Color

Color Names of colors expressly mentioned as such in the Old Test. are: (a.) לָבָן, laban', white; עִח, tsach; bright; חוָּר, chivvar', pale; שֵׂיב, seyb, gray; צָחֹר, tsachor', cream-colored; (b.) צָהוֹב, tsahob', yellow; יִרָק; yarak', green; (c.) אָדֹם, adom', red; שָׂרֹק sarok', fox-colored; תּוֹלִעִת שָׁנַי, tola'ath-shani' crimson שָׁשֵׁר, shasher', ochre-red; (d.) אִרגָּמוֹן, argamo.'', purple, תּכלֶת; teke'th, violet; (e.) שָׁחֹר sliacho', black; חוּם, chum, brown; (f.) נָקֹד, nakod`, speckled; תָּלוּא, talu', spotted; בָּרֹד, bared', pie- bald; עָקֹר, striped. In the N.T. the colors mentionod are: λευκός, white; μέλας, black; πυῥῤός, red; χλωρός, green; πορφύρα, πορφύρεος, purple κόκκινος, scarlet. The following statements cover the whole subject in general.

The terms relative to color, occurring in the Bible, may be arranged in two classes, the first including those applied to the description of natural objects, the second those artificial mixtures which were employed in dyeing or painting. In an advanced state of art, such a distinction can hardly be said to exist; all the hues of nature have been successfully imitated by the artist; but among the Jews, who fell even below their contemporaries in the cultivation of the fine arts, and to whom painting was unknown until a late period, the knowledge of artificial colors was very restricted. Dyeing was the object to which the colors known to them were applied: so exclusively, indeed, were the ideas of the Jews limited to this application of color, that the name of the dye was transferred without any addition to the material to which it was applied. The Jews were not, however, by any means insensible to the influence of color: they attached definite ideas to the various tints, according to the use made of them in robes and vestments; and the subject exercises an important influence on the interpretation of certain portions of Scripture. See DYE.

I. The natural colors noticed in the Bible are white, black, red, yellow, and green. It will be observed that only three of the prismatic colors are represented in this list; blue, indigo, violet, and orange are omitted. Of the three, yellow is very seldom noticed; it was apparently regarded as a shade of green, for the same term greenish (ירִקרִק) is applied to gold (Ps 68:13), and to the leprous spot (Le 13:49), and very probably the golden (צָהֹב) or yellow hue of the leprous hair (Le 13:30-32)