To eat (literally or figuratively)
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אָכַל (akal) is the Hebrew verb for eating — one of the most theologically freighted acts in Scripture, appearing 815 times. The first prohibition in the Bible concerns akal (Gen 2:17: do not eat from that tree).
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Full entry for אָכַל (H398) · Open the biblical lexicon
אָכַל (akal) is the Hebrew verb for eating — one of the most theologically freighted acts in Scripture, appearing 815 times. The first prohibition in the Bible concerns akal (Gen 2:17: do not eat from that tree).
The BSB source-word alignment has 810 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include eat (72), to eat (64), and eat (23), will eat (19), . . . (16).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 2:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (104), Deuteronomy (80), Genesis (65), Ezekiel (55).
This entry includes 2 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
אָכַל (akal) is the Hebrew verb for eating — one of the most theologically freighted acts in Scripture, appearing 815 times. The first prohibition in the Bible concerns akal (Gen 2:17: do not eat from that tree). The first sin in the Bible is akal (Gen 3:6: she took and ate). The covenant meals of the OT involve akal before YHWH. The fire that consumes sacrifices is akal. And the eschatological vision of Isaiah 25 is a great meal — akal at the table of YHWH on his holy mountain. Eating in Scripture is never merely biological; it is always relational, moral, and covenantal.
Genesis 2:16-17 sets the akal frame for all of human history: 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat (akal tokhal), but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat (lo tokhal).' The permission is vast (every tree, freely); the prohibition is single and specific. Genesis 3:6 then gives the transgression: 'She took of its fruit and ate (vatokhal), and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate (vayokhal).' The entire fall narrative is concentrated in two instances of akal. What was eaten with permission (vayokhal, Gen 2:16) becomes the pattern for the one act of eating done without permission (vatokhal, Gen 3:6).
Deuteronomy 12 develops the theology of sacral akal — eating in the presence of YHWH at the chosen place: 'There you shall eat (akaltem) before YHWH your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which YHWH your God has blessed you' (Deut 12:7). The meal at the sanctuary is the redemptive reversal of the meal in the garden: eating with YHWH in the right place, of the right food, with joy — a re-ordered akal in the presence of the one who set the original akal-boundaries.
Exodus 3:2 uses akal for the fire that consumes without destroying: the bush burned with fire but 'the bush was not consumed' (lo ukal). The same verb governs the fire of holiness that purifies rather than annihilates. The Levitical fire that akal the sacrifice (Lev 9:24, fire from before YHWH came out and consumed/akal the burnt offering) is the holy akal that transforms the offering into acceptable worship.
Isaiah 25:6-8 is the eschatological akal: 'On this mountain YHWH of hosts will make for all peoples a feast (mishteh) of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine.' The akal of the end is the meal that reverses all the wrong eating of history — communion with YHWH at his table, on his mountain, for all peoples.
For the preacher, אָכַל (akal) asks: what are you eating and with whom? Every akal in the OT maps onto the primal distinction between eating in the right place, of the right thing, before YHWH, and eating the forbidden thing apart from YHWH.
אָכַל (akal) has about 815 occurrences in the local index. Genesis uses it for the permitted and the forbidden eating in the garden, and for the covenant meals of the patriarchs. The Torah uses it for dietary law, sacral eating before YHWH at the sanctuary, and for the fire-consumption of sacrifices. The historical books use it for the covenant meals of the Passover and the sanctuary.
The Psalms and wisdom literature use it for eating one's bread with joy (Eccl 9:7) and for the hungry eating the bread of affliction. The Prophets use it for the devouring of enemies and for the eschatological feast. The word spans from the first act of sin to the final eschatological banquet.
And the Lord God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden,
The original akal permission: akal tokhal (eating you may eat — the emphatic infinitive absolute, exactly opposite to the mot tamut death-warning). The freedom of akal in the garden is vast: every tree, freely. The scope of permission is emphasized before the single prohibition. This is the hermeneutic for all of life: the given creation is good and freely available; the specific prohibition is the minority case.
Misreading the proportion — treating the creation as more restrictive than it is — is its own distortion of the original akal-freedom.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
The fall akal: vatokhal... vayokhal — she ate, he ate. The seeing (ra'ah, good for food, pleasant to eyes), the desiring (chamad, to be desired), the taking (laqach) and the akal — the sequence is the anatomy of temptation. John describes the same triad in 1 John 2:16: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride in possessions. The akal here is the exact opposite of the sanctioned akal of Gen 2:16: the same body doing the same physical act, but the object, the context, and the authorization are all wrong.
Sin is often a right act (eating) with the wrong object or the wrong authorization.
There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the Lord your God has blessed you.
Sacral akal before YHWH at the chosen place: the Deuteronomy 12 reform requires that the covenantal meals happen at the place YHWH designates (the sanctuary). The eating is not merely nutritional but relational: 'before YHWH your God' (lipnei YHWH Eloheikha). The joy (simcha) that accompanies the akal is the mark of its rightness: eating in the right place, before the right Person, produces joy.
This is the pattern that the Lord's Supper inherits: the meal before YHWH, with joy, in the designated place of his presence.
