Reference: Leek
American
A bulbous vegetable resembling the onion. The Hebrews complained in the wilderness, that manna grew insipid to them; they longed for the leeks and onions of Egypt, Nu 11:5. Hassel-quist says the karrat, or leek, is surely one of those after which the Israelites pined; for is has been cultivated in Egypt from time immemorial. The Hebrew word is usually translated "grass" in the English Bible. Its original meaning is supposed to be greens or grass.
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We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:
Easton
(Heb hatsir; the Allium porrum), rendered "grass" in 1Ki 18:5; 2Ki 19:26; Job 40:15, etc.; "herb" in Job 8:12; "hay" in Pr 27:25, and Isa 15:6; "leeks" only in Nu 11:5. This Hebrew word seems to denote in this last passage simply herbs, such as lettuce or savoury herbs cooked as kitchen vegetables, and not necessarily what are now called leeks. The leek was a favourite vegetable in Egypt, and is still largely cultivated there and in Palestine.
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We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:
And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go through the land, unto all the fountains of water, and unto all the brooks: peradventure we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, It withereth before any other herb.
Behold now, behemoth, which I made as well as thee; He eateth grass as an ox.
The hay is carried, and the tender grass showeth itself, And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in.
For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate; for the grass is withered away, the tender grass faileth, there is no green thing.
Watsons
LEEK, ????, in Nu 11:5, translated "leek;" in 1Ki 18:5; 2Ki 19:26; Job 40:15; Ps 37:2; 90:5; 103:15; 104:14; 129:6; 147:8; Isa 35:7; 37:27; 40:6, it is rendered "grass;" in Job 8:12, "herb;" in Pr 27:25; Isa 15:6, "hay;" and in Isa 34:13, "a court." It is much of the same nature with the onion. The kind called karrat by the Arabians, the allium porrum of Linnaeus, Hasselquist says, must certainly have been one of those desired by the children of Israel, as it has been cultivated and esteemed from the earliest times to the present in Egypt. The inhabitants are very fond of eating it raw, as sauce for their roasted meat; and the poor people eat it raw with their bread, especially for breakfast. There is reason, however, to doubt whether this plant is intended in Nu 11:5, and so differently rendered every where else: it should rather intend such vegetables as grow promiscuously with grass. Ludolphus supposes that it may mean lettuce and sallads in general; and Maillet observes, that the succory and endive are eaten with great relish by the people in Egypt: some or all of these may be meant.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:
And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go through the land, unto all the fountains of water, and unto all the brooks: peradventure we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, It withereth before any other herb.
Behold now, behemoth, which I made as well as thee; He eateth grass as an ox.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
As for man, his days are as grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, And herb for the service of man; That he may bring forth food out of the earth,
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, Which withereth before it groweth up;
Who covereth the heavens with clouds, Who prepareth rain for the earth, Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
The hay is carried, and the tender grass showeth itself, And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in.
For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate; for the grass is withered away, the tender grass faileth, there is no green thing.
And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.
And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water: in the habitation of jackals, where they lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as a field of grain before it is grown up.
The voice of one saying, Cry. And one said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.