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shebanq

לבן l-b-n – to be white

Semantic Fields: Colours   
Author(s): John E. Hartley
First published: 2026-05-20
Citation: John E. Hartley, לבן l-b-n – to be white,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026

Introduction

Grammatical type: verb.
Occurrences: 5x HB (0/2/3); 0x Sir; 1x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 6x).

  • Nebiim: Isa 1:18; Joel 1:7;
  • Ketubim: Ps 51:9; Dan 11:35; 12:10;
  • Qumran: מלובן 1QM 5.11.

7. Conclusion

A.1 In Early BHeb. הלבין means ‘to bring out or produce a light colour’, the colour ranging from ‘light grey’ to ‘white’ to ‘light yellow’. That הלבין references a range of light colours is attested by use of the simile כשׁלג ‘like snow’ in Isa 1:18; the analogy limits its reference in that context to a ‘brilliant white’. הלבין describes the colour of bare branches bleached by the sun (Joel 1:7) and garments made ‘white’ or ‘clean’ by laundering (Ps 51:9). In LBHeb. the range of the meaning of לבן was narrowed to reference either ‘a clear colour’ or ‘white’. In LBHeb. and Rabbinic Hebrew the pi. and hithp. of לבן came to be used metaphorically for moral purification. In that role the verb, moving away from the colour domain, belongs to the field of lexemes for refining metals.

For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 91-96 (Printed publications).

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database