Bible Dictionary: Paint

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Smith's Bible Dictionary

Paint

(as a cosmetic). The use of cosmetic dyes has prevailed in all ages in eastern countries. We have abundant evidence of the practice of painting the eyes both in ancient Egypt and in Assyria; and in modern times no usage is more general. It does not appear, however, to have been by any means universal among the Hebrews. The notices of it are few; and in each instance it seems to have been used as a meretricious art, unworthy of a woman of high character. The Bible gives no indication of the substance out of which the dye was formed. The old versions agree in pronouncing the dye to have been produced from antimony. Antimony is still used for the purpose in Arabia and in Persia, but in Egypt the kohl is a root produced by burning either a kind of frankincense or the shells of almonds. The dye-stuff was moistened with oil and kept in a small jar. Whether the custom of staining the hands and feet, particularly the nails, now so prevalent in the past, was known to the Hebrews is doubtful. Painting as an art was not cultivated by the Hebrews, but they decorated their buildings with paint.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Jezebel "painted her face" (2 Kings 9:30); and the practice of painting the face and the eyes seems to have been common (Jeremiah 4:30; Ezek. 23:40). An allusion to this practice is found in the name of Job's daughter (42:14) Kerenhappuch (q.v.). Paintings in the modern sense of the word were unknown to the ancient Jews.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (v. t.) To cover with coloring matter; to apply paint to; as, to paint a house, a signboard, etc.

2. (v. t.) Fig.: To color, stain, or tinge; to adorn or beautify with colors; to diversify with colors.

3. (v. t.) To form in colors a figure or likeness of on a flat surface, as upon canvas; to represent by means of colors or hues; to exhibit in a tinted image; to portray with paints; as, to paint a portrait or a landscape.

4. (v. t.) Fig.: To represent or exhibit to the mind; to describe vividly; to delineate; to image; to depict.

5. (v. t.) To practice the art of painting; as, the artist paints well.

6. (v. t.) To color one's face by way of beautifying it.

7. (n.) A pigment or coloring substance.

8. (n.) The same prepared with a vehicle, as oil, water with gum, or the like, for application to a surface.

9. (n.) A cosmetic; rouge.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

PAINT

pant (from Old French peinctre, frequentative of peindre, Latin pingo, "to paint"):

(1) From Hebrew verb mashach, "to smear," "to anoint," "to paint," describing the painting of interiors with vermilion, perhaps resembling lacquer: "ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion" (Jeremiah 22:14). The shields of the Ninevite soldiers were red, presumably painted (Nahum 2:3).

(2) From noun pukh, "paint," "antimon," "stibium," "black mineral powder" used as a cosmetic, to lend artificial size and fancied beauty to the eye, always spoken of as a meretricious device, indicating light or unworthy character. Jezebel "painted her eyes, and attired her head" (2 Kings 9:30, literally, "put pukh into her eyes"). To the harlot city Jerusalem, Jeremiah (4:30) says, "deckest thee...., enlargest thine eyes with paint" (pukh). the King James Version renders "rentest thy face," as if the stain were a cut, or the enlarging done by violence.

(3) From verb kachal, "to smear," "to paint." Ezekiel says to Oholah-Oholibah (Judah-Israel), "didst wash thyself, paint (kachal) thine eyes," as the adulteress prepares herself for her paramour (Ezekiel 23:40). The antimony, in an extremely fine powder (Arabic kuchl, from kachal), is placed in the eye by means of a very fine rod, bodkin, or probe, drawn between the edges of the eyelids. This distends the eye, and also increases its apparent size, the effect being increased by a line of stain drawn from the corner, and by a similar line prolonging the eyebrow.

See EYEPAINT; COLOR.

Philip Wendell Crannell

Greek

3392. miaino -- to stain, defile
... 3392 -- properly, to (with paint or dye); (figuratively) to (defile) the soul, ie
like when sin taints by its polluting effects ("moral, spiritual stains"). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3392.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

3583. kachal -- to paint
... kachal. 3584 . to paint. Transliteration: kachal Phonetic Spelling: (kaw-khal')
Short Definition: painted. ... root Definition to paint NASB Word Usage painted (1) ...
/hebrew/3583.htm - 5k

4886. mashach -- to smear, anoint
... anoint, paint. A primitive root; to rub with oil, ie To anoint; by implication,
to consecrate; also to paint -- anoint, paint. 4885, 4886. mashach. 4887 . ...
/hebrew/4886.htm - 6k

6320. puk -- antimony, stibium
... Word Origin perhaps of foreign origin Definition antimony, stibium NASB Word Usage
antimony (2), paint (1), painted* (1). fair colors, glistering, painted. ...
/hebrew/6320.htm - 6k

7167. qara -- to tear
... A primitive root; to rend, literally or figuratively (revile, paint the eyes, as
if enlarging them) -- cut out, rend, X surely, tear. 7166, 7167. ...
/hebrew/7167.htm - 6k

7760. sum -- to put, place, set
... disguise, dispose, do, get, give, heap up, hold, impute, lay (down, up), leave,
look, make (out), mark, + name, X on, ordain, order, + paint, place, preserve ...
/hebrew/7760.htm - 7k

