(א) וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר יְהֹוָ֔ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֖ן לֵאמֹֽר׃ (ב) זֹ֚את חֻקַּ֣ת הַתּוֹרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר דַּבֵּ֣ר ׀ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וְיִקְח֣וּ אֵלֶ֩יךָ֩ פָרָ֨ה אֲדֻמָּ֜ה תְּמִימָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר אֵֽין־בָּהּ֙ מ֔וּם אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹא־עָלָ֥ה עָלֶ֖יהָ עֹֽל׃
(1) The Eternal spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: (2) This is the ritual law that the Eternal has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid.
Quran Sura 2:69
They said, "Call upon your God to show us what is her colour." He said, "God says, 'It is a yellow cow, bright in colour - pleasing to the observers.' "
(ז) וַיִּ֩יצֶר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃
(7) the Eternal God formed the human from the dust of the earth. God blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living being.
(כב) וַיַּשְׁכִּ֣ימוּ בַבֹּ֔קֶר וְהַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁ זָרְחָ֣ה עַל־הַמָּ֑יִם וַיִּרְא֨וּ מוֹאָ֥ב מִנֶּ֛גֶד אֶת־הַמַּ֖יִם אֲדֻמִּ֥ים כַּדָּֽם׃
(22) Next morning, when they rose, the sun was shining over the water, and from the distance the water appeared to the Moabites as red as blood.
(יח) לְכוּ־נָ֛א וְנִוָּכְחָ֖ה יֹאמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֑ה אִם־יִהְי֨וּ חֲטָאֵיכֶ֤ם כַּשָּׁנִים֙ כַּשֶּׁ֣לֶג יַלְבִּ֔ינוּ אִם־יַאְדִּ֥ימוּ כַתּוֹלָ֖ע כַּצֶּ֥מֶר יִֽהְיֽוּ׃
(18) “Come, let us reach an understanding, —says the Eternal. Be your sins like crimson, They can turn snow-white; Be they red as dyed wool, They can become like fleece.”
(יא) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֣ל אֶל־יִשַׁי֮ הֲתַ֣מּוּ הַנְּעָרִים֒ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר ע֚וֹד שָׁאַ֣ר הַקָּטָ֔ן וְהִנֵּ֥ה רֹעֶ֖ה בַּצֹּ֑אן וַיֹּ֨אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֤ל אֶל־יִשַׁי֙ שִׁלְחָ֣ה וְקָחֶ֔נּוּ כִּ֥י לֹֽא־נָסֹ֖ב עַד־בֹּא֥וֹ פֹֽה׃ (יב) וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח וַיְבִיאֵ֙הוּ֙ וְה֣וּא אַדְמוֹנִ֔י עִם־יְפֵ֥ה עֵינַ֖יִם וְט֣וֹב רֹ֑אִי {פ}
וַיֹּ֧אמֶר יְהֹוָ֛ה ק֥וּם מְשָׁחֵ֖הוּ כִּי־זֶ֥ה הֽוּא׃
(11) Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the boys you have?” He replied, “There is still the youngest; he is tending the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send someone to bring him, for we will not sit down to eat until he gets here.” (12) So they sent and brought him. He was reddish, with beautiful eyes, and handsome. And the Eternal said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.”
(ח) רָאִ֣יתִי ׀ הַלַּ֗יְלָה וְהִנֵּה־אִישׁ֙ רֹכֵב֙ עַל־ס֣וּס אָדֹ֔ם וְה֣וּא עֹמֵ֔ד בֵּ֥ין הַהֲדַסִּ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר בַּמְּצֻלָ֑ה וְאַחֲרָיו֙ סוּסִ֣ים אֲדֻמִּ֔ים שְׂרֻקִּ֖ים וּלְבָנִֽים׃
(8) In the night, I had a vision. I saw a man, mounted on a bay horse, standing among the myrtles-b in the Deep, and behind him were bay, sorrel, and white horses.
Word of the Day / Adom: As Red as Brown Can Be
by Elon Gilad
While the bible has precious little mention of black and quite a bit of white, it has a great many things described as being adom. These cover shades that would not be considered red at all in English, or in modern Hebrew either.
