Bible Encyclopedia: Wool

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

WOOL

wool (tsemer; erion): Wool and flax were the fibers most used by the ancient weavers. Wool was used principally for the outside garments (Leviticus 13:48 Proverbs 31:13 Ezekiel 34:3 Hosea 2:5, 9). Syrian wool is found on the world's markets today, but it is not rated as first quality, partly because it is so contaminated with thorns, straw and other foreign matter which become entangled with the wool while the sheep are wandering over the barren, rocky mountain sides in search of food. Extensive pastures are almost unknown.

Two kinds of wool are sold:

(1) That obtained by shearing. This is removed from the animal as far as possible in one piece or fleece usually without previous washing. The fleeces are gathered in bales and carried to a washing-place, which is usually one of the stony river beds, with but a small stream flowing through it during the summer. The river bed is chosen because the rocks are clean and free from little sticks or straw which would cling to the washed wool. The purchaser of this washed wool submits it to a further washing with soap, ishnan (alkali plant), "soapwort", or other cleansing agent (see FULLER), and then cards it before spinning and weaving. The wool thus obtained is nearly snow white.

(2) The second supply of wool is from the tanneries where the wool is removed from the skins with slaked lime (see TANNER). This is washed in many changes of water and used for stuffing mattresses, quilts, etc., but not for weaving.

Gideon used a fleece of wool to seek an omen from God (Judges 6:37). Mesha, king of Moab, sent a large quantity of wool as a tribute to the king of Israel (2 Kings 3:4). Wool was forbidden to be woven with linen (Deuteronomy 2:11; compare Leviticus 19:19). Priests could not wear woolen garments (Ezekiel 44:17). Wool dyed scarlet with the qermes was used in the blood-covenant ceremony (Hebrews 9:19; compare Leviticus 14; Numbers 19:6).

The whiteness of wool was used for comparison

(1) with snow (Psalm 147:16);

(2) with sins forgiven (Isaiah 1:18);

(3) with hair (Daniel 7:9 Revelation 1:14).

James A. Patch

Greek

2053. erion -- wool
... 2052, 2053. erion. 2054 . wool. Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter Transliteration:
erion Phonetic Spelling: (er'-ee-on) Short Definition: wool Definition: wool. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2053.htm - 6k

2440. himation -- an outer garment, a cloak, robe
... [2440 ("a robe") was often made of wool with openings for the head and arms, and
worn loosely the 5509 ("the under-tunic").]. Word Origin dim. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2440.htm - 7k

1102. gnapheus -- one who cleans woolen cloth
... Word Origin from knapto (to card wool) Definition one who cleans woolen
cloth NASB Word Usage launderer (1). cleaner, launderer. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1102.htm - 6k

Strong's Hebrew

6015. amar -- wool
... 6014b, 6015. amar. 6016 . wool. Transliteration: amar Phonetic Spelling:
(am-ar') Short Definition: wool. Word Origin (Aramaic) of ...
/hebrew/6015.htm - 5k

6785. tsemer -- wool
... wool. Transliteration: tsemer Phonetic Spelling: (tseh'-mer) Short Definition: wool.
Word Origin from an unused word Definition wool NASB Word Usage wool (16). ...
/hebrew/6785.htm - 5k

3768. karpas -- cotton or fine linen
... 1). byssus or fine vegetable wool. Of foreign origin; byssus or fine vegetable
wool: 3767, 3768. karpas. 3769 . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/3768.htm - 5k

8162. shaatnez -- mixed stuff
... Probably of foreign derivation; linsey- woolsey, ie Cloth of linen and wool carded
and spun together -- garment of divers sorts, linen and wollen. ...
/hebrew/8162.htm - 6k

Library

But those Who, in the Opinion of Celsus, Resemble the Workers in ...
... Chapter LVIII. But those who, in the opinion of Celsus, resemble the workers
in wool in private� But those who, in the opinion ...
/.../origen/origen against celsus/chapter lviii but those who.htm

Fasting, and the Goat Sent Away, were Types of Christ.
... "And all of you spit upon it, and pierce it, and encircle its head with scarlet
wool, and thus ... But why is it that they place the wool in the midst of thorns? ...
/.../barnabas/the epistle of barnabas /chapter vii fasting and the goat.htm

The Red Heifer a Type of Christ.
... a heifer, and slay and burn it, and, that then boys should take the ashes, and put
these into vessels, and bind round a stick [1542] purple wool along with ...
/.../barnabas/the epistle of barnabas /chapter viii the red heifer a.htm