On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all the peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine.
The eschatological akal: the mountain feast for all peoples with the finest food and wine. This is the great reversal of the garden's expulsion from akal — YHWH himself hosts the feast, on his mountain, for all peoples, with the best of everything. The death-swallowing of verse 8 and the tear-wiping of verse 8 accompany the meal: the eschatological akal happens after death is defeated.
Isaiah 25:6-8 is the OT's fullest vision of the messianic banquet — the meal at the end of the story that the Lord's Supper anticipates.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
The akal that does not destroy: lo ukal (not consumed). The divine fire burns — it is real, it is holy, it is the fire that would akal if it were ordinary fire — but the bush is not consumed. This paradox of divine presence: the holiness of God is fire (Deut 4:24 — YHWH your God is a consuming fire, esh okelah), but his fire does not destroy his servant. The same fire that would akal the ungodly sustains and reveals to Moses.
The non-consuming akal is the OT's image for the grace of divine presence: the God who is a consuming fire does not consume Moses in the encounter because he has come in mercy, not judgment.
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Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Encompasses consuming and destruction; figuratively denotes covenant violation, judgment, or moral corruption through eating imagery.
Encompasses consuming and destruction; figuratively denotes covenant violation, judgment, or moral corruption through eating imagery.
to eat (literally or figuratively) BDB: eat Usage: × at all, burn up, consume, devour(-er, up), dine, eat(-er, up), feed (with), food, × freely, × in...wise(-deed, plenty), (lay) meat, × quite.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 815 lexical occurrence verses.
אָכַל is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Expresses the intensity of divine holiness against sin. Hosea 5:1-7
The repeated consumption imagery underscores the self-destructive nature of unchecked sin. Hosea 7:1-7
Judgment imagery of consuming consequence. Isaiah 33:13-24
Describes destructive political cycles. Isaiah 9:18-21
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
אָכַל (akal) puts the most ordinary human act at the center of the theological drama: eating. The fall was an act of eating. The covenant meal was an act of eating. The Lord's Supper is an act of eating. The eschatological consummation is a feast. The preacher who takes akal seriously teaches the congregation that no act is theologically neutral — even eating is moral and relational, governed by what is taken, with whom, and under what authorization.
Genesis 3:6 gives the anatomy of temptation in terms of akal: seeing the desirability, desiring it, taking it, eating it. The sequence is recognizable in every temptation: the forbidden thing first appears good, then attractive, then taken, then consumed. The antidote is the right akal: the sacral meal before YHWH (Deut 12:7) with joy, at the right place, of the right things.
The Lord's Supper is the NT's designated akal before YHWH — the covenant meal that anticipates the eschatological feast of Isaiah 25. For the congregation that reduces eating to nutrition and the Lord's Supper to mere memory, the akal-thread of Scripture restores the full weight: to eat before YHWH with joy is a profound act. And to eat the wrong thing, in the wrong place, apart from YHWH, is the act that unraveled the garden.
The question the preacher can bring to every text with akal: is this an akal of permission, prohibition, or the covenant meal? And what does this eating reveal about who we trust?
Gen.2.16
אָכַל (akal) in the Qal is the simple eating verb. The infinitive absolute construction akal tokhal (Gen 2:16) — the same emphatic form as the death-warning mot tamut — intensifies the permission: 'eating, you shall freely eat.' This mirrors and contrasts with the mot tamut of 2:17: permission is emphatic, prohibition is absolute. The same verb akal governs fire-consumption (the bush, the sacrifice) — the devouring force of fire is linguistically the same as the ingesting act of eating.
This double semantic range makes akal particularly rich: to eat is to take something into yourself and make it yours; to be consumed by fire is for something to be taken up into the fire. In both directions, akal is an act of transformation. The NT's 'eat' (esthio, G2068, and phago, G5315) carries the same breadth, but the most loaded akal-inheriting text is John 6:51-58 — Jesus giving his flesh to eat, the bread from heaven — which deliberately echoes the manna of Exodus 16 and the sacral eating of Deuteronomy 12.
The NT's akal-inheritance comes through the Lord's Supper and the eschatological feast. John 6:51-58 is the most concentrated: Jesus gives his flesh to eat (phago) and his blood to drink as the bread of life from heaven — a direct heir of the manna-akal of Exod 16 and the sacral-eating of Deut 12. The Lord's Supper (Luke 22:15-20) is explicitly connected to the eschatological feast: 'I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God' (v.
16) — The covenant meal now anticipates the Isaiah 25 banquet. Revelation 2:7 restores the garden's akal: 'To the one who conquers I will grant to eat (phago) of the tree of life (xylon tes zoes), which is in the paradise of God.' The same tree whose fruit was taken without authorization in Gen 3:6 is now given by the one who died on the cursed tree (Deut 21:23) — the akal that was forbidden becomes the akal that is offered freely as the reward of faithfulness.
Revelation 19:9 announces the eschatological akal as the wedding supper of the Lamb: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper (deipnon) of the Lamb.' The feast of Isaiah 25:6 is the feast of Revelation 19:9, and both are the redemptive reversal of the tragic akal of Genesis 3.
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