Lexical Summary
chomer: Clay, mortar, heap, mire, cement
Original Word: חֹמֶר
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: chomer
Pronunciation: kho'-mer
Phonetic Spelling: (kho'mer)
KJV: clay, heap, homer, mire, motion
Word Origin: [from H2560 (חָמַר - To boil up)]
1. (properly) a bubbling up, i.e. of water, a wave
2. of earth, mire or clay (cement)
3. also a heap
4. (hence) a chomer or dry measure
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
clay, heap, homer, mire, motion
From chamar; properly, a bubbling up, i.e. Of water, a wave; of earth, mire or clay (cement); also a heap; hence, a chomer or dry measure -- clay, heap, homer, mire, motion.
see HEBREW chamar
Brown-Driver-Briggs
I. ; — absolute
Genesis 11:3 13t.; construct
Isaiah 10:6 2t.; —
mortar, cement for holding building-stones (brick) together Genesis 11:3 (J), Exodus 1:14 (P; both "" ); Nahum 3:14 ("" ).
clay:
Jeremiah 18:4,6, Isaiah 29:16, in simile of God's fashioning man Isaiah 45:9; Isaiah 64:7; Job 10:9; as material of human bodies Job 4:19; compare Job 33:6; as material of bulwarks (disparagingly) Job 13:12; = seal-clay i.e. clay upon which seal is pressed.
= mire Isaiah 10:6; Job 30:19 he hath cast me into the mire, i.e. deeply humiliated me ( and in "" clause); as simile of commonness, abundance Job 27:16 ("" ).
II. (compare 1. ) — construct Habakkuk 3:15 a heap of great waters ("" ) — but text dubious, see I. ; plural Exodus 8:10 (J), of dead frogs gathered in heaps.
III. , a dry measure (perhaps from above √, but dubious; compare Assyrian amâru, surround, contain, II. R Exodus 36:19 a. b Strm4760, Imêru, a measure ZimBP 6 n) — absolute Isaiah 5:10 5t. Ezekiel; construct Hosea 3:2 3t.; plural Numbers 11:32; — of barley Hosea 3:2; Ezekiel 45:13, compare Leviticus 27:16 i.e. land on which a of barley seed was sown (taxed at 50 shekels); of wheat Ezekiel 45:13; in General Isaiah 5:10; = 10 ephahs (or baths, see below ) Ezekiel 45:11 (3 t. in verse); Ezekiel 45:14 (twice in verse) (in Ezekiel 45:14 strike out Co); on actual size of , = 393.9 litres, see HultschMetrol. 2nd ed. 448, 452f. See further II. and references, BenzArch 183 f NowArch. i, 203 f.
Topical Lexicon
Range and Context of Usage חֹמֶר occurs about thirty-three times in the Old Testament and falls into two main spheres of meaning: (1) a physical substance—clay, mortar, mire, or a pile of earth; and (2) a unit of dry capacity (the “homer,” roughly ten ephahs or about six bushels). Whether describing pliable earth or large measures of grain, the word consistently conveys ideas of mass, weight, and moldability.
Clay in the Hands of the Potter
• Job 10:9; 33:6; 38:14; Isaiah 29:16; 41:25; 64:8 all connect חֹמֶר with the creative sovereignty of God. “Please remember that You molded me like clay” (Job 10:9) underscores the creature–Creator distinction, while Isaiah 64:8 affirms both divine authority and covenant intimacy: “We are the clay, and You are our potter.”
• The imagery rebukes human arrogance: “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘He did not make me’?” (Isaiah 29:16). The same picture later anchors Paul’s argument in Romans 9:20–21 regarding God’s right to shape vessels for His purposes.
• Pastoral implication: preaching on these texts calls believers to humble submission and comfort; the God who shapes also restores broken vessels.
Mire, Mortar, and the Burden of Bondage
• Exodus 1:14 introduces חֹמֶר as mortar in Pharaoh’s brickworks: “They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in mortar and brick.” Israel’s slavery is literally cemented in clay—an apt picture of sin’s bondage.
• Nahum 3:14 and Isaiah 41:25 use the same substance in warfare motifs: besieged Nineveh is told, “work the clay,” while the conqueror God raises up “treads princes down as mortar.” Clay becomes an image of humanity crushed when it resists the Lord.
