Bible Lexicons

כַּרְמֶל (from the noun כֶּרֶם with the addition of the termination el, which appears to me to have a diminutive force; see p. 321, A.) m.

(1) a garden, a place cultivated as a garden, planted with fruit trees, herbs, corn, etc. (Kimchi, מקום אילנות פירות ושדות תבואה), sometimes used in opposition to a desert, sometimes to a forest; Isaiah 29:17, “Lebanon is changed into a garden, and the garden shall be a forest;” Isaiah 32:15, 16 Isaiah 32:16; Jeremiah 2:27, “I brought you forth אֶל־אֶרֶץ הַכַּרְמֶל into a land like a garden, that ye might eat the fruit thereof,” Isai. 10:18 16:10 Jeremiah 48:33; 2 Chronicles 26:10 with suff. כַּרְמִלּוֹ 2 Kings 19:23 used of Lebanon, יַעַר כַּרְמִלּוֹ “its forest like a garden,” that is, the nursery of cedars in the recesses of Lebanon.

(2) meton. it appears to denote garden fruits, as being earlier and of finer quality; just as we cultivate the better and earlier species of fruits and legumes in gardens, and prefer such to those of the fields. Thus I understand גֶּרֶשׂ כַּרְמֶל Leviticus 2:14, i.e. grits, corns, polenta, early grain; and thus by an ellipsis of a common word, כַּרְמֶל Levit. 23:14 2 Kings 4:42. In both the passages in Leviticus ג׳ כַּרְמֶל are offered on the altar with bread of the first fruits, with which it is also joined; 2 Ki. loc. cit.; and perhaps we may understand groats, polenta (ἄλφιτα), made from the fresh and early grain by rubbing out and skinning (frifche Weizen-und Gerftengrüße), for which, as an offering to God, they would take the best and earliest of that grown in the gardens. The interpretation given by Hebrew writers is thus not absurd, but opens the way to the truth, שבלת רכה ולחה a fresh and tender ear of corn (not a green ear).

(3) [Carmel], pr.n.

(a) of a very fertile promontory, situated on the Mediterranean sea, on the southern border of the tribe of Asher: it commonly has the art. הַכַּרְמֶל Amos 1:2, 9:3 Jeremiah 4:26; Song of Solomon 7:6 fully הַר הַכַּרְמֶל (the mountain of the garden), 1 Kings 18:19, 20 1 Kings 18:20 without the art. Isaiah 33:9; Nahum 1:4; Joshua 19:26. Cant. loc. cit. ראֹשֵׁךְ עָלַיִךְ כַּכַּרְמֶל “thy head (is) like Carmel;” i.e. adorned with hair, as that mountain is with trees. Comp. Relandi Palæstina, page 327.

(b) of a town amongst the mountains to the west of the Dead Sea, where there is now el Kirmel [كُرمُل Kurmul. Robinson], a chalky mountain, Joshua 15:55; 1 Samuel 15:12, 25:5. See Relandi Palæstina, p. 695; Seetzen in v. Zach’s Monatlicher Correspondenz, t. 17, page 134.

The Gentile noun is כַּרְמְלִי 1 Samuel 30:5; 2 Samuel 23:35 fem. ־ִית 1 Samuel 27:3.

בַּכַּרְמֶ֥ל בכרמל הַכַּרְמֶ֔ל הַכַּרְמֶ֖ל הכרמל וְהַכַּרְמֶ֖ל וְהַכַּרְמֶ֖ל וְכַרְמִלּ֔וֹ וְכַרְמֶ֖ל וְכַרְמֶ֜ל והכרמל וכרמל וכרמלו כַּרְמִלּֽוֹ׃ כַּרְמֶ֔ל כרמל כרמלו׃ לַכַּרְמֶ֑ל לַכַּרְמֶ֔ל לכרמל מִכַּרְמֶ֖ל מכרמל bak·kar·mel bakkarmel hak·kar·mel hakkarmel kar·mel kar·mil·lōw karmel karmilLo karmillōw lak·kar·mel lakkarmel mik·kar·mel mikkarmel vecharMel vecharmilLo vehakkarMel wə·hak·kar·mel wə·ḵar·mel wə·ḵar·mil·lōw wəhakkarmel wəḵarmel wəḵarmillōw