Bible Dictionary: Slime

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Smith's Bible Dictionary

Slime

translated bitumen in the Vulgate. The three instances in which it is mentioned in the Old Testament are illustrated by travellers and historians. It is first spoken of as used for cement by the builders in the plain of Shinar or Babylonia. (Genesis 11:3) The bitumen pits in the vale of Siddim are mentioned in the ancient fragment of Canaanitish history, (Genesis 14:10) and the ark of papyrus in which Moses was placed was made impervious to water by a coating of bitumen and pitch. (Exodus 2:3) Herodotus, i. 179, tells us of the bitumen found at Is, the modern Heet , a town of Babylonia, eight days journey from Babylon. (Bitumen, or asphalt, is "the product of the decomposition of vegetable and animal substances. It is usually found of a black or brownish-black color, externally not unlike coal, but it varies in a consistency from a bright, pitchy condition, with a conchoidal fracture, to thick, viscid masses of mineral tar." --Encyc. Brit. In this last state it is called in the Bible slime, and is of the same nature as our petroleum, but thicker, and hardens into asphalt. It is obtained in various places in Europe, and even now occasionally from the Dead Sea. --ED.)

ATS Bible Dictionary

Slime

See PITCH, and SEA3

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Genesis 11:3; LXX., "asphalt;" R.V. marg., "bitumen"). The vale of Siddim was full of slime pits (14:10). Jochebed daubed the "ark of bulrushes" with slime (Exodus 2:3). (see PITCH.)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) Soft, moist earth or clay, having an adhesive quality; viscous mud.

2. (n.) Any mucilaginous substance; any substance of a dirty nature, that is moist, soft, and adhesive.

3. (n.) Bitumen.

4. (n.) Mud containing metallic ore, obtained in the preparatory dressing.

5. (n.) A mucus like substance which exudes from the bodies of certain animals.

6. (v. t.) To smear with slime.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

SLIME; SLIME PITS

slim, slim'-pits (chemar; Septuagint asphaltos; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) bitumen; the Revised Version margin "bitumen"; compare Arabic chummar, "bitumen"; and compare chomer, "clay," "mortar"): In the account of the ark in Genesis 6:14, kopher Septuagint asphaltos; Vulgate: bitumen; compare Arabic kufr, "pitch") does not necessarily denote vegetable pitch, but may well mean bitumen. The same may be said of zepheth, "pitch" (compare Arabic zift, "pitch"), in Exodus 2:3 and Isaiah 34:9. The word "slime" occurs in the following passages: "And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar" (Genesis 11:3); "Now the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits" (Genesis 14:10, margin "bitumen pits"); "She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch" (Exodus 2:3).

Bitumen is a hydrocarbon allied to petroleum and natural gas. It is a lustrous black solid, breaking with a conchoidal fracture, burning with a yellow flame, and melting when ignited. It is probably derived from natural gas and petroleum by a process of oxidation and evaporation, and its occurrence may be taken as a sign that other hydrocarbons are or have been present in the strata. It is found in small lumps and larger masses in the cretaceous limestone on the west side of the Dead Sea, and there is reason to believe that considerable quantities of it rise to the surface of the Dead Sea during earthquakes. In ancient times it was exported to Egypt to be used in embalming mummies. Important mines of it exist at Chasbeiya near Mt. Hermon and in North Syria. Springs of liquid bituminous matter exist in Mesopotamia, where according to Herodotus and other classical writers it was used as mortar with sun-dried bricks. Various conjectures have been made as to the part played by bitumen in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Diodorus Siculus calls the Dead Sea limne asphalstitis, "lake of asphalt."

See SIDDIM; CITIES OF THE PLAIN.

Alfred Ely Day

Strong's Hebrew

7388a. rir -- to flow (like slime)
... rir. 7388b . to flow (like slime). Transliteration: rir Short Definition: flow. ...
root Definition to flow (like slime) NASB Word Usage flow (1). 7388, 7388a. ...
/hebrew/7388a.htm - 5k

7388. riyr -- to flow (like slime)
... 7387, 7388. riyr. 7388a . to flow (like slime). Transliteration: riyr Phonetic
Spelling: (reer) Short Definition: spittle. spittle, white of an egg ...
/hebrew/7388.htm - 5k

8602. taphel -- tasteless, unseasoned
... From an unused root meaning to smear; plaster (as gummy) or slime; (figuratively)
frivolity -- foolish things, unsavoury, untempered. 8601, 8602. ...
/hebrew/8602.htm - 5k

2564. chemar -- bitumen, asphalt
... slimepit. From chamar; bitumen (as rising to the surface) -- slime(-pit). see HEBREW
chamar. 2563c, 2564. chemar. 2565 . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/2564.htm - 6k

7642. shabluwl -- a snail
... snail From the same as shebel; a snail (as if floating in its own slime) -- snail.
see HEBREW shebel. 7641, 7642. shabluwl. 7642a . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/7642.htm - 5k

