אָדָם
man
‘man’ is one of 5 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H120 appears in the Book of Psalms — 62 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Psalms
- Psalms 8:4 אָ֝דָ֗ם n c ms What is man, that you think of him? The son of man, that you care for him?
- Psalms 11:4 אָדָֽם n c ms Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
- Psalms 12:1 אָדָֽם n c ms Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.
- Psalms 12:8 אָדָֽם n c ms The wicked walk on every side, When what is vile is exalted among the sons of men.
- Psalms 14:2 אָ֫דָ֥ם n c ms Yahweh looked down from heaven on the children of men, To see if there were any who did understand, Who did seek after God.
- Psalms 17:4 אָ֭דָם n c ms As for the works of men, by the word of your lips I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.
- Psalms 21:10 אָדָֽם n c ms You will destroy their descendants from the earth, Their posterity from among the children of men.
- Psalms 22:6 אָ֝דָ֗ם n c ms But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
- Psalms 31:19 אָדָם n c ms Oh how great is your goodness, Which you have laid up for those who fear you, Which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, Before the sons of men!
- Psalms 32:2 אָדָ֗ם n c ms Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn't impute iniquity, In whose spirit there is no deceit.
- Psalms 33:13 הָ/אָדָֽם ptcl def.art + n c ms Yahweh looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men.
- Psalms 36:6 אָ֤דָֽם n c ms Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.
- Psalms 36:7 אָדָ֑ם n c ms How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
- Psalms 39:5 אָ֝דָ֗ם n c ms Behold, you have made my days handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath." Selah.
- Psalms 39:11 אָדָ֣ם n c ms When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, You consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath." Selah.
- Psalms 45:2 אָדָ֗ם n c ms You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, Therefore God has blessed you forever.
- Psalms 49:2 אָ֭דָם n c ms Both low and high, Rich and poor together.
- Psalms 49:12 וְ/אָדָ֣ם conj + n c ms But man, despite his riches, doesn't endure. He is like the animals that perish.
- Psalms 49:20 אָדָ֣ם n c ms A man who has riches without understanding, Is like the animals that perish.
- Psalms 53:2 אָדָ֥ם n c ms God looks down from heaven on the children of men, To see if there are any who understood, Who seek after God.
- Psalms 56:11 אָדָ֣ם n c ms I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
- Psalms 57:4 אָדָ֗ם n c ms My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
- Psalms 58:1 אָדָֽם n c ms Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones? Do you judge blamelessly, you sons of men?
- Psalms 58:11 אָ֭דָם n c ms So that men shall say, "Most assuredly there is a reward for the righteous. Most assuredly there is a God who judges the earth."
- Psalms 60:11 אָדָם n c ms Give us help against the adversary, For the help of man is vain.
- Psalms 62:9 אָדָם֮ n c ms Surely men of low degree are just a breath, And men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.
- Psalms 64:9 אָ֫דָ֥ם n c ms All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, And shall wisely ponder what he has done.
- Psalms 66:5 אָדָֽם n c ms Come, and see God's deeds-- Awesome work on behalf of the children of men.
- Psalms 68:18 בָּ/אָדָ֑ם prep det + n c ms You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among men, Yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there.
- Psalms 73:5 אָ֝דָ֗ם n c ms They are free from burdens of men, Neither are they plagued like other men.
- Psalms 76:10 אָדָ֣ם n c ms Surely the wrath of man praises you. The survivors of your wrath are restrained.
- Psalms 78:60 בָּ/אָדָֽם prep det + n c ms So that he forsook the tent of Shiloh, The tent which he placed among men;
- Psalms 80:17 אָ֝דָ֗ם n c ms Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, On the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.
- Psalms 82:7 כְּ/אָדָ֣ם prep + n c ms Nevertheless you shall die like men, And fall like one of the rulers."
- Psalms 84:5 אָ֭דָם n c ms Blessed are those whose strength is in you; Who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.
- Psalms 84:12 אָ֝דָ֗ם n c ms Yahweh of Hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in you.
- Psalms 89:47 אָדָֽם n c ms Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
- Psalms 90:3 אָדָֽם n c ms You turn man to destruction, saying, "Return, you children of men."
- Psalms 94:10 אָדָ֣ם n c ms He who disciplines the nations, won't he punish? He who teaches man knows.
- Psalms 94:11 אָדָ֑ם n c ms Yahweh knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.
- Psalms 104:14 הָ/אָדָ֑ם ptcl def.art + n c ms He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And plants for man to cultivate, That he may bring forth food out of the earth:
- Psalms 104:23 אָדָ֣ם n c ms Man goes forth to his work, To his labor until the evening.
- Psalms 105:14 אָדָ֣ם n c ms He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,
- Psalms 107:8 אָדָֽם n c ms Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, For his wonderful works to the children of men!
- Psalms 107:15 אָדָֽם n c ms Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, For his wonderful works to the children of men!
- Psalms 107:21 אָדָֽם n c ms Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, For his wonderful works to the children of men!
- Psalms 107:31 אָדָֽם n c ms Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, For his wonderful works for the children of men!
