Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia APPLES OF SODOM sod'-um: Josephus (BJ, IV, viii, 4) says that "the traces (or shadows) of the five cities (of the plain) are still to be seen, as well as the ashes growing in their fruits, which fruits have a color as if they were fit to be eaten; but if you pluck them with your hands they dissolve into smoke and ashes." What this "Dead Sea fruit" is, is uncertain. The name "Dead Sea apples" is often given to the fruit of the Solanum Sodomaean "a prickly shrub with fruit not unlike a small yellow tomato." Cheyne thinks that the fruits referred to by Josephus (compare Tacitus Hist. v.37) may be either (1) those of the `osher tree (`usar, Calotropis procera, described by Hasselquist (Travels, 1766)), found in abundance about Jericho and near the Dead Sea, which are filled with dust when they have been attacked by an insect, leaving the skin only entire, and of a beautiful color. Tristram describes the fruit as being "as large as an apple of average size, of a bright yellow color, hanging three or four together close to the stem"; or as suggested by Tristram (2) those of the wild colocynth; the fruit is fair of aspect with a pulp which dries up into a bitter powder (EB, article "Sodom," col. 4669, note 2). This colocynth is supposed to be the "wild vine" mentioned 2 Kings 4:39. The "vine of Sodom" of Deuteronomy 32:32 has been supposed to bear the "Dead Sea fruit"; but most modern writers regard the passage as figurative. W. L. Walker

Multi-Version Concordance Apples (11 Occurrences) 1 Kings 7:18 And he made ornaments of apples; and two lines of apples all round over the network, covering the crowns of the pillars, the two crowns in the same way. (BBE) 1 Kings 7:20 And there were crowns on the two pillars near the round part by the network, and there were two hundred apples in lines round every crown. (BBE) 1 Kings 7:42 And the four hundred apples for the network, two lines of apples for every network, covering the two cups of the crowns on the pillars; (BBE) 2 Kings 25:17 One of the pillars was eighteen cubits high, with a crown of brass on it; the crown was three cubits high, circled with a network and apples all of brass; and the second pillar had the same. (BBE) 2 Chronicles 3:16 And he made chains, like neck ornaments, and put them on the tops of the pillars, and a hundred apples on the chains. (BBE) 2 Chronicles 4:13 And the four hundred apples for the network, two lines of apples for the network covering the two cups of the crowns on the pillars. (BBE) Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV) Song of Songs 2:5 Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am faint with love. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV) Song of Songs 7:8 I said, "I will climb up into the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit." Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the smell of your breath like apples, (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV) Jeremiah 52:22 And there was a crown of brass on it: the crown was five cubits high, circled with a network and apples all of brass; and the second pillar had the same. (BBE) Jeremiah 52:23 There were ninety-six apples on the outside; the number of apples all round the network was a hundred. (BBE)