Plain flour

Flour was the product of grinding kernels of grain. The grains most commonly used were wheat or barley. Flour was the main ingredient of bread, which was the staple food in ancient times (see Bread).

In Hebrew there are two words that refer to ground grain. The first word soleth refers to a kind of semolina or coarser wheat flour. It is a product that is less finely ground than the flour referred to by the second word qemach. However, the first type was considered a more sumptuous kind of flour, used primarily in ritual offerings. The second type, on the other hand, was just ordinary flour (made from barley or wheat) and was rarely used in offerings to God. In translation the primary focus should not be on the fineness of the grinding, but on the high quality of the one type of flour as opposed to the commonness of the other type. If the translator has trouble finding corresponding terminology, it is possible to use an ordinary word for the common flour or meal and the same word qualified by “best” or “finest” for the more luxurious product (compare NJPSV “choice flour”). In some languages “wheat flour” is rendered “ground wheat” or “powdered wheat.”