The strongest of natural fibers, used since Bible times to make beautiful, lightweight cloth. Silk is produced by caterpillars of various species and especially by the Chinese silkworm, which feeds on mulberry leaves and emits a fluid that hardens into fine threads to form a cocoon. Silken fabric, considered by archaeologists to have been woven over 2,000 years ago, has been found in tombs of a Phoenician cemetery near Sabrata, Libya.

Silkworm culture appears to have had its start in China and to have spread from there to other lands, such as India. The Greeks described things made of silk as si·ri·kosʹ, thus linking silk with the “Seres” (generally identified as the Chinese). Silk is listed in Scripture among the costly articles of merchandise bought by “Babylon the Great.”​—Re 18:2, 11, 12.

Some Bible translations use “silk” for the Hebrew word meʹshi at Ezekiel 16:10, 13. (AS, AT, KJ, JP, Le, Mo, Ro, RS) According to rabbinic tradition, meʹshi denotes silk; however, there is uncertainty. Accordingly, the New World Translation, with the support of modern lexicographers, renders it “costly material.”