Gideon and the Fleece.
... The sign Gideon asked for was, that when he laid a fleece of wool on the ground,
if the victory were to be his, then the fleece should be wet and the ground dry ...
/.../anonymous/mother stories from the old testament/gideon and the fleece.htm

Some Other Memorable Places of the City.
... VI. "The street of those that dealt in wool.". "In ... R. Jose saith, That this
was in the street of those that dealt in wool.". Josephus ...
/.../lightfoot/from the talmud and hebraica/chapter 35 some other memorable.htm

Hebrews ix. 15-18
... he says) "when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the
law, he took the blood of calves, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop ...
/.../homilies on the gospel of st john and hebrews/homily xvi hebrews ix 15-18.htm

How Love Effects the Union of the Soul with God in Prayer.
... This is nothing else than to increase union; as does precious ointment or balm,
which, falling upon cotton-wool, so sinks into it and unites itself to it more ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter i how love effects.htm

On Clothes.
... clothes and food, and superfluities in general, as unnecessary; what are we to imagine
ought to be said of love of ornament, and dyeing of wool, and variety of ...
/.../clement/the instructor paedagogus/chapter xi name clothes.htm

Diamond and his Mother Sat Down Upon the Edge of the Rough Grass ...
... are the whitest sheep. with the woolliest wool. and the longest wool. and the
trailingest tails. ... awake or asleep. with the woolliest wool. and the trailingest ...
/.../macdonald/at the back of the north wind/chapter 13 diamond and his.htm

From the First Chapter.
... 14. "And His head and His hairs were white as it were white wool, and as it were
snow."] On the head the whiteness is shown; "but the head of Christ is God ...
/.../commentary on the apocolypse of the blessed john/from the first chapter.htm

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Wool

was an article of the highest value among the Jews, as the staple material for the manufacture of clothing. (Leviticus 13:47; 22:11; Job 31:20; Proverbs 31:13; Ezekiel 34:3; Hosea 2:5) The importance of wool is incidentally shown by the notice that Mesha's tribute was paid in a certain number of rams "with the wool." (2 Kings 3:1) The wool of Damascus was highly prized in the mart of Tyre. (Ezekiel 27:18)

Easton's Bible Dictionary

One of the first material used for making woven cloth (Leviticus 13:47, 48, 52, 59; 19:19). The first-fruit of wool was to be offered to the priests (Deuteronomy 18:4). The law prohibiting the wearing of a garment "of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together" (Deuteronomy 22:11) may, like some other laws of a similar character, have been intended to express symbolically the separateness and simplicity of God's covenant people. The wool of Damascus, famous for its whiteness, was of great repute in the Tyrian Market (Ezek. 27:18).

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) The soft and curled, or crisped, species of hair which grows on sheep and some other animals, and which in fineness sometimes approaches to fur; -- chiefly applied to the fleecy coat of the sheep, which constitutes a most essential material of clothing in all cold and temperate climates.

2. (n.) Short, thick hair, especially when crisped or curled.

3. (n.) A sort of pubescence, or a clothing of dense, curling hairs on the surface of certain plants.

Thesaurus

Wool (34 Occurrences)
... The first-fruit of wool was to be offered to the priests (Deuteronomy 18:4). The
law prohibiting the wearing of a garment "of divers sorts, as of woollen and ...
/w/wool.htm - 21k

Wool-cutters (2 Occurrences)
Wool-cutters. Wool, Wool-cutters. Wool-cutting . Multi-Version Concordance
Wool-cutters (2 Occurrences). 1 Samuel 25:7 I have had ...
/w/wool-cutters.htm - 7k

Wool-cutting (1 Occurrence)
Wool-cutting. Wool-cutters, Wool-cutting. Woolen . Multi-Version
Concordance Wool-cutting (1 Occurrence). Genesis 38 ...
/w/wool-cutting.htm - 6k

Woolen (6 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (a.) Made of wool; consisting of wool; as, woolen goods. ...
3. (n.) Cloth made of wool; woolen goods. Multi-Version Concordance ...
/w/woolen.htm - 8k

Fleece (6 Occurrences)
... The wool of a sheep, whether shorn off or still attached to the skin (Deuteronomy
18:4; Job 31:20). ... 6. (vt) To spread over as with wool. Int. ...
/f/fleece.htm - 9k

Woof (9 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 13:48 whether it is in warp, or woof; of linen, or of wool; whether in
a skin, or in anything made of skin; (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV). ...
/w/woof.htm - 10k

