Topic
Cinnamon
4 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 They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently.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 30:23Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave An ingredient of the sacred oil
Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,
- Revelation 18:13Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave A spice
And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
- Proverbs 7:17Easton · ISBE · Nave A spice
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
- Song of Songs 4:14Easton · ISBE · Nave A spice
Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 4 references
Heb. kinamon, the Cinnamomum zeylanicum of botanists, a tree of the Laurel family, which grows only in India on the Malabar coast, in Ceylon, and China. There is no trace of it in Egypt, and it was unknown in Syria. The inner rind when dried and rolled into cylinders forms the cinnamon of commerce. The fruit and coarser pieces of bark when boiled yield a fragrant oil. It was one of the principal ingredients in the holy anointing oil (Ex. 30:23). It is mentioned elsewhere only in Prov. 7:17; Cant. 4:14; Rev. 18:13. The mention of it indicates a very early and extensive commerce carried on between Palestine and the East.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 2 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 4 references
sin'-a-mun (qinnamon; kinnamomon): Mentioned, like cassia, as a perfume. In Ex 30:23 it is one of the ingredients of the "holy anointing oil"; in Pr 7:17 it is, along with myrrh and aloes, a perfume for a bed; in So 4:14 it is a very precious spice. Cinnamon is (Re 18:13) part of the merchandise of "Babylon the great."
Cinnamon is the product of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a laurel-like plant widely cultivated in Ceylon and Java. It has a profuse white blossom, succeeded by a nut from which the fragrant oil is obtained. The wood is the inner bark from branches which have reached a diameter of from 2 to 3 inches; the epidermis and pulpy matter are carefully scraped off before drying. In commerce the cheaper Cassia ligra of China is sometimes substituted for true cinnamon, and it is thought by some authorities that this was the true cinnamon of the ancients.
See, however, CASSIA.
E. W. G. Masterman
In the topical indexes
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.