Answers about…
yarn in the Bible

Use of yarn in ancient Israel

The Bible often mentions spinning, weaving, wool, flax/linen, and “scarlet thread” (Genesis 38; Joshua 2) even when a given translation does not use the exact word “yarn.” Proverbs 31 also describes a woman working with wool and flax. The concept of spun, dyed fiber for cloth is well attested; the English word “yarn” is simply how some translators render those materials.

Yarn was certainly widely use din Biblical times by weavers of textiles.

Yarn of blue, purple and scarlet was in materials for the Holy Tabernacle and priestly garments, curtains, veils, ephods, breastpiece, and other furnishings. All were made with dyed yarns and fine linen (Exodus 25–28, 35–39). Skilled women brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen (Exodus 35:25). Scarlet yarn used in purification rituals for a person with a skin disease or a house (Leviticus 14).

King James Version mistranslation

The word “yarn” is found in 1 Kings 10:28 KJV and 2 Chronicles 1:16 KJV.

The Hebrew word mikveh, i.e., “a stringing together,” so rendered, rather signifies a host, or company, or a string of horses.

The King James Version has: “And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price;” but the Revised King James Version correctly renders this: “And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; the king's merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price.”