- Psalms 108:12 אָדָֽם n c ms Give us help against the enemy, For the help of man is vain.
- Psalms 115:4 אָדָֽם n c ms Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.
- Psalms 115:16 אָדָֽם n c ms The heavens are the heavens of Yahweh; But the earth has he given to the children of men.
- Psalms 116:11 הָ/אָדָ֥ם ptcl def.art + n c ms I said in my haste, "All men are liars."
- Psalms 118:6 אָדָֽם n c ms Yahweh is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
- Psalms 118:8 בָּ/אָדָֽם prep det + n c ms It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, Than to put confidence in man.
- Psalms 119:134 אָדָ֑ם n c ms Redeem me from the oppression of man, So I will observe your precepts.
- Psalms 124:2 אָדָֽם n c ms If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, When men rose up against us;
- Psalms 135:8 מֵ֝/אָדָ֗ם prep + n c ms Who struck the firstborn of Egypt, Both of man and animal;
- Psalms 135:15 אָדָֽם n c ms The idols of the nations are silver and gold, The work of men's hands.
- Psalms 140:1 מֵ/אָדָ֣ם prep + n c ms Deliver me, Yahweh, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man;
- Psalms 144:3 אָ֭דָם n c ms Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him?
- Psalms 144:4 אָ֭דָם n c ms Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
- Psalms 145:12 הָ֭/אָדָם ptcl def.art + n c ms To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, The glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
- Psalms 146:3 אָדָ֓ם n c ms Don't put your trust in princes, Each a son of man in whom there is no help.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
The Hebrew noun אדם centers on the idea of “man.” Its meaning spans more than one sense — see its full sense range. Spanning 526 verses in 33 books, it ranks among the most common words of the Hebrew Bible. Ezekiel dominates its distribution — 130 of 526 verses. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 1:26. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H120 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 526
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 526 distinct verses.
- 33 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 33 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #91
- by frequency
- Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 91 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 526 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 526 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 238 verses · 45%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 193 verses · 37%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 95 verses · 18%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Man 297×, Men 73×, Man's 13×
- American Standard Version: Man 235×, Men 85×, Son of man 49×
- Berean Standard Bible: Man 280×, Men 70×, Mankind 20×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Man 364×, Humanity 35×, Mankind 30×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H120 across 545 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 73 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 7 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H120 across 545 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 79 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H120 across 508 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 46 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 39 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H120 across 544 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 31 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 4 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. a man (= Ger. Mensch) = human being Gn 2:5, 7(×2), 8, 15, 16, 18 +, 16:12 (27 textual J) Lv 5:4 (‖ נֶפֶשׁ) 13:2, 9 (19 textual P) Ne 2:10 Is 13:12 (‖ אֱנוֹשׁ); הָאָ׳ הַגָּדוֹל Jos 14:15 (E); אָ׳ בְּלִיַּעַל Pr 6:12 (‖ אִישׁ אָוֶן cf. 1 S 25:25 & v. בליעל); = any one Lv 1:2 Nu 9:6, 7 Jb 20:29; 27:13 Pr 15:20; 21:16, 20; 24:30 Ec 7:20 + oft. WisdLt, Je 2:6; 4:25 Ne 2:12, cf. נֶפֶשׁ א׳ Nu 19:11, 13 +; seld. man opp. woman Gn 2:22(×2), 23, 25; 3:8, 12, 17, 20, 21 Ec 7:28. e.g. Genesis 2:5
