ration
a.ru.chah denotes a provided food portion, whether a continuing daily allowance or a meal set before someone.
The attested use chiefly concerns a food portion supplied on an ongoing basis: 2 Kings 25:30 and Jeremiah 52:34 describe a daily portion given by a king, while Jeremiah 40:5 places it among provisions given to Jeremiah. Proverbs 15:17 uses the construct form for a meal, contrasting a herb dinner marked by love with a fattened ox accompanied by hatred.
Senses in use
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Provided food portion or daily allowance · dominant
In 2 Kings 25:30, two construct-form tokens occur in the statement that a continuing portion was given from the king for each day; the APB renders the clause "his ration, a continual ration." Jeremiah 52:34 likewise has two construct-form tokens in a daily portion given by the king of Babylon, and Jeremiah 40:5 has the absolute form when the chief guard gives Jeremiah provisions and a gift.
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A meal in a domestic comparison · occasional
In Proverbs 15:17, the construct-form token names the meal in the comparison between herbs where love is and a fattened ox with hatred; the APB renders the phrase "a dinner of herbs."
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the provision contexts with "ration," "allowance," and "provisions," and presents the Proverbs comparison as "a dinner of herbs." These renderings confirm the clauses' food-portion context rather than establish separate lexical meanings.