📖 Biblical Definition
Scarlet in Scripture is the color of sin, sacrifice, and the costly. Rahab hung a scarlet cord from her window (Josh 2) — the sign that saved her household at Jericho. The tabernacle curtains wove scarlet with blue and purple (Ex 26:1). The cleansing of the leper required scarlet yarn, cedar wood, and hyssop (Lev 14:4). "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool" (Isa 1:18). Jesus was mocked in a scarlet robe before crucifixion (Matt 27:28). And the great whore of Revelation rides a scarlet beast (Rev 17:3). Scarlet is biblical weight — sin, atonement, royalty, or whore, depending on direction.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
SCAR'LET, n.
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SCAR'LET, n. A bright red color, and the cloth or garment of that color, anciently derived from the coccus insect, one of the most costly dyes of the east. In Scripture, scarlet is the color of sin made visible ("though your sins be as scarlet"), of the costly curtains of the tabernacle, of the priestly garments, of Rahab's saving cord, of the mocking robe laid on the Lord, and of the apocalyptic beast. Few colors carry more freight.
📖 Key Scripture
Isaiah 1:18 — "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."
Joshua 2:18 — "Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down."
Matthew 27:28 — "And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him."
Exodus 26:1 — "Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern readers pass scarlet as decoration. Biblical scarlet carries weight: sin, sacrifice, royalty, atonement.
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Rahab's scarlet cord is one of the Bible's richest typological moments: a prostitute hangs a red cord, and every soul in her house is saved when the city falls. The blood-line on the doorpost (Ex 12) is its ancestor; the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts of the heart is its fulfillment. Isaiah 1:18 — "though your sins are like scarlet" — is gospel color theory. Pay attention when Scripture specifies color; it is theology in pigment.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H8144 — shani. H8438 — tola.
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H8144 — shani (שָׁנִי) — scarlet; the brilliant red dye.
H8438 — tola (תּוֹלָע) — worm, crimson; the Coccus insect; also Ps 22:6 "I am a worm" (messianic).
G2847 — kokkinos (κόκκινος) — scarlet; NT word.
Usage
"Rahab's scarlet cord is the gospel in a window: trust the sign, and the family is saved when the city falls."
"Your sins as scarlet — white as snow. Isaiah 1:18 is not sentiment; it is color theology."