Encyclopedia entry
Barley
A grain much cultivated in Egypt (Ex. 9:31) and in Palestine (Lev. 27:16; Deut. 8:8). It was usually the food of horses (1 Kings 4:28). Barley bread was used by the poorer people (Judg. 7:13; 2 Kings 4:42). Barley of the first crop was ready for the harvest by the time of the Passover, in the middle of April (Ruth 1:22; 2 Sam. 21:9). Mention is made of barley-meal (Num. 5:15). Our Lord fed five thousand with “five barley loaves and two small fishes” (John 6:9).
Also from Smith's (1884) +−
is one of the most important of the cereal grains, and the most hardy of them all. It was grown by the Hebrews, (Leviticus 27:16; 8:8; Ruth 2:17) etc., who used it for baking into bread chiefly among the poor, (Judges 7:13; 2 Kings 4:42; John 6:9,13) and as fodder for horses. (1 Kings 4:28) The barley harvest, (Ruth 1:22; 2:23; 2 Samuel 21:9;10) takes place in Palestine in March and April, and in the hilly district as late as May. It always precedes the wheat harvest, in some places by a week, in others by fully three weeks. In Egypt the barley is about a month earlier than the wheat; whence its total destruction by the hail storm. (Exodus 9:31)
In the Bible
35
Verses where Barley is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).
- 1 Chronicles 11:13
He was with David at Pas-dammim when the Philistines gathered there for battle. At a place with a field full of barley, the troops fled from the Philistines.
- 1 Kings 4:28
Each one also brought to the required place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and other horses.
- 2 Chronicles 2:10
I will pay your servants, the woodcutters, 20,000 cors of ground wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil. ”
- 2 Chronicles 2:15
Now let my lord send to his servants the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine he promised.
- 2 Chronicles 27:5
Jotham waged war against the king of the Ammonites and defeated them, and that year they gave him a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. They paid him the same in the second and third years.
- 2 Kings 4:42
Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.
+29 more verses naming Barley.
Scripture on Barley
27
Entries that reference Barley
2
Barley references
11
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.