Wheat is a crop or grain whose place in a passage can concern provision, harvest or the timing of growth. Deuteronomy includes it among the good land's produce and directs satisfied hearers to bless the Lord.
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Full entry for חִטָּה (H2406) · Open the biblical lexicon
Wheat is a crop or grain whose place in a passage can concern provision, harvest or the timing of growth. Deuteronomy includes it among the good land's produce and directs satisfied hearers to bless the Lord.
The BSB source-word alignment has 30 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include wheat (12), of wheat (6), the wheat (3), of the wheat (2), and the wheat (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 30:14. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Chronicles (3), Exodus (3), Ezekiel (3), 1 Chronicles (2).
Wheat is a crop or grain whose place in a passage can concern provision, harvest or the timing of growth. Deuteronomy includes it among the good land's produce and directs satisfied hearers to bless the Lord. Exodus explains that wheat survives the hail because it is a late crop, distinguishing it from the already damaged flax and barley. Ruth remains with Boaz's workers through the barley and wheat harvests, connecting the crop with sustained access to food and safer company.
These references describe actual nourishment and work before inviting a wider lesson. Wheat is not automatically a symbol for a church or a particular kind of believer. When a passage uses grain as a comparison, that passage must establish the comparison and its limits.
Promised land produce, a late crop surviving hail and Ruth's continued gleaning give wheat distinct material roles. Harvest timing and access remain visible before any symbolic application.
A land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;
Wheat appears among the land's produce, with the surrounding instruction calling Israel to remember and bless the Lord after eating.
But the wheat and spelt were not destroyed, because they are late crops.)
The narrative explicitly attributes the wheat's survival to its being a late crop, rather than declaring this grain immune to judgment.
So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean grain until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ruth continues gleaning through both harvests while staying close to Boaz's servant girls and living with Naomi.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. A staple grain crop in ancient Levant; symbolizes prosperity, sustenance, and divine blessing in covenant contexts.
A staple grain crop in ancient Levant; symbolizes prosperity, sustenance, and divine blessing in covenant contexts.
wheat, whether the grain or the plant BDB: wheat Usage: wheat(-en).
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 30 lexical occurrence verses.
חִטָּה is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Exodus provides a reason for the different effects of hail: flax and barley were at one stage, while wheat and spelt were later crops. A teacher should retain that explanation instead of assigning moral worth to the plants. Ruth's wheat harvest supplies another kind of specificity. Her continued work takes place within the access and safer companionship described by Boaz and Naomi, not a promise that effort alone defeats hunger.
Deuteronomy places wheat within a land received from the Lord and calls for thanksgiving after satisfaction. Following those details makes the grain serve each text's argument. It also prevents a harvest metaphor from swallowing the ordinary needs of those who eat and work. Symbolic meanings require an explicit comparison elsewhere, not the presence of wheat alone.
Ruth.2.23
The Hebrew noun identifies wheat as plant or grain. Crop timing, gleaning arrangements and figurative meaning are supplied by the surrounding sentences rather than embedded in the crop name.
John 12:24 explicitly uses a grain of wheat to speak of dying and bearing fruit. Jesus supplies that comparison in its own setting. It does not make Ruth's gleaning or the late wheat in Exodus an identical death-and-resurrection image.