Knitted (9 Occurrences)
... Knitted (9 Occurrences). Leviticus 13:48 whether it is in warp, or woof; of linen,
or of wool; whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin; (See NIV). ...
/k/knitted.htm - 9k

Leather (34 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 13:48 If it is in the threads of the linen or of the wool, or in leather,
or in anything made of skin; (BBE NAS NIV). Leviticus ...
/l/leather.htm - 17k

Spinning
... spinning. The materials commonly spun were flax, cotton, wool, goats' hair.
Goats ...Wool was first cleansed and then carded. The present ...
/s/spinning.htm - 9k

Article (17 Occurrences)
... (See NAS RSV NIV). Leviticus 13:48 whether it is in warp, or woof; of linen, or
of wool; whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin; (See NAS). ...
/a/article.htm - 13k

Bible Concordance

Wool (34 Occurrences)

Acts 8:32 Now the place in the book where he was reading was this: He was taken, like a sheep, to be put to death; and as a lamb is quiet when its wool is being cut, so he made no sound:
(BBE)

Hebrews 9:19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Revelation 1:14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Genesis 31:19 Now Laban had gone to see to the cutting of the wool of his sheep; so Rachel secretly took the images of the gods of her father's house.
(BBE)

Genesis 38:12 And after a time, Bath-shua, Judah's wife, came to her end; and after Judah was comforted for her loss, he went to Timnah, where they were cutting the wool of his sheep, and his friend Hirah of Adullam went with him.
(BBE)

Leviticus 13:47 "The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it is a woolen garment, or a linen garment;
(Root in WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 13:48 whether it is in warp, or woof; of linen, or of wool; whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 13:52 He shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of skin, in which the plague is: for it is a destructive mildew. It shall be burned in the fire.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 13:59 This is the law of the plague of mildew in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or the woof, or in anything of skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Numbers 19:6 And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 15:19 All the first males to come to birth in your herd and your flock are to be holy to the Lord your God: the first birth of your ox is not to be used for work, the wool of your first lamb is not to be cut.
(BBE)

Deuteronomy 18:4 And in addition you are to give him the first of your grain and wine and oil, and the first wool cut from your sheep.
(BBE NIV)

Deuteronomy 22:11 You shall not wear a mixed stuff, wool and linen together.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Judges 6:37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry on all the ground, then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have spoken."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Judges 6:38 And it was so: for he got up early on the morning after, and twisting the wool in his hands, he got a basin full of water from the dew on the wool.
(BBE)

Judges 6:39 Then Gideon said to God, Do not be moved to wrath against me if I say only this: let me make one more test with the wool; let the wool now be dry, while the earth is covered with dew.
(BBE)

Judges 6:40 And that night God did so; for the wool was dry, and there was dew on all the earth round it.
(BBE)

1 Samuel 25:2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; he was a great man and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats: and he was cutting the wool of his sheep in Carmel.
(BBE)

1 Samuel 25:4 And David had word in the waste land that Nabal was cutting the wool of his sheep.
(BBE)

2 Samuel 13:23 Now after two full years, Absalom had men cutting the wool of his sheep in Baal-hazor, which is near Ephraim: and he sent for all the king's sons to come to his feast.
(BBE)

2 Samuel 13:24 And Absalom came to the king and said, See now, your servant is cutting the wool of his sheep; will the king and his servants be pleased to come?
(BBE)

2 Kings 3:4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder; and he rendered to the king of Israel the wool of one hundred thousand lambs, and of one hundred thousand rams.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Job 31:20 If his back did not give me a blessing, and the wool of my sheep did not make him warm;
(BBE)

Psalms 147:16 He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Proverbs 31:13 She seeks wool and flax, and works eagerly with her hands.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Song of Songs 4:2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep whose wool is newly cut, which come up from the washing; every one has two lambs, and there is not one without young.
(BBE)

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," says Yahweh: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 51:8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation to all generations."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 27:18 Damascus was your merchant for the multitude of your handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 34:3 You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you don't feed the sheep.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 44:17 It shall be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come on them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Daniel 7:9 I saw until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Hosea 2:5 For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said,'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Hosea 2:9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Wool

Wool used for Clothing

Wool: First Fleece of, Belonged to the Priests

Wool: Fleece of

Wool: Mixing of, With Other Fabrics Forbidden

Wool: Prohibited in the Priest's Temple Dress

Related Terms

Wool-cutters (2 Occurrences)

Wool-cutting (1 Occurrence)

Woolen (6 Occurrences)

Fleece (6 Occurrences)