Corn

Corn in the King James Bible translates several Hebrew and Greek words referring to cultivated grain crops rather than the New World maize. The primary Hebrew term dagan (Genesis 27:28; Numbers 18:27; Deuteronomy 28:51) is a collective term for grain in general — wheat, barley, and millet — which formed the dietary staple of ancient Israel. Other Hebrew terms include bar (threshed grain, Genesis 41:35), shever (grain for purchase, Genesis 42:1), and karmel (fresh grain, Leviticus 23:14).

Grain production and storage was central to ancient Near Eastern economies, and the biblical narrative returns repeatedly to grain in contexts of blessing, famine, tribute, and provision. Joseph's management of Egyptian grain reserves during the famine (Genesis 41–42) is the most extended biblical treatment. The New Covenant use of grain is primarily symbolic: Jesus describes himself as the grain of wheat that must fall into the earth and die to bear much fruit (John 12:24), and grain provides the substance of the Eucharistic bread instituted at the Last Supper.