5:15; Eze 45:15
- → Traffic in 2Ch 2:10; Ho 3:2
- → Tribute in 2Ch 27:5
- → Priests estimated value of Le 27:16; 2Ki 7:1; Re 6:6
- → Absalom burns Joab's field of 2Sa 14:30
- → Loaves of Joh 6:9,13
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.