Library

The Church of Notre Dame De Lorette in Paris with Its Yellow ...
... The Church of Notre Dame de Lorette in Paris with its yellow stucco columns, and
its hideous excess of paint and gilding, might be a ball-room designed after ...
/.../corelli/the master-christian/xiii the church of notre.htm

The Second Commandment
... John 4:24. Ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake with you
out of the midst of the fire.' Deuteronomy 4:15. How can any paint the Deity? ...
/.../watson/the ten commandments/2 2 the second commandment.htm

Against Embellishing the Body.
... But if one withdraw the veil of the temple, I mean the head-dress, the dye, the
clothes, the gold, the paint, the cosmetics,"that is, the web consisting of ...
/.../clement/the instructor paedagogus/chapter ii against embellishing the body.htm

Cutting Corners
... But the principal thing to notice about those curbs is that you will often find
on them the paint, sometimes red and sometimes black or yellow, scratched off ...
/.../chidley/fifty-two story talks to boys and girls/cutting corners.htm

It is the Same in the Case of Girls. ...
... the bygone duchesses who were scarcely successful when they painted Melrose Abbey,
were so much more weak-minded than the modern duchesses who paint only their ...
/.../chesterton/whats wrong with the world/chapter 41 it is the.htm

Jesus and the Bethany Sisters.
... He wondered why it was, and realized that it was because, in his eagerness
to paint his pictures, he had neglected his duty of serving. ...
/.../miller/personal friendships of jesus/chapter x jesus and the.htm

The Story of a Divine Tragedy
... One was bemarked with clay; the other was stained with paint. ... "Well enough," the
woman with paint on her tunic put in; "she sent the monster packing. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/miller/the city of delight/chapter x the story of.htm

The Lesson of Memory
... better spirit, said, and a great deal more truly, 'The God that fed me all my life
long, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil.' Do not paint like Rembrandt ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture f/the lesson of memory.htm

What God Is
... There is outward idolatry and there is inward, there is idolatry in action, when
men paint or engrave some similitude of God, and there is idolatry in ...
/.../binning/the works of the rev hugh binning/lecture x what god is.htm

The Errors of the Arians are Mentioned in the Nicene Definition of ...
... be included in the record of their decrees, in order that the unbelief of Arius
should discover itself, and not, as it were, mask itself with dye or face-paint ...
/.../ambrose/works and letters of st ambrose/chapter xviii the errors of.htm

Thesaurus

Paint (3 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary. 1. (vt) To cover with coloring matter; to apply paint
to; as, to paint a house, a signboard, etc. ... Standard Bible Encyclopedia. PAINT. ...
/p/paint.htm - 10k

Color (18 Occurrences)
... spirits; ruddy complexion. 4. (n.) That which is used to give color; a paint;
a pigment; as, oil colors or water colors. 5. (n.) That ...
/c/color.htm - 39k

Kerenhappuch (1 Occurrence)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Horn of the face-paint = cosmetic-box, the name of Job's
third daughter (Job 42:14), born after prosperity had returned to him. Int. ...
/k/kerenhappuch.htm - 7k

Keren-happuch (1 Occurrence)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Horn of the face-paint = cosmetic-box, the name of Job's
third daughter (Job 42:14), born after prosperity had returned to him. Int. ...
/k/keren-happuch.htm - 7k

Decorate (5 Occurrences)
... art spoiled, what doest thou, that thou clothest thyself with scarlet, that thou
deckest thee with ornaments of gold, that thou enlargest thine eyes with paint...
/d/decorate.htm - 8k

Painted (4 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (imp. & pp) of Paint. 2. (a.) Covered or adorned
with paint; portrayed in colors. 3. (a.) Marked with ...
/p/painted.htm - 7k

Brush (1 Occurrence)
... Brushes have different shapes and names according to their use; as, clothes brush,
paint brush, tooth brush, etc. 2. (n.) The bushy tail of a fox. ...
/b/brush.htm - 8k

Colors (12 Occurrences)
... painting the eyes. Hence, the American Revised Version, margin rendering
"antimony" instead of "fair colors" (see PAINT). In Ezekiel ...
/c/colors.htm - 36k

Painting (5 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Paint. ... 4. (n.) Color laid on; paint.
5. (n.) A depicting by words; vivid representation in words. Int. ...
/p/painting.htm - 9k

Ornaments (50 Occurrences)
... Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold,
though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself ...
/o/ornaments.htm - 22k

Bible Concordance

Paint (3 Occurrences)

2 Kings 9:30 When Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window.
(Root in WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Jeremiah 4:30 You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 23:40 Furthermore you have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you did wash yourself, paint your eyes, and decorate yourself with ornaments,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Paint

Related Terms

Color (18 Occurrences)

Kerenhappuch (1 Occurrence)

Keren-happuch (1 Occurrence)

Decorate (5 Occurrences)

Painted (4 Occurrences)

Brush (1 Occurrence)

Colors (12 Occurrences)

Painting (5 Occurrences)

Ornaments (50 Occurrences)