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לָבִיבָה

𐤋𐤁𐤉𐤁𐤄

lâbîybâh

H3834 noun

SILEX Entry

Root לבב to be round, heart, inner part

Definition

A type of round or flat cake, typically made from a mixture of flour or grain meal, sometimes with oil, and cooked on a griddle or pan. The term can denote a cake fried in oil or one prepared as a folded or layered pastry. In context, it most often refers to a coin-shaped or pancake-like cake supplied as food or offering.

Semantic Range

round cake, pancake, fried cake, flatbread, coin-shaped cake

Root / Etymology

From the root לָבַב, which carries the sense of 'roundness, heart, or inner part.' The noun לָבִיבָה is derived, likely by extension, to mean something round or inwardly formed, here referring to a round cake or patty. The association with 'fatness' may be due to the richness or oily nature of the food, but the direct root meaning is more closely tied to the idea of 'round' (cf. לֵב 'heart').

Historical & Contextual Notes

לָבִיבָה occurs only in a few passages in the Hebrew Bible (notably 2 Samuel 13, in the context of Tamar preparing cakes for Amnon). It describes a prepared food made of grain meal, shaped into round or flat cakes, and cooked on a griddle or in a pan—possibly fried, turned, or folded. The preparation described in 2 Samuel is quite detailed, suggesting a specific, perhaps luxury, food item. There is no direct evidence in the biblical period that these cakes were used as ritual offerings—the context is domestic and familial. Later Jewish tradition uses the word לְבִיבָה for various types of cakes or pancakes, but this expansion of sense is post-biblical. English translations as 'cake' or 'pancake' are generally reasonable, but the imagery of roundness and frying/oily richness (rather than baking) may be lost. The term is distinct in context from מַצָּה (unleavened bread), עֻגָּה (regular cake, loaf), or חַלָּה (loaf, especially with ritual significance).

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

or rather לְבִבָה; from לָבַב in its original sense of fatness (or perhaps of folding); a cake (either as fried or turned); cake.

Bantu Hebrew

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Root Family

לבב (l-b-b) — roundness, heart, inner part

Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H3820 לֵב in the inner core of
H3821 לֵב in my inner core
H3823 לָבַב you have heart-stirred me
H3824 לֵבָב in the inner core
H3825 לְבַב your inner-self

Word Forms

2 distinct forms

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 Occurrences
H3834-01 הַ/לְּבִבֽוֹת halevivot HTd/Ncfpa the cakes the round cakes 2
H3834-02 לְבִב֔וֹת levivot HNcfpa heart-shaped cakes round cakes 1

Occurrences in Scripture

3 total occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1
H3834-02 2 Samuel 13:6 לְבִב֔וֹת levivot HNcfpa heart-shaped cakes round cakes
H3834-01 2 Samuel 13:8 הַ/לְּבִבֽוֹת halevivot HTd/Ncfpa the cakes the round cakes
H3834-01 2 Samuel 13:10 הַ/לְּבִבוֹת֙ halevivot HTd/Ncfpa the cakes the round cakes
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