Encyclopedia entry
Dung
Disambiguation
The source enumerates 2 distinct subjects under Dung. Jump to one below, or read in order.
Dung (1)
#Used as manure (Luke 13:8); collected outside the city walls (Neh. 2:13). Of sacrifices, burned outside the camp (Ex. 29:14; Lev. 4:11; 8:17; Num. 19:5). To be “cast out as dung,” a figurative expression (1 Kings 14:10; 2 Kings 9:37; Jer. 8:2; Ps. 18:42), meaning to be rejected as unprofitable.
Dung (2)
#Used as fuel, a substitute for firewood, which was with difficulty procured in Syria, Arabia, and Egypt (Ezek. 4:12-15), where cows’ and camels’ dung is used to the present day for this purpose.
Also from Smith's (1884) +−
The uses of dung were two-fold—as manure and as fuel. The manure consisted either of straw steeped in liquid manure, (Isaiah 25:10) or the sweepings, (Isaiah 5:25) of the streets and roads, which were carefully removed from about the houses, and collected in heaps outside the walls of the towns at fixed spots—hence the dung-gate at Jerusalem—and thence removed in due course to the fields. The difficulty of procuring fuel in Syria, Arabia and Egypt has made dung in all ages valuable as a substitute. It was probably used for heating ovens and for baking cakes, (Ezra 4:12,15) the equable heat which it produced adapting it pecularily for the latter operation. Cow’s and camels dung is still used for a similar purpose by the Bedouins.
In the Bible
27
Verses where Dung is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).
- 1 Kings 14:10
Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!
- 2 Kings 6:25
So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for five shekels of silver.
- 2 Kings 9:37
And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’ ”
- 2 Kings 18:27
But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
- Exodus 29:14
But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
- Ezekiel 4:12
And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”
+21 more verses naming Dung.
Scripture on Dung
28
Entries that reference Dung
1
Voices on Dung
2
Surfaced by name match — accuracy varies by title clarity.
Sources · Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884)
Public-domain text. Modernized only where archaic spelling impedes reading; original facts preserved. Verify against an authoritative modern reference before quoting.