H3835 — לָבַן (lâban)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H3835
Original: לָבַן
Transliteration: lâban
Pronunciation: law-ban'
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: Primitive root; also denominative from H3836 (lâbân, "white")
Occurrences: 8 unique verses in OT
Books: 6
First Occurrence: Gen 11:3 — "Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; also as denominative from H3836 — to be (or become) white; to make bricks: — make brick, be (made, make) white(-r).

The verb carries two distinct uses derived from the same root: (1) the concrete activity of making bricks (related to lebênâh, H3843 — a brick, pale/clay-colored object) and (2) the state or process of becoming/making white (sharing the root with the adjective lâbân, H3836). In form, brick-making uses the Qal stem; whitening uses the Hiphil and Hithpael.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	3	make brick (Gen 11:3; Exo 5:7, 5:14)
Hiphil	4	make white, whiten (Isa 1:18; Joel 1:7; Ps 51:7; Dan 11:35)
Hithpael	1	be made white, become white (Dan 12:10)

Tallied from hebrew_parser.py --lemma output.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
white / whiter / be white / made white / are made white	5	62.5%
make brick / making brick / in making brick	3	37.5%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Joel	1	1.4
Daniel	2	0.6
Exodus	2	0.2
Genesis	1	0.1
Isaiah	1	0.1
Psalms	1	0.04

Pattern: The word splits cleanly by stem and context. The three Qal (brick-making) occurrences are concentrated in the Pentateuch (Tower of Babel and Egyptian slavery narratives). The five whitening usages appear in prophetic/poetic texts — two in Daniel's eschatological purification sequence, one each in Isaiah, Psalms, and Joel. Joel 1:7 is the only physical whitening (stripped bark); the rest are moral-spiritual.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Brick-Making — Labor and Construction (Qal)¶

The Qal stem refers entirely to the physical work of making clay bricks — the raw material of ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian architecture. Both contexts carry theological weight: Babel's bricks represent human ambition; Egypt's bricks represent oppression.

Gen 11:3 — "Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter." (Tower of Babel — human defiance)
Exo 5:7 — "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves." (Pharaoh's increased oppression)
Exo 5:14 — "Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?" (Officers beaten for shortfall)

2. Moral/Spiritual Whitening — Divine Purification (Hiphil/Hithpael)¶

The Hiphil and Hithpael forms describe a process of becoming white as a metaphor for purification from sin, or eschatological refinement. This is the dominant usage in prophetic literature and closely linked to refining (H6884 tsaraph) and purging (H1305 barar) — the Daniel 11–12 triad.

Isa 1:18 — "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Divine offer of forgiveness)
Psa 51:7 — "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." (David's penitential prayer)
Dan 11:35 — "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end." (Eschatological testing of the faithful)
Dan 12:10 — "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly." (Hithpael — the people themselves are whitened through the process)

3. Physical Whitening — Stripped Bare (Hiphil)¶

Joel's use is literal: fire or locusts stripping bark from branches leaves them bleached/white. The image reinforces the completeness of devastation.

Joel 1:7 — "He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white."

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
לְבֵנָה (lebênâh)	H3843	2x	"make brick" (lâban) alongside "a brick" (lebênâh) — Babel and Egypt
שֶׁלֶג (sheleg)	H7950	2x	"white as/than snow" — the whitening comparison in Isa 1:18 and Ps 51:7
צָרַף (tsaraph)	H6884	2x	"refine/try + make white" — Daniel purification triad (Dan 11:35; 12:10)
בָּרַר (barar)	H1305	2x	"purge + make white" — Daniel purification triad (Dan 11:35; 12:10)

Word Family / Cognates¶

H3836 לָבָן (lâbân) — adjective "white" (29 vv): the parent form from which the denominative verb is derived; used extensively in Leviticus 13 (skin disease diagnostics) and Genesis 30 (Laban's speckled sheep)
H3843 לְבֵנָה (lebênâh) — noun "brick" (10 vv): the concrete object from which the Qal brick-making sense derives; appears as a direct collocation with H3835 in Babel and Exodus contexts
H3839 לִבְנֶה (libneh) — noun "white poplar tree" (2 vv; Gen 30:37; Hos 4:13): another denominative from the same white-root

Synonyms¶

H1305 בָּרַר (bârar) — purify, refine; overlaps with lâban in Daniel's purification sequence.
H2891 טָהֵר (ṭâhêr) — be clean, cleanse; overlaps in cleansing and whitening contexts.
H6884 צָרַף (tsaraph) — refine, smelt, test; close parallel where whitening is part of a refining process.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H3835.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
לָבָן (lâbân)	H3836	both translated "white"	H3836 is the adjective (state of whiteness); H3835 is the verb (action of whitening or making bricks). H3836 dominates in Leviticus and Zechariah; H3835 appears in the prophetic/purification contexts

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002001001015	Color	Covers the literal whitening sense of the verb.
002003003015	Innocent	Fits moral purification texts where whiteness signifies cleanness.
002001003014	Right	Tracks the ethical rectitude implied in "made white" purification contexts.
002002002005	Exist	Reflects the stative side of the verb, "be white / become white."

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
λευκαίνω (leukaínō)	G3021	3	11.05	"to whiten, make white" — verbal cognate of λευκός (white); the natural LXX rendering for the whitening sense

Only 3 co-occurrences documented; the Qal brick-making sense has no LXX equivalent using this root.