Lexical Summary
seorah: Barley
Original Word:שְׂעֹרָה
Part of Speech:Noun Feminine
Transliteration:s`orah
Pronunciation:seh-o-RAH
Phonetic Spelling:(seh-o-raw')
KJV: barley
NASB:barley
Word Origin:[fromH8175 (שָׂעַר - To storm) in the sense of roughness]
1. barley (as villose)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
barley
Or snowrah {seh-o-raw'} (feminine meaning the plant); and (masculine meaning the grain); also s or {seh-ore'}; or s-owr {seh-ore'}; fromsa'ar in the sense of roughness; barley (as villose) -- barley.
see HEBREWsa'ar
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom the same as
searDefinitionbarley
NASB Translationbarley (33).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
(
bearded grain; , hordeum; Late Hebrew
id.; Sabean Glas in Fell
ZMG liv (1900), 256, Arabic
; Old Aramaic , , Syriac
; Di
260 compare Ethiopic
wheat, grain); — absolute
Exodus 9:31 +; usually plural
Hosea 3:2 +; —
barley, common grain (often "" , etc.):
, singularExodus 9:31 (twice in verse) (J),Deuteronomy 8:8;Job 31:40;Job 1:11, as sownIsaiah 28:25; standing, plural2 Samuel 14:301 Chronicles 11:13, reaped2 Samuel 21:9;Ruth 1:22;Ruth 2:23,Ruth 3:2.
plural, , etc.:Hosea 3:2 (twice in verse);Ezekiel 4:9;Ezekiel 13:19;Ezekiel 45:13;2 Kings 7:1,16,18;Jeremiah 41:8; 2Chron 2:9; 2 Chronicles 2:14; 2 Chronicles 27:5;Ruth 2:17;Ruth 3:15,17;2 Samuel 17:28;1 Kings 5:8 (food for horses);Leviticus 27:16 (P);Numbers 5:15,Judges 7:13;2 Kings 4:42,Ezekiel 4:12.
Topical Lexicon
Agricultural SignificanceBarley stands alongside wheat as one of the foundational grains of ancient Israel.Exodus 9:31 notes that “the flax and the barley were destroyed, since the barley was ripe,” showing that it heads earlier than wheat and therefore served as the earliest major grain harvest (late March–April).Deuteronomy 8:8 lists it among the blessings of the Promised Land, andJob 31:40 treats it as the normal, expected crop in a well-kept field. Its hardiness allowed it to grow in poorer soils and with less rainfall than wheat, making it a staple from the northern hill country to the Negev.
Cultivation and Harvest
Barley harvest began soon after Passover (Leviticus 23:10–11). The waving of the first sheaf marked the beginning of the harvest season and testified to God’s provision before the main reaping commenced. By contrast, wheat was not cut until around the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), roughly fifty days later.Ruth 1:22–2:23 illustrates the agricultural rhythm: Naomi and Ruth arrive “at the beginning of the barley harvest,” and Ruth gleaned “until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest.” The overlap of the two harvests created a natural period of sustained work and community generosity toward the poor (Leviticus 19:9–10).
Dietary and Domestic Use
Although barley bread was sometimes considered humbler fare than wheat bread, it nourished rich and poor alike. Gideon’s enemy dreamed of “a loaf of barley bread tumbling into the camp of Midian” (Judges 7:13), a picture of an unlikely but divinely empowered victory. In everyday life it fed both humans and animals; “they also brought... barley for the horses” for Solomon’s royal stables (1 Kings 4:28).2 Kings 4:42 recounts Elisha miraculously multiplying twenty barley loaves, a narrative echoed when Jesus fed the five thousand with five barley loaves (John 6:9).
Sacrificial and Ritual Use
Unlike the regular grain offerings of finely ground wheat flour, the jealousy offering prescribed “one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour” with no oil or frankincense (Numbers 5:15). Its plainness heightened the solemn, searching character of the rite. Ezekiel, dramatizing Jerusalem’s siege, baked a bread of mixed grains that included barley (Ezekiel 4:9), signaling scarcity yet sufficiency under divine discipline.Ezekiel 45:13 fixes barley as part of the future prince’s offering—“one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley”—affirming its place in restored worship.