- 2. coll. man, mankind Gn 1:26; 9:5, 6(×3) + (P 28 textual) 6:1, 5, 6, 7 (JE 24 textual) Dt 4:32 (D 6 textual) (on 2 S 7:19 cf. 1 Ch 17:17 v. DrSm); distinctly = men + women Gn 1:27; 5:1 Nu 5:6; given as name Gn 5:2; but = warriors Is 22:6 רֶכֶב א׳ (‖ פּרשׁים); ‖ beasts (41 textual) בְּהֵמָה Gn 6:7; 7:23 (J?) Ex 8:13, 14; 9:9, 10 (P) 9:19, 22, 25; 12:12; 13:2, 13, 15 (all J) +; late proph. Je 21:6; 31:27; 50:3; 51:62 Ez 14:13, 17, 19, 21; 25:13; 29:8, 11; 32:13 (del. Co) 36:11 Jon 3:8 Zp 1:3 Hg 1:11 Zc 2:8; 8:10; ‖ בָּקָר Ez 4:15; ‖ צֹאן, חֲמֹרִים, ב׳ Nu 31:28; ‖ id. + מִכָּל־הַבְּהֵמָה v 30 cf. Jon 3:7; ‖ חַיָּה Gn 9:5 (P) cf. Ez 1:5, 8, 10, 26, & descript. of כְּרוּבִים Ez 10:8, 14, 21 cf. 41:19; ‖ trees Dt 20:19 (rd. הֶאָדָם v. Di); opp. God 1 S 15:29; 16:7(×2) Is 31:3 Ez 28:2, 9 1 Ch 21:13; 29:1 2 Ch 6:18 Mal 3:8 cf. Ex 33:20 Dt 5:21; so בֶּן־א׳ Nu 23:19 (‖ אישׁ Ez 2:1, 3, 6, 8 (87 textual Ez, alw. addressed to proph.); בְּנֵי הָא׳ 1 S 26:19; made in God’s image Gn 1:26, 27; 9:6 cf. Ec 7:29; as feeble, earthly, mortal Nu 16:29(×2) Ps 82:7; 144:3, 4 Jb 5:7; 14:1, 10 cf. 25:6 (בֶּן־א׳) Ec 12:5; as sinful 1 K 8:46 2 Ch 6:36 Je 10:14 cf. Nu 5:6 Jb 31:33 Ho 6:7; of men in general, other men (opp. to particular ones) Ju 16:17 (cf. אַחַד הָא׳ v 7, 11) 18:7, 28 ψ 73:5 Je 32:20 +; ‖ אִישׁ Is 2:9, 11, 17; 5:15 cf. Ez 23:42 (del. Co Vrss); בְּנֵי א׳ 2 S 7:14 (‖ אֲנָשִׁים) Pr 8:4 (‖ אִישִׁים); ψ 49:3; 62:10 (both ‖ בְּנֵי אִישׁ) = men of low opp. men of high degree—so oft. Ph. and = vassal Sab. DHMZMG 1875, 680 cf. 686; נֶפֶשׁ א׳ coll. Nu 31:35, 40, 46 1 Ch 5:21 Ez 27:13. e.g. Genesis 1:26
- 3. n.pr.m. Adam, first man (without art. cf. שָׂטָן 1 Ch 21:1 over ag. הַשּׂ׳ Jb 1:6 etc.) Gn 4:25 (J) 5:1, 3, 4, 5 (P) 1 Ch 1:1. (Gn 2:20; 3:17, 21 rd. לָא׳ v. Di) e.g. 1 Chronicles 21:1
- 4. n.pr.loc. city in Jordan valley (as built? Jos 3:16. e.g. Joshua 3:16
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
n.m. Gn 1:27 man, mankind (Ph. אדם, Sab. id., CISiv. 1, 1. 4 al.; cf. As. admu, young (of bird) DlW, but NöZMG 1886, 722 identif. with Ar. أَذَامٌ coll. creatures)—Sg. abs. exc. cstr. Pr 6:12 cf. Thes; (בְּנֵי (הָ)א׳ oft. = pl. of א׳ Gn 11:5 + 39 textual, cf. בְּנוֹת הָא׳ Gn 6:2, 4)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from אדם (ʼâdam) (H119) — to be red.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
אֲדַם
- , v. הֲדַם. [v. Rabb. D. S. to Ab. Zar. 38ᵇ, Bets. 24ᵇ, note.]
אָדַם
- , v. דמם) [to be viscous, thick, dark] to be red, grow red.
- to redden, make red. Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᶜ top המְאַדֵּם אודם he who produces a red spot (congestion of blood, on a Sabbath).
- 1. (b. h.) (b. h.) to be, grow red. Num. R. s. 9 (p. 231ᵇ ed. Amst.) מַאֲדֶמֶת (היתה) if she was red-faced. Ḥull. 53ᵇ; a. fr.
- 2. to cause to blush, put to shame (usu. הלבין). Num. R. s. 4 (p. 218ᵈ ed. Amst.) (play on עובד אדום).—Part. מַאֲדִים the planet Mars. Sabb. 156ᵃ.—Part. Hof. מְאָדָּם, מְאוּדָּם. Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᶜ top מְאָדָּמִים dyed red.
אָדָם
- m. (b. h.) man, pr. n. m. Adam, frequ. א׳ הראשון (abbr. אה"ר). Gen. R. s. 17; a. fr.—ספרו של, ספרא דאה"ר אה"ר the (allegorical) book of Adam containing all generations and their leaders from beginning to resurrection, i.e. destinies of humanity. Ex. R. s. 40 beg. B. Mets. 85ᵇ bot.
אֲדָם
- (= דָּם, דְּמָא) blood. Targ. I Chron. XXII, 7; a. e.—Y. Maas. Sh. V, 56ᵈ top מגבלא אַדְמֵיה to mix its (the bird’s) blood. Git. 47ᵃ; v. חוּל II. Pl. אַדְמִין. Targ. I Chr. l. c.; a. e.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 107 distinct written forms H120 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 47 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H120, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- אדם ʼâdôm H122 red
- אדם ʼôdem H124 ruby
- אדמדם ʼădamdâm H125 reddish
- אדמה ʼădâmâh H127 ground
- אדמני ʼadmônîy H132 red
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 498 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 526 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 1:26
- Exodus 4:11
- Leviticus 1:2
- Numbers 3:13
- Deuteronomy 4:28
- Joshua 11:14
- Judges 16:7
- 1 Samuel 15:29
- 2 Samuel 7:14
- 1 Kings 8:38
- 2 Kings 7:10
- 1 Chronicles 5:21
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
