הָמָה
to roar
‘to roar’ is one of 6 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
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘growl like a dog’
Form
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H1993 appears in the Book of 1 Kings — 1 distinct verse. 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.
1 Kings
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 verb המה centers on the idea of “to roar.” The lexicon spreads it across several senses; see its full sense range. It turns up in 32 verses across 8 books, a moderately common footprint. The word gravitates to Psalms (34%), then Jeremiah and Isaiah. Its earliest occurrence is 1 Kings 1:41. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1993 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 →
- 32
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 32 distinct verses.
- 8 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 8 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,041
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,041 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 32 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 32 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 16 verses · 50%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 16 verses · 50%
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: Shall sound 3×, Why art thou disquieted 3×, Make a noise 2×
- American Standard Version: Soundeth 3×, Thereof roar 3×, Why art thou disquieted 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Roar 4×, Laments 3×, Is loud 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Roar 4×, Are you clamoring 2×, Moan 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1993 across 34 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 24 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1993 across 34 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 21 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 H1993 across 33 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 16 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1993 across 32 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 22 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 6 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.
Qal
- Pf. 3 mpl. הָמוּ ψ 46:7 + 2 times; וְהָמוּ consec. Je 5:22 + 2 times; Impf. יֶהֱמֶה Jr 6:23 + 3 times; 2 fs. תֶּהֱמִי ψ 42:12; 43:5; וַתֶּהֱמִי 42:6; אֶהֱמֶה 55:18; אֶהֱמָ֑יָה 77:4; יֶהֱמוּ 46:4 + 3 times; וַיֶּהֱמוּ Is 51:15; Je 31:35; יֶהֱמָיוּ֑ן ψ 39:7 + 2 times; 1 pl. נֶהֱמֶה Is 59:11; Inf. הֲמוֹת Is 17:12; Pt. הֹמֶה Pr 20:1 Je 4:19; f. הוֹמָה 1 K 1:41, הֹמִיָּה Pr 7:11; 9:13, הוֹמִיָּה Is 22:2; fpl. הֹמִיּוֹת Pr 1:21, הֹמוֹת Ez 7:16 (Co הַמָּוֶת cf. 𝔊 𝔖);— e.g. Psalms 46:7
- 1. growl like a dog כַּכָּ֑לֶב ψ 59:7, 15, subj. wicked men; groan (in distress, lamentation), like bears כַּדֹּבִים Is 59:11 (‖ הגה כיונה); of doves (also in sim.) Ez 7:16 cf. Da (si vera l., vid. supr.). e.g. Psalms 59:7
- 2. murmur, fig. of soul (נֶפֶשׁ) in discouragement ψ 42:6, 12; 43:5; in prayer 55:18; 77:4 (both ‖ אָשִׂיחָה); also subj. מֵעִים, of the thrill of deep-felt compassion or sympathy, sq. לְ of person pitied, Je 31:20 (‖ רחם ארחמנו), sq. עַל, Ct 5:4; further כַּכִּנּוֹר, like the lyre (zither) Is 16:11; כַּחֲלִילִים, like flutes, subj. לֵב Je 48:36 (sq. לְ) v 36 (sq. אֶל); cf. Je 4:19 לִבִּי הֹמֶה־לִי. e.g. Psalms 42:6
- 3. roar, of waves, subj. גַּלִּים Je 5:22; 31:35 Is 51:15 cf. ψ 46:4; sim. of roar of multitudes Is 17:12 Je 6:23; 50:42; metaph. id., Je 51:55; be tumultuous, of peoples ψ 46:7 (‖ מָטוּ); 83:3 (‖ נָֽשְׂאוּ רֹאשׁ). e.g. Jeremiah 5:22
- 4. be in commotion, stir, of city 1 K 1:41 Is 22:2; so pt. fpl. as subst. רֹאשׁ הֹמִיּוֹת Pr 1:21 head of stirring, bustling streets (‖ פתתי שׁערים); of man, אַךְ־הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָי֑וּן ψ 39:7 surely to no purpose they bustle about (‖ אַךְ־בְּצֶלֶם יִתְהַלֶּךְ־אִישׁ). e.g. 1 Kings 1:41
- 5. be boisterous, turbulent, as with wine Zc 9:15 (but read perhaps דָּמָם, cf. FiHexapl. ii. 3, 1024 KloTh LZ, 1879, 564 StaZAW 1881, 18); also pt. as adj., of שֵׁכָר (by meton.) Pr 20:1; of shameless woman Pr 7:11; 9:13. e.g. Zechariah 9:15
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
vb. murmur, growl, roar, be boisterous (𝔗 הֲמָא, but rare, and perhaps not genuine Aramaic; cf. Arabic هَمْهَمَ murmur);—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from הום (hûwm) (H1949) — to roar.
