אֲדָמָה
ground
‘ground’ is one of 8 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
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
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H127 appears in the Book of Genesis — 37 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.
Genesis
- Genesis 1:25 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֖ה ptcl def.art + n c fs God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
- Genesis 2:5 הָֽ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground,
- Genesis 2:6 הָֽ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground.
- Genesis 2:7 הָ֣/אֲדָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Genesis 2:9 הָ֣/אֲדָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
- Genesis 2:19 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֗ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
- Genesis 3:17 הָֽ/אֲדָמָה֙ ptcl def.art + n c fs To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
- Genesis 3:19 הָ֣/אֲדָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
- Genesis 3:23 הָ֣/אֲדָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
- Genesis 4:2 אֲדָמָֽה n c fs Again she gave birth, to Cain's brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
- Genesis 4:3 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֛ה ptcl def.art + n c fs As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground.
- Genesis 4:10 הָֽ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs Yahweh said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground.
- Genesis 4:11 הָֽ/אֲדָמָה֙ ptcl def.art + n c fs Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
- Genesis 4:12 הָ֣/אֲדָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs From now on, when you till the ground, it won't yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth."
- Genesis 4:14 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Behold, you have driven me out this day from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. It will happen that whoever finds me will kill me."
- Genesis 5:29 הָ֣/אֲדָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs and he named him Noah, saying, "This same will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Yahweh has cursed."
- Genesis 6:1 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֑ה ptcl def.art + n c fs It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,
- Genesis 6:7 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Yahweh said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."
- Genesis 6:20 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֖ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Of the birds after their kind, of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive.
- Genesis 7:4 הָֽ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, I will destroy from the surface of the ground."
- Genesis 7:8 הָֽ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs Clean animals, animals that are not clean, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground
- Genesis 7:23 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֗ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.
- Genesis 8:8 הָֽ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs He sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the surface of the ground,
- Genesis 8:13 הָֽ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried.
- Genesis 8:21 הָֽ/אֲדָמָה֙ ptcl def.art + n c fs Yahweh smelled the sweet savor. Yahweh said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done.
- Genesis 9:2 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֛ה ptcl def.art + n c fs The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that the ground teems with, and all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand.
- Genesis 9:20 הָֽ/אֲדָמָ֑ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard.
- Genesis 12:3 הָ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed."
- Genesis 19:25 הָ/אֲדָמָֽה ptcl def.art + n c fs He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.
- Genesis 28:14 הָ/אֲדָמָ֖ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.
- Genesis 28:15 הָ/אֲדָמָ֖ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you."
- Genesis 47:18 וְ/אַדְמָתֵֽ/נוּ conj + n c fs cs + sfx pers 1cp When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of cattle are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.
- Genesis 47:19 אַדְמָתֵ֔/נוּ אַדְמָתֵ֖/נוּ וְ/אַדְמָתֵ֨/נוּ֙ וְ/הָ/אֲדָמָ֖ה n c fs cs + sfx pers 1cp n c fs cs + sfx pers 1cp conj + n c fs cs + sfx pers 1cp conj + ptcl def.art + n c fs Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won't be desolate."
- Genesis 47:20 אַדְמַ֤ת n c fs cs So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh's.
- Genesis 47:22 אַדְמַ֥ת אַדְמָתָֽ/ם n c fs cs n c fs cs + sfx pers 3mp Only he didn't buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn't sell their land.
- Genesis 47:23 אַדְמַתְ/כֶ֖ם הָ/אֲדָמָֽה n c fs cs + sfx pers 2mp ptcl def.art + n c fs Then Joseph said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
- Genesis 47:26 אַדְמַ֥ת אַדְמַ֤ת n c fs cs n c fs cs Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn't become Pharaoh's.
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.
At its core, אדמה (ʼădâmâh) means “ground.” Its English rendering has broadened — “land” classically, “ground” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) in modern versions; see the renderings breakdown. Spanning 211 verses in 28 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in Genesis 1:25. Not a single-sense word: explore its full sense range. 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 H127 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 →
- 211
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 211 distinct verses.
