Hebrew verb · H5998
עָמַל
amalaw-mal'
to toil
11 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: ʻâmal
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H5998is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 4 of 39Old Testament books
- 10spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H5998
to toil, i.e. work severely and with irksomeness
The King James renders it: (take) labour (in).
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
amal is rendered "to toil". It stands 11 times in the Hebrew text, across four books.
- Eight of the uses stand in Ecclesiastes, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Psalms 127:1Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
- The Greek text spells it ten different ways.
The first use
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
Psalms 127:1עָמְל֣וּ
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
Eight of the word's eleven uses are in Ecclesiastes.
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- that I have toiled2
- he toiled1
- he toils1
- it labors1
- that he toils1
- that he will toil1
- that I had toiled1
- that someone will toil1
- they have toiled1
- you had toiled1
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 11, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
10 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
- שֶֽׁיַּעֲמֹ֖ל2
- יַעֲמֹ֧ל1
- עָֽמַל־1
- עָ֣מְלָה1
- עָמְל֣וּ1
- עָמַ֥לְתָּ1
- שֶׁיַּעֲמֹ֣ל1
- שֶׁעָמַ֣לְתִּי1
- שֶֽׁעָמַ֥לְתִּי1
- שֶׁעָמַ֖לְתִּי1
The grammar of each form
- relative particle (“who / which”) + verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singular3HTr/Vqi3ms
- relative particle (“who / which”) + verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular3HTr/Vqp1cs
- verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVqi3ms
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person masculine singular1HVqp2ms
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural1HVqp3cp
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singular1HVqp3fs
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVqp3ms
Psalms
one use
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
- עָמְל֣וּʾameluverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have toiled
Proverbs
one use
A worker’s appetite works for him because his hunger drives him onward.
- עָ֣מְלָהʾamelahverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: it labors
Ecclesiastes
eight uses
What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
- שֶֽׁיַּעֲמֹ֖לsheiyaamolrelative particle (“who / which”) + verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: that he toils
Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
- שֶׁעָמַ֣לְתִּיsheamaltirelative particle (“who / which”) + verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: that I had toiled
And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.
- שֶֽׁעָמַ֥לְתִּיsheamaltirelative particle (“who / which”) + verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: that I have toiled
So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.
- שֶׁעָמַ֖לְתִּיsheamaltirelative particle (“who / which”) + verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: that I have toiled
When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great evil.
- עָֽמַל־ʾamal-verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he toiled
This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?
- שֶֽׁיַּעֲמֹ֖לsheiyaamolrelative particle (“who / which”) + verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: that he will toil
Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.
- שֶׁיַּעֲמֹ֣לsheiyaamolrelative particle (“who / which”) + verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: that someone will toil
I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.
- יַעֲמֹ֧לyaamolverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he toils
Jonah
one use
But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night.
- עָמַ֥לְתָּʾamaltaverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: you had toiled
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.