Hebrew verb · H481
אָלַם
alamaw-lam'
be dumb
9 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: ʼâlam
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H481is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 5 of 39Old Testament books
- 9spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H481
to tie fast; hence (of the mouth) to be tongue-tied
The King James renders it: bind, be dumb, put to silence.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
alam is rendered "be dumb". It stands 9 times in the Hebrew text, across five books.
- Three of the uses stand in Psalms, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 37:7We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”
- The Greek text spells it nine different ways.
The first use
We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”
Genesis 37:7מְאַלְּמִ֤ים
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- I was dumb2
- and I was dumb1
- and you will be dumb1
- binding1
- I am dumb1
- it is dumb1
- may they be dumb1
- you will be dumb1
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
All 9, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
9 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- וְנֶֽאֱלַ֔מְתָּ1
- וְנֶאֱלָֽמְתִּי׃1
- מְאַלְּמִ֤ים1
- נֶאֱלָ֑מָה1
- נֶאֱלַ֣מְתִּי1
- נֶ֭אֱלַמְתִּי1
- נֶאֱלַ֖מְתִּי1
- תֵֽאָלֵ֖ם1
- תֵּ֥אָלַ֗מְנָה1
The grammar of each form
- verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular3HVNp1cs
- Hc/VNq1cs1Hc/VNq1cs
- Hc/VNq2ms1Hc/VNq2ms
- verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singular1HVNi2ms
- verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person feminine plural1HVNi3fp
- verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singular1HVNp3fs
- verb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine plural1HVprmpa
Genesis
one use
We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”
- מְאַלְּמִ֤יםmealemimverb · intensive (piel), participle · masculine pluraltagged: binding
Psalms
three uses
May lying lips be silenced— lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.
- תֵּ֥אָלַ֗מְנָהtealamnahverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person feminine pluraltagged: may they be dumb
I was speechless and still; I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred.
- נֶאֱלַ֣מְתִּיneelamtiverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I was dumb
I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.
- נֶ֭אֱלַמְתִּיneelamtiverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I am dumb
Isaiah
one use
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
- נֶאֱלָ֑מָהneelamahverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: it is dumb
Ezekiel
three uses
I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
- וְנֶֽאֱלַ֔מְתָּveneelamtaHc/VNq2mstagged: and you will be dumb
On that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped; you will speak and no longer be mute. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD.”
- תֵֽאָלֵ֖םtealemverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: you will be dumb
Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.
- נֶאֱלַ֖מְתִּיneelamtiverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I was dumb
Daniel
one use
While he was speaking these words to me, I set my face toward the ground and became speechless.
- וְנֶאֱלָֽמְתִּי׃veneelametiHc/VNq1cstagged: and I was dumb
The letters
Gematria 71· 631 mispar gadol
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.