- 28 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 28 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #210
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 210 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 211 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Genesis 37 verses 18%
- Deuteronomy 35 verses 17%
- Ezekiel 27 verses 13%
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 211 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 99 verses · 47%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 88 verses · 42%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 24 verses · 11%
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: Land 88×, Earth 52×, Ground 41×
- American Standard Version: Land 68×, Ground 58×, Earth 32×
- Berean Standard Bible: Land 106×, Ground 38×, Earth 34×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Ground 91×, Land 90×, Earth 18×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H127 across 222 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 19 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 3 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H127 across 221 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 38 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 H127 across 220 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 5 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H127 across 230 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
7 senses and sub-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 7 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. ground (as tilled, yielding sustenance) Gn 2:5, 9; 3:17, 23; 4:2, 3, 12; 5:29; 8:21; 19:25; 47:23 Ex 34:26 (all J); Ex 23:19 (E) Dt 7:13; 11:17; 26:2, 10, 15; 28:4, 11, 18, 33, 42, 51; 30:9; 2 S 9:10 Is 1:7; 28:24; 30:23(×2), 24 Je 7:20; 14:4; 25:33 Hg 1:11 Mal 3:11 ψ 83:11; 105:35 Pr 12:11 28:19 1 Ch 27:26 Ne 10:36, 38 cf. fig. Jb 5:6 (‖ עפר); personif. 31:38 Jo 1:10; also אִישׁ הָא׳ Gn 9:20 (J) tiller, husbandman; meton. אֹהֵב א׳ 2 Ch 26:10 i.e. lover of husbandry (or do these point to earlier meaning tillage? cf. DlPr 105) אִישׁ עֹבֵד א׳ Zc 13:5. e.g. Genesis 2:5
- 2. piece of ground, landed property Gn 47:18, 19(×3), 20, 22(×2), 23, 26 (all J) ψ 49:12 (pl.) e.g. Genesis 47:18
- 3. earth as material substance; of wh. man is made Gn 2:7 (עָפָר מִן־הָא׳); so animals v 19 (מִן־הָא׳); altar Ex 20:24; earthen vessels חַרְשֵׂי א׳ Is 45:9, on head, sign of woe 1 S 4:12 2 S 1:2; 15:32; of contrition Ne 9:1 (cf. אֵפֶר, עָפָר); מַעֲבֵה הָא׳ 1 K 7:46 cf. 2 Ch 4:17 (firmness of earth, firm earth, clay-ground, for casting-moulds; or clay-moulds (Be)? or is this n.pr.? Klo proposes בַּמְּעָרָה הָאֲדֻמָּה in the red cave); mule-loads of 2 K 5:17; in it lie the dead מִיְּשֵׁנֵי אַדְמַת־עָפָר Dn 12:2 cf. Gn 3:19, 23 ψ 146:4. e.g. Genesis 2:7
- 4. ground as earth’s visible surface; רֶמֶס הָא׳ Gn 1:25; 6:20 (both P) Ho 2:20 cf. Gn 7:8; 9:2 (J?) Lv 20:25 (P) Dt 4:18 Ez 38:20; also Gn 4:10 (J) Is 24:21 Am 3:5 Zp 1:2, 3; as wet with dew 2 S 17:12; rain 1 K 17:14; 18:1; cf. personif. פָּֽצְתָה הָא׳ אֶת־פִּיהָ Nu 16:30 (P) (‖ ארץ v 32), vid. v 31 Gn 4:11; of partic. place, spot א׳ קֹדֶשׁ Ex 3:5 especially as abode of man Ex 10:6 Dt 4:10, 40; 12:1 1 S 20:31 2 S 14:7; oft.פְּנֵי הָא׳ Gn 2:6; 4:14; 6:1, 7; 7:4, 23; 8:8, 13 Ex 32:12; 33:16 Nu 12:3 Dt 6:15; 7:6 (all J, D) 1 S 20:15 + 9 textual e.g. Genesis 1:25
- 5. land, territory, country (= ארץ Gn 47:19 (J) Lv 20:24 (J?—‖ ארץ) cstr. bef. n.pr. א׳ מִצְרַיִם Gn 47:20, 26; א׳ יְהוּדָה Is 19:17; א׳ יִשְׂרָאֵל Ez 11:17 + 16 textual Ez; espe. of land as promised or given by י׳ to his people = Canaan Gn 28:15 Ex 20:12 Nu 11:12; 32:11 (all J?) Dt 5:16 + 16 textual Dt, Jos; 1 K 8:34, 40 +, Je 16:15; 24:10; 25:5; 35:15 Ez 28:25 2 Ch 6:25, 31; 7:20; 33:8; cf. also Dt 12:19; 21:23; 29:27 2 K 17:23 Is 6:11; 7:16; 14:1 +, Ez 34:13, 27 +, Ne 9:25 (א׳ שְׁמֵנָה),—in all c. 41 textual + Jo 2:21 (personif.); א׳ הַקֹּדֶשׁ Zc 2:16 (cf. sub 4 supr. hence also as Yahweh’s land Dt 32:43 Is 14:2 Zc 9:16 2 Ch 7:20. e.g. Genesis 47:19
- 6. whole earth, inhabited earth (seld.; cf. also פְּנֵי הָא׳ sub 4 supr.) Gn 12:3; 28:14 (both J cf. אֶרֶץ 18:18; 22:18; 26:4) Dt 14:2 Am 3:2 Is 24:21. e.g. Genesis 12:3
- 7. n.pr.loc. city in Naphtali (as built cf. אָדָם 4? = ed-Dâme?) W. of L. Gennes. Jos 19:36 v. Di. e.g. Joshua 19:36
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.f. ground, land (as tilled, Ger. bebaut? DlPr 105, but Fleisch. (MerxArchiv I, 236 f) comp. Ar. أَدَمَة skin, as smoothly covering & close-fitting; √דם cf. Ar. دَمَّ smear (spread over surface); cf. also NöZMG 1886, 737)—א׳ Gn 1:25 +; cstr. אַדְמַת Gn 47:20 +; sf. אַדְמָתִי Jb 31:38 + 2 textual etc.; pl. אֲדָמוֹת ψ 49:12—
— 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.
אֲדָמָה
- , cmp. foreg.; thick and moist) [earth], clay. Gen. R. s. 14 the potter takes sand (עפר) which is male (masc. gender) and clay (אדמה) which is female (fem. gender).—Sabb. VIII, 5 א׳ כחותם וכ׳ as much clay as is required for a seal on bag-knots. [For the meaning of the phonetic equivalents of our w. in other Semit. tongues, v. Ges. H. Dict. s. v.]
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 81 distinct written forms H127 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; 21 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H127, 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 ʼâdâm H120 man
- אדם ʼâdôm H122 red
- אדם ʼôdem H124 ruby
- אדמדם ʼădamdâm H125 reddish
- 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 10 — not the complete family. 3 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 203 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 211 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 1:25
- Exodus 3:5
- Leviticus 20:24
- Numbers 11:12
- Deuteronomy 4:10
- Joshua 23:13
- 1 Samuel 4:12
- 2 Samuel 1:2
- 1 Kings 7:46
- 2 Kings 5:17
- 1 Chronicles 27:26
- 2 Chronicles 4:17
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.