For example, special ritual cows are described as "red," though they are in fact brown (the Koran calls them "yellow"). Another "red" item, a-la bible, is the lentil stew that Jacob gave his brother Esau in return for his blessing – that is also described as adom but was presumably brown. ("Red" or "pink" lentils are a: no such thing and b: cook into a yellowish-brownish paste.)
Adom didn't only cover brown, naturally. It also covered various shades of red such as the hair of the famously redheaded King David, who is said to be an admoni. The Bible also uses the word adom to describe the pinkish flesh of a lover in the Song of Songs and the deep red color of blood.
It is likely that the word adom itself comes from the Hebrew word for blood – dam. That may also be true of the word for earth - adama.
Why Red Means Red in Almost Every Language
by Chelsea Wald
To solve the puzzle, the young scientists needed more data. In the mid-1960s, they were both hired as professors at the University of California, Berkeley, and with their students’ help, they rounded up native speakers of 20 languages, including Arabic, Hungarian, and Swahili. The researchers showed each speaker 329 standard color chips and asked him or her to name each one’s “basic color term”—the simplest, broadest word that described its shade. Drawing from previous anthropological work, they added color lexicons from 78 additional languages around the world.
The results revealed two remarkable patterns, which Kay and Berlin laid out in their 1969 monograph, Basic Color Terms. First, almost all of the languages they examined appeared to have color words that drew from the same 11 basic categories: white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, purple, pink, orange, and gray. Second, cultures seemed to build up their color vocabularies in a predictable way. Languages with only two color categories chunked the spectrum into blacks and whites. Languages with three categories also had a word for red. Green or yellow came next. Then blue. Then brown. And so on.
From the Odyssey by Homer
And what if one of the gods does wreck me out on the wine-dark sea? I have a heart that is inured to suffering and I shall steel it to endure that too. For in my day I have had many bitter and painful experiences in war and on the stormy seas. So let this new disaster come. It only makes one more.
(ג) דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ פָרָה, הַאי פָּרָה לְדַכְיוּתָא קָא אַתְיָיא. לְדַכְּאָה לְמִסְאֲבֵי. פָּרָה דְּקַבִּילַת מִן שְׂמָאלָא... אֲדוּמָה, סוּמָקָא כְּוַורְדָּא. דִּכְתִּיב, (שיר השירים ב׳:ב׳) כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה בֵּין הַחוֹחִים. אֲדוּמָּה: גִּזְרַת דִּינָא.
"Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer..." (Num 19:2). This cow is for the purpose of cleansing to purify the unclean... Red means red as a rose, as it is written: "like the rose among thorns" (Song of Songs 2:2). a sentence of law.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4557-color
It is noteworthy that Biblical Hebrew contains no term to express that property of light known as color. When a Hebrew writer wishes to compare an object with another in respect to color, he employs the word ("eye") or ("appearance")...
Scarcity of Color-Names
There are but few real color-terms found in Biblical or traditional literature. Only white, and two of the elementary colors, red and green, are distinguished by name; while for blue and yellow distinct terms are entirely wanting. The other elementary colors are expressed by words denoting degrees of lightness and darkness; while non-elementary colors are indicated by the names of the objects from which they are derived. Moreover, one and the same word is used to denote not only several shades of one color, but even what are now known as different colors; the context, or the object to which the color was applied, affording the clue as to the particular color intended...
Red
- (a) Red is expressed by "adom," a term probably connected with "dam" (blood). It is applied to blood (II Kings iii. 22), to blood-stained apparel (Isa. lxiii. 3), to a heifer (Num. xix. 2), to a horse (Zech. i. 8), and to brownish yellow lentils (Gen. xxv. 30). The adjective "admoni" describes a reddish-brown complexion (Gen. xxv. 25; I Sam. xvi. 12). Verbal forms are used of becoming as red as crimson (Isa. i. 18), of skins dyed red (Ex. xxv. 5), and of a blood-besmeared shield (Nahum ii. 4 [A. V. 3]). The diminutive form of the adjective "adamdam" expresses "reddish," applied to the color of the leprous spot (Lev. xiii. 19, 24) or a sore (ib. xiii. 42).Other terms occasionally occur which denote some shade of red, as "saroḳ" (reddish-brown, sorrel), applied to horses (Zech. i. 8); and "ḥamuz," some shade of red not more closely defined (Isa. lxiii. 3).