• Psalm 40:2 offers the gospel counterpart: “He lifted me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay.” The very substance of oppression becomes the stage for deliverance.
Homer as a Measure of Provision and Accountability
• Agriculture: Leviticus 27:16 values land “at fifty shekels of silver per homer of barley seed.” Isaiah 5:10 laments covenant curses: “a homer of seed will yield only an ephah.” God regulates both abundance and scarcity.
• Military and civil supply: Numbers 11:32 records Israel gathering “no less than ten homers” of quail; Hosea 3:2 prices redemption at “a homer and a lethech of barley.” The measure therefore serves both generosity and judgment.
• Ezekiel 45:11–14 standardizes the homer within millennial temple economics, signaling future righteousness in commerce. Ministry application: Scripture expects integrity in weights and measures as an expression of holiness.
Heaps and Piles: Pride Brought Low
Job 27:16 pictures the wicked stockpiling wealth “like piles of clay.” What is amassed in earth is destined to return to earth. The same root idea appears in Habakkuk 2, where Babylon’s conquests become a “taunt” piled up for burning. Clay heaped high illustrates empty self-reliance.
Theological Synthesis
1. Dependence: Clay reminds every person of fragile origins—“dust and ashes” shaped only by divine breath.
2. Sovereignty: God alone determines form and function; human protest is irrational.
3. Redemption: The Lord rescues from the mire and, in Christ, re-forms vessels for honor (2 Timothy 2:21).
4. Stewardship: Accurate homers in Levitical law prefigure the Kingdom ethic of honest weights (Proverbs 11:1) and faithful use of resources (Luke 16:10).
Ministry and Discipleship Uses
• Counseling: Job’s clay imagery helps sufferers accept weakness while trusting the Potter’s purpose.
• Worship: Psalm 40 invites testimony songs that celebrate rescue from the “miry clay.”
• Social ethics: Teaching on fair homers challenges economic injustice and affirms God’s concern for marketplace holiness.
• Evangelism: Exodus 1 and Psalm 40 together frame the gospel—bondage in brick pits answered by deliverance that sets feet upon the Rock.
Summary
Whether as soft earth molded by a craftsman or as a large basket of grain weighed on the scales, חֹמֶר continually draws the reader to God’s mastery over matter, history, and human hearts. The One who works clay, judges false measures, and redeems from the mire is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Forms and Transliterations
בְּחֹ֙מֶר֙ בַּחֹ֖מֶר בַחֹ֖מֶר בחמר הַחֹ֖מֶר הַחֹ֙מֶר֙ החמר וְ֝כַחֹ֗מֶר וְחֹ֥מֶר וחמר וכחמר חֲמ֖וֹר חֲמֹרָתָ֑יִם חֳמָרִ֑ים חֳמָרִ֑ם חֳמָרִ֣ם חֹ֑מֶר חֹ֔מֶר חֹ֖מֶר חֹ֗מֶר חֹ֝֗מֶר חֹ֣מֶר חֹ֤מֶר חֹֽמֶר׃ חמור חמר חמר׃ חמרים חמרם חמרתים כְּחֹ֣מֶר כְּחֹ֥מֶר כַחֹ֙מֶר֙ כַחֹ֣מֶר כחמר לַחֹ֑מֶר לַחֹֽמֶר׃ לחמר לחמר׃ מֵ֝חֹ֗מֶר מֵחֹ֖מֶר מֵחֹ֣מֶר מחמר ba·ḥō·mer ḇa·ḥō·mer baChomer baḥōmer ḇaḥōmer bə·ḥō·mer beChomer bəḥōmer chaChomer chaMor chamoraTayim chomaRim Chomer ha·ḥō·mer ḥă·mō·rā·ṯā·yim ḥă·mō·wr haChomer haḥōmer ḥămōrāṯāyim ḥămōwr ḥo·mā·rim ḥo·mā·rîm ḥō·mer ḥomārim ḥomārîm ḥōmer ḵa·ḥō·mer ḵaḥōmer kə·ḥō·mer keChomer kəḥōmer la·ḥō·mer laChomer laḥōmer mê·ḥō·mer meChomer mêḥōmer vaChomer vechaChomer veChomer wə·ḥō·mer wə·ḵa·ḥō·mer wəḥōmer wəḵaḥōmer
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