Apple

Apple appears in the King James Version as the translation of the Hebrew tappuah, meaning “fragrance,” though scholars widely hold that the true apple (Malus domestica) did not flourish in the climate of ancient Palestine and that the apricot or quince is the more likely referent. The tappuah tree is celebrated in the Song of Solomon for its shade and sweet fruit (Song 2:3; 8:5), and appears in Joel 1:12 in a lament over withered orchards. Proverbs 25:11 uses the image of golden apples in silver settings as a metaphor for a well-spoken word.

The phrase “apple of the eye” (Heb. ishon, literally the “little man” visible in the pupil) appears in Deuteronomy 32:10, Psalm 17:8, Proverbs 7:2, and Zechariah 2:8 as a figure for something infinitely precious and carefully protected. This idiom—applied to Israel as the object of God's protective care and to the law as the object of personal devotion—has passed into English idiom through the King James translation and remains in common use today.