Economic Value and Provision for the Poor
Barley functioned as a unit of exchange.Leviticus 27:16 set land values “according to its seed requirement—fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed.” In the famine of Samaria God proclaimed through Elisha, “Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel” (2 Kings 7:1). Barley’s lower cost furnished daily bread for those unable to afford wheat and supplied gleanings for widows like Ruth.Amos 8:5 rebukes merchants who exploited the needy, planning to sell grain dishonestly and “sell the chaff of the wheat,” implicitly devaluing even the cheaper barley.
Symbolic and Prophetic Implications
Because it ripens first, barley became linked with firstfruits and thus with resurrection hope. The waved sheaf signified that the whole harvest belonged to God and guaranteed its completion. Paul’s argument in1 Corinthians 15:20—that Christ is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”—would have reminded Jewish believers of the very barley sheaf lifted in faith each spring. In prophetic symbolism, the humble barley loaf inJudges 7 pictures God choosing weak instruments to overthrow the mighty, while Ezekiel’s barley ration portrays disciplined endurance that leads to future restoration.
Occurrences at a Glance
Approximate total: 34. Representative texts:Exodus 9:31;Leviticus 27:16;Numbers 5:15;Deuteronomy 8:8;Judges 7:13;Ruth 1:22;2 Samuel 17:28;2 Kings 4:42;2 Kings 7:1;1 Chronicles 11:13;2 Chronicles 2:10;Ezekiel 4:9;Ezekiel 45:13;Joel 1:11;Amos 8:5.
Ministry and Discipleship Applications
1. God delights to use what the world deems ordinary. Barley’s prominence in miracles of provision (2 Kings 4;John 6) underscores that small, humble resources become abundantly sufficient in His hand.
2. The firstfruits principle calls believers to offer God the best and the first of all increase, trusting Him for the remainder.
3. The timing of the barley harvest situates the resurrection hope of Christ within the calendar of redemption, encouraging confidence that the full harvest of resurrection will surely follow.
Forms and Transliterations
הַשְּׂעֹרִ֖ים הַשְּׂעֹרִ֥ים הַשְּׂעֹרִֽים׃ הַשְּׂעֹרָה֙ השערה השערים השערים׃ וְהַשְּׂעֹרִ֜ים וְהַשְּׂעֹרִ֣ים וְהַשְּׂעֹרָ֖ה וּ֠שְׂעֹרִים וּשְׂעֹרִ֕ים וּשְׂעֹרִ֖ים וּשְׂעֹרָ֔ה וּשְׂעֹרָ֣ה וּשְׂעוֹרִ֖ים והשערה והשערים ושעורים ושערה ושערים שְׂעֹרִ֑ים שְׂעֹרִ֔ים שְׂעֹרִ֖ים שְׂעֹרִ֛ים שְׂעֹרִ֜ים שְׂעֹרִֽים׃ שְׂעֹרִים֙ שְׂעֹרִים֮ שְׂעֹרָ֑ה שְׂעֹרָ֥ה שְׂעוֹרִ֑ים שעורים שערה שערים שערים׃ haś·śə·‘ō·rāh haś·śə·‘ō·rîm haśśə‘ōrāh haśśə‘ōrîm hasseoRah hasseoRim śə‘ōrāh śə‘ōrîm śə‘ōwrîm śə·‘ō·rāh śə·‘ō·rîm śə·‘ō·w·rîm seoRah seoRim ū·śə·‘ō·rāh ū·śə·‘ō·rîm ū·śə·‘ō·w·rîm ūśə‘ōrāh ūśə‘ōrîm ūśə‘ōwrîm useoRah useoRim vehasseoRah vehasseoRim wə·haś·śə·‘ō·rāh wə·haś·śə·‘ō·rîm wəhaśśə‘ōrāh wəhaśśə‘ōrîm
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