A fig may name the fruit or the tree bearing it, with leaves, harvest and shade appearing in different passages. Genesis describes the man and woman sewing fig leaves for coverings after their disobedience.
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Full entry for תְּאֵן (H8384) · Open the biblical lexicon
A fig may name the fruit or the tree bearing it, with leaves, harvest and shade appearing in different passages. Genesis describes the man and woman sewing fig leaves for coverings after their disobedience.
The BSB source-word alignment has 39 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include figs (9), and fig trees (3), his own fig tree (3), and figs (2), and the fig tree (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:7. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (12), Isaiah (3), Joel (3), 2 Kings (2).
A fig may name the fruit or the tree bearing it, with leaves, harvest and shade appearing in different passages. Genesis describes the man and woman sewing fig leaves for coverings after their disobedience. Jeremiah sees baskets of good and unusable figs, and the Lord explains the comparison in relation to particular exiles and those remaining under judgment.
Micah pictures people sitting beneath their own vines and fig trees with no one making them afraid. Those scenes should not be folded into one hidden identity for the tree. Leaves function as material for a covering, fruit quality supplies an explicitly interpreted vision, and the tree's shelter belongs to a promise of peace. The noun makes the account concrete while the surrounding revelation determines its moral, historical or hopeful significance.
Fig leaves, contrasted baskets and a peaceful place beneath a tree serve narrative, prophetic comparison and hope. The text's explicit explanation keeps fruit or shade from becoming a universal code for one people or circumstance.
And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.
The fig leaves become coverings when the man and woman recognize their nakedness after eating, before the account describes their hiding from the Lord.
One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
The contrasting edible and unusable figs are the vision's observed objects; the Lord's following explanation identifies the specific groups rather than leaving Jeremiah to invent their meaning.
And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.
Sitting beneath one's vine and fig tree with no one causing fear belongs to the announced peace after the Lord's instruction and arbitration among nations.
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. Common symbol of agricultural blessing and peace; fig tree's shade represents security and contentment in covenant life
Common symbol of agricultural blessing and peace; fig tree's shade represents security and contentment in covenant life
the fig (tree or fruit) BDB: fig-tree Usage: fig (tree).
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 4 selected witnesses from 39 lexical occurrence verses.
תְּאֵן is of foreign 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.
Jeremiah's fig vision demonstrates why an observed object and its interpretation must remain distinct. The prophet reports two very different baskets; the Lord then explains whom the good and bad figs represent. That explanation includes hope for the exiles and judgment upon named remaining groups, disrupting any simple assumption that displacement proves abandonment.
Genesis' fig leaves serve another task, giving the man and woman material for coverings within the account of disobedience. Micah's tree stands in a scene where no one causes fear after the Lord's judgment and instruction among nations. A teacher should therefore ask which function the text assigns before attaching a modern symbolic identity. The fruit can help readers hear particular judgment and hope without becoming an engine for speculation or a guarantee of immediate personal abundance.
Jer.24.2
The Hebrew fig term may refer to tree or fruit; a leaves construction identifies another part of that tree. A prophet's assigned comparison is an interpretive use in a passage, not an extra lexical definition imposed on every fig occurrence.
New Testament fig-tree scenes should be considered from Jesus' actions and explanations in their own contexts. Jeremiah's named exiles and Micah's fear-free shade can inform careful comparison, but a shared plant image alone does not identify every Gospel tree with all of Jeremiah's historical groups.