Library

Whether the Body of the First Man was Made of the Slime of the ...
... THE PRODUCTION OF THE FIRST MAN'S BODY (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether the body of
the first man was made of the slime of the earth? Objection ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether the body of the.htm

Grace and Truth Coupled.
... The slime of sin and low passion, of selfishness and indulgence and self-ambition,
oozes over everything in full sight. The man's in the gutter. ...
/.../gordon/quiet talks on johns gospel/grace and truth coupled.htm

The Motive that Led Men to Adopt Darwinism.
... that the original man, as such, no matter how rough and unformed, but still a man,
sprang immediately out of the inorganic, out of the sea or the slime of the ...
/.../the motive that led men.htm

Andromeda
... Up to the hillside vines, and the pastures skirting the woodland, Inland the floods
came yearly; and after the waters a monster, Bred of the slime, like the ...
//christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/andromeda and other poems/andromeda.htm

Two Ways of Rising
... When it rises from the muddy pool, the stagnant pond, or the filthy gutter, it rises
pure and clean, leaving behind the mud, the slime, the offensive odors ...
//christianbookshelf.org/naylor/heart talks/talk fifty-four two ways of.htm

Whether Woman Should have Been Made from Man?
... species. Therefore, as man was made of the slime of the earth, so woman should
have been made of the same, and not from man. Objection ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether woman should have been.htm

Whether the Woman was Formed Immediately by God?
... of nature. Therefore God alone could produce either a man from the slime
of the earth, or a woman from the rib of man. Reply to ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether the woman was formed.htm

Whether the Human Body was Immediately Produced by God?
... angels' power, as, for instance, raising the dead, or giving sight to the blind:
and by this power He formed the body of the first man from the slime of the ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether the human body was.htm

Species, or Units of Nature.
... The pulpy mass of flesh, or moneron, from which so much has been "evolved" was the
result of "the sun's rays falling upon the sea slime," and was and is a ...
/.../species or units of nature.htm

Whether the Mother of God was a virgin in Conceiving Christ?
... Consequently, just as it was possible for the first man to be produced, by the Divine
power, "from the slime of the earth," so too was it possible for Christ's ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether the mother of god 2.htm

Thesaurus

Slime (6 Occurrences)
... The vale of Siddim was full of slime pits (14:10). Jochebed daubed the "ark of
bulrushes" with slime (Exodus 2:3). (see PITCH.). ... 6. (vt) To smear with slime. ...
/s/slime.htm - 11k

Slime-pits (1 Occurrence)
Slime-pits. Slime, Slime-pits. Slimy . Multi-Version Concordance
Slime-pits (1 Occurrence). Genesis 14:10 And the vale ...
/s/slime-pits.htm - 6k

Pits (13 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia SLIME; SLIME PITS. slim, slim'-pits (chemar;
Septuagint asphaltos; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible ...
/p/pits.htm - 13k

Slimy (1 Occurrence)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary (superl.) of or pertaining to slime; resembling slime;
of the nature of slime; viscous; glutinous; also, covered or daubed with slime...
/s/slimy.htm - 6k

Siddim (3 Occurrences)
... It was "full of slime-pits" (RV, "bitumen pits"). Here Chedorlaomer and the confederate
kings overthrew the kings of Sodom and the cities of the plain. ...
/s/siddim.htm - 14k

Pitch (25 Occurrences)
... (Genesis 6:14), asphalt or bitumen in its soft state, called "slime" (Genesis
11:3; 14:10; Exodus 2:3), found in pits near the Dead Sea (qv). ... (see SLIME.). ...
/p/pitch.htm - 18k

Daub (3 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (vt) To smear with soft, adhesive matter, as
pitch, slime, mud, etc.; to plaster; to bedaub; to besmear. ...
/d/daub.htm - 8k

Bitumen (3 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Genesis 11:3, RV, margin, rendered in the AV "slime"),
a mineral pitch. ... See also Exodus 2:3.) (see SLIME.). Noah Webster's Dictionary. ...
/b/bitumen.htm - 8k

Bulrushes (3 Occurrences)
...Slime (chemar, "bitumen"), pitch (zepheth, "pitch") was probably the sticky mud
of the Nile with which to this day so many things in Egypt are plastered. ...
/b/bulrushes.htm - 10k

Chalkstone
... more commonly used in building. Even bitumen ("slime") appears to have been
used for mortar. See CLAY; LIME; SLIME. Alfred Ely Day. ...
/c/chalkstone.htm - 8k

Bible Concordance

Slime (6 Occurrences)

Genesis 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
(KJV JPS ASV WBS)

Genesis 14:10 And the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
(KJV JPS ASV WBS)

Exodus 2:3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
(KJV JPS ASV WBS)

Job 6:6 Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
(See RSV)

Job 9:31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me.
(See NIV)

Psalms 58:8 Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
(See RSV)

Subtopics

Slime

Slime Pits

Slime used at Babel

Slime used in Noah's Ark

Slime used in the Ark (Small Basket) of Moses when he Was an Infant

Slime: Flammable

Slime: The Valley of Siddim Afforded

Related Terms