{
  "id": "dict_003266",
  "term": "Lees",
  "slug": "lees",
  "letter": "L",
  "entry_type": "biblical_image",
  "entry_family": "theological_term",
  "depth_profile": "standard",
  "short_definition": "Lees are the sediment or dregs left in wine after fermentation; Scripture uses the image for settled complacency, impurity, and the cup of divine judgment.",
  "simple_one_line": "The dregs left in wine, used in the Bible as a picture of complacency or judgment.",
  "tooltip_text": "Lees are the sediment left in wine; biblically, the image can suggest settled ease, uncleanness, or the dregs of God’s wrath.",
  "aliases": [
    "Lees (Dregs)"
  ],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [
    "wine",
    "dregs",
    "cup of wrath",
    "judgment",
    "complacency"
  ],
  "see_also": [
    "dregs",
    "wine",
    "cup of wrath",
    "wrath of God",
    "judgment",
    "fermentation"
  ],
  "lede_intro": "Lees are the sediment or dregs left in wine after fermentation. In Scripture, the image is used both literally and figuratively: for wine left undisturbed, for stubborn complacency, and for the bitter dregs of God’s judgment.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "A concrete wine image used in Scripture for residue, settled ease, and judgment.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "Literal meaning: sediment or dregs in wine",
    "Figurative use: complacency and security",
    "Judgment motif: the wicked must drink the cup to its dregs",
    "Context determines whether the image is positive, neutral, or negative"
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "Lees are the thick residue that settles in wine. Biblical writers use the image both literally and figuratively: for wine left undisturbed on its dregs, for complacent security, and for the bitter dregs of divine judgment. The term is best treated as a biblical image rather than as a distinct theological category.",
  "description_academic_full": "Lees are the sediment or dregs that settle in wine after fermentation. In the Old Testament the image appears in literal and figurative settings. A person or nation said to be 'settled on the lees' is pictured as undisturbed, self-satisfied, and resistant to change. The same image can also describe the final bitter residue in the cup of judgment, emphasizing the completeness of God's wrath when it is poured out. In another context, wine refined on the lees can picture abundance and well-aged provision. Because the meaning shifts with context, lees should be read as a flexible biblical image rather than as a fixed doctrine in itself.",
  "background_biblical_context": "Biblical references to lees draw on common wine-making practice. The settled sediment at the bottom of a vessel became a natural image for what is undisturbed, thickened, or left to stand. Prophets used the image to warn against complacency and to portray judgment in terms of drinking a cup down to its dregs.",
  "background_historical_context": "In the ancient Near East, wine was commonly stored in jars or skins, and sediment would collect as the wine aged. Moving or decanting the wine separated it from the lees. That everyday process made 'lees' a useful image for what is left behind, what becomes thickened by settling, and what is fully drained.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "Ancient Jewish readers would have understood lees as the settled residue in wine and the figurative power of that image. The prophets could use it to describe ease, dullness, or the full draining of judgment, depending on the setting. The image is concrete and experiential, not abstract.",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "Jeremiah 48:11",
    "Zephaniah 1:12",
    "Isaiah 25:6"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "Psalm 75:8",
    "compare the broader cup-of-wrath imagery in Jeremiah 25 and Isaiah 51"
  ],
  "original_language_note": "The usual Old Testament term is Hebrew shemarim, meaning dregs or lees. English translations may render the image as 'lees,' 'dregs,' or related phrasing depending on context.",
  "theological_significance": "Lees contribute to biblical imagery about judgment, complacency, and provision. They do not define a doctrine by themselves, but they sharpen prophetic warnings that spiritual ease can harden people and that God's judgment is complete when the cup is drained.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "The image works by analogy: what settles undisturbed in wine suggests what becomes settled and resistant in human life; what remains in the cup after the wine is poured out suggests the residue of judgment. The point is rhetorical and moral, not technical.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Do not flatten every reference to lees into the same meaning. Context decides whether the image is literal, negative, or positive. Avoid building doctrine from the image alone, and do not overstate 'settled on the lees' as a universal symbol apart from the prophetic setting.",
  "major_views_note": "Interpreters generally agree that the term is context-sensitive: in prophetic texts it often signals complacency or judgment, while in a provision text it can describe rich, aged wine. The main difference is not doctrinal but contextual and translational.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "Lees illustrate judgment, complacency, and provision, but they do not establish a standalone doctrine of wrath, sanctification, or divine immutability. The entry should remain image-based and context-bound.",
  "practical_significance": "The image warns against spiritual comfort that dulls repentance and reminds readers that God’s judgment reaches its full depth. It can also affirm the goodness of abundant provision when used positively.",
  "meta_description": "Lees are the dregs left in wine. In the Bible, the image can mean settled complacency, impurity, or the dregs of God’s judgment.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/lees/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/lees.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}