Olive

An evergreen tree native to the Near East. Also the fruit of this tree, for which it is cultivated. The fruit can be eaten or pressed to produce oil for food or other uses.

Olive oil

Olives pressed to produce oil

Micah 6:15 See also Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 24:2; Numbers 28:5

You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.

Olive oil in food use

Ezekiel 16:13 See also Numbers 18:11–13; Deuteronomy 8:6–9; 1 Chronicles 27:28; 2 Chronicles 11:5–11; Job 29:4–6

So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be queen.

Olive oil used in the tabernacle

Leviticus 24:2 See also Exodus 25:1–7, Exodus 30:22–33, Exodus 35:4–9, Exodus 35:28

“Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

Offerings of olive oil

Exodus 29:38–41 See also Numbers 18:12–13, Numbers 28:3–8; Ezra 7:21–23; Ezekiel 16:19

This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old. Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight. With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with a quarter hin of oil from pressed olives, and a drink offering of a quarter hin of wine. And offer the second lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.

Payment, tribute and trade in olive oil

1 Kings 5:10–11 See also 2 Chronicles 2:8–10, 2 Chronicles 2:15–16; Hosea 12:1; Luke 16:1–8; Revelation 18:11–13

So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, and year after year Solomon would provide Hiram with 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, as well as 20,000 baths of pure olive oil.

Olive trees

Olive trees cultivated for their fruit

Haggai 2:19 See also Genesis 8:11; Deuteronomy 28:38–40; 2 Kings 18:31–32; Isaiah 41:19; Amos 4:9

Is there still seed in the barn? The vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet yielded fruit. But from this day on, I will bless you.”

Wild olive trees

Nehemiah 8:15 See also Romans 11:24

and that they should proclaim this message and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

Olive trees in visions

Revelation 11:3–6 See also Zechariah 4:1–14

And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

Metaphorical references to olive trees

Psalm 52:8 See also Judges 9:8–9; Job 15:33; Psalm 128:3; Isaiah 17:4–6, Isaiah 24:10–13; Jeremiah 11:16–17; Hosea 14:5–6; Romans 11:1–36 the grafting of olive trees

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever.

Olive groves

Exodus 23:10–11 See also Deuteronomy 6:10–11; Joshua 24:13; Judges 15:4–5; 1 Samuel 8:11–14; Nehemiah 5:9–11, Nehemiah 9:25; John 18:1–3

For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

Olive wood

1 Kings 6:23–28 See also 1 Kings 6:31–35

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood. One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits. The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape, and the height of each cherub was ten cubits. And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched. He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.