Dictionaries :: Bracelet

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Bracelet:

(1.) Anklets (Num 31:50; 2Sa 1:10), and with reference to men.

(2.) The rendering of a Hebrew word meaning fasteners, found in Gen 24:22, 30, 47.

(3.) In Isa 3:19, the rendering of a Hebrew word meaning chains, i.e., twisted or chain-like bracelets.

(4.) In Exd 35:22 it designates properly a clasp for fastening the dress of females. Some interpret it as a nose-ring.

(5.) In Gen 38:18, 25, the rendering of a Hebrew word meaning "thread," and may denote the ornamental cord with which the signet was suspended from the neck of the wearer.

Bracelets were worn by men as well as by women (Sgs 5:14, R.V.). They were of many various forms. The weight of those presented by Eliezer to Rebekah was ten shekels (Gen 24:22).

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Bracelet:

bras'-let ('ets‘adhah, chach, tsamidh, pathil, sheroth): Used to translate a number of Hebrew words, only one of which means a band for the arm ('ets‘adhah), as in 2Sa 1:10, "the bracelet that was on his arm." In Ex 35:22, where both men and women are said to have brought as offerings among other "jewels of gold" "bracelets" (the Revised Version (British and American) "brooches"), another word (chach) is used, meaning most likely nose-rings (see RING). The bracelet asked of Judah by Tamar as a pledge ("Thy signet, and thy b., and thy staff that is in thy hand," Ge 38:18,25 the King James Version) was probably the cord of softly-twisted wool for the shepherd's headdress (pathil; the Revised Version (British and American) "cord"). The bracelets ("two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold") which Abraham's servant gave to Rebekah stand for still another word (tsamidh). These "bracelets" are always spoken of as "bracelets for the hands," or as "put upon the hands" (Ge 24:47, compare Eze 16:11; 23:42). Isaiah, predicting the day when Yahweh will smite the haughty daughters of Zion, who "walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet," says, "In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets.... the bracelets" (Eze 3:19, sheroth) etc., where some translate "twisted ornaments," leaving it uncertain as to just what is specifically meant. In 2Sa 1:10 the bracelet appears with the crown as one of the royal insignia. In 2Ki 11:12, according to Wellhausen, W. R. Smith (OTJC2, 311n.) and oth ers, we should read, "Then he brought out the king's son, and put the crown upon him and gave him bracelets"... for "testimony"... See DB.

Today, as of old, the bracelet is multiform and a favorite ornament in the East. It is made of gold, silver, copper, brass, glass and even enameled earthenware, and in many designs: flat band, plain ring, interlinked rings, as well as of twisted wires, connected squares, solid or perforated, with or without pendants (Mackie).

When owned by women, bracelets had the special the commendation, along with other jewelry, of being inalienable-not to be taken by the husband in case of divorce, nor seized and sold for his debts. "Even now," says Rice (Orientalisms, etc., 41), "in Moslem lands a woman may be divorced without legal process, at the freak of her husband, but she can carry away undisputed any amount of gold, silver, jewels, precious stones, or apparel that she has loaded on her person; so she usually wears all her treasures on her person, not knowing when the fateful word may be spoken."

Written by George B. Eager

Nave's Topical Bible

Bracelet: Present Of

Gen 24:22

Bracelet: Worn By

Women,

Gen 24:30; Isa 3:19;

by men,

Gen 38:18, 25.

Bracelet: Dedicated to the Tabernacle

Exd 35:22; Num 31:50

Bracelet: Taken as Spoils

Num 31:50; 2Sa 1:10

Bracelet: Figurative

Eze 16:11

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Bracelet:

Bracelets of fine twisted Venetian gold are still common in Egypt. In Genesis 38:18; 38:25 the word rendered "bracelet" means probably a string by which a seal‐ring was suspended. Men as well as women wore bracelets, as we see from Solomon 5:14. Layard says of the Assyrian kings, "The arms were encircled by armlets, and the wrists by bracelets." SEE [ARMLET].