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.
הָמָה
- , v. המי
המי
- to be noisy, excited, with אחר to rush after, be greedy, envious &c.—Cant. R. to VIII, 11 הָמוּ, v. הָמוֹן a. הֲמוֹנוּת. Part. הוֹמֶה, v. infra; fem. הוֹמִיָּה. Y. M. Kat. III, beg. 81ᶜ (in a riddle) ה׳ בירכתי ביתה she (the soul?) is restless in the corners of her house. Midr. Till. to Ps. LXXVII הוֹמִים are in commotion.
- same, to covet (with אחר). Lev. R. s. 22 (ref. to אוהב בהמון, Koh. V, 9) כל מי שהומה ומְהַמֶּה אחר הממון whosoever is greedy and covetous for money; ib. הומה ומה׳ אחר תורה ambitious to accumulate learning; a. e.—Part. pass. f. מְהוּמָּת anxious. Nidd. 5ᵃ, v. בַּיִת.—Denom. מָמוֹן. e.g. Ecclesiastes 5:9
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 28 distinct written forms H1993 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| יֶהֱמֶ֔ה | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Jeremiah 6:23 | 3 |
| יֶהֱמָי֑וּ/ן | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Isaiah 17:12 | 3 |
| יֶהֱמ֥וּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Psalms 59:6 | 2 |
| תֶּהֱמִ֪י | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Feminine, Singular | Psalms 42:11 | 2 |
| הָמ֖וּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Zechariah 9:15 | 1 |
| הָמ֣וּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Psalms 46:6 | 1 |
| הָמ֤וּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Jeremiah 31:20 | 1 |
| הָמ֥וּ | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Song of Solomon 5:4 | 1 |
| הֹֽמִיָּ֑ה | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Proverbs 9:13 | 1 |
| הֹֽמֶה | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Jeremiah 4:19 | 1 |
| הֹמ֑וֹת | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Ezekiel 7:16 | 1 |
| הֹמִיּ֗וֹת | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Proverbs 1:21 | 1 |
| הֹמִיָּ֣ה | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Proverbs 7:11 | 1 |
| הֹמֶ֣ה | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Proverbs 20:1 | 1 |
| הֽוֹמִיָּ֔ה | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Isaiah 22:2 | 1 |
| הוֹמָֽה | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | 1 Kings 1:41 | 1 |
| וְ/אֶֽהֱמָיָ֑ה | Verb, Qal, Cohortative, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Psalms 77:3 | 1 |
| וְ/אֶהֱמֶ֑ה | Verb, Qal, Cohortative, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Psalms 55:17 | 1 |
| וְ/הָמ֤וּ | Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Jeremiah 51:55 | 1 |
| וְ/הָמ֥וּ | Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural | Jeremiah 5:22 | 1 |
| וַ/יֶּהֱמ֖וּ | Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Isaiah 51:15 | 1 |
| וַ/יֶּהֱמ֣וּ | Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Jeremiah 31:35 | 1 |
| וַ/תֶּהֱמִ֪י | Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 2nd Person, Feminine, Singular | Psalms 42:5 | 1 |
| יֶֽהֱמ֑וּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Isaiah 16:11 | 1 |
| יֶהֱמ֣וּ | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Psalms 46:3 | 1 |
| יֶהֱמֶ֑ה | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Jeremiah 48:36 | 1 |
| כַּ/הֲמ֥וֹת | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct | Isaiah 17:12 | 1 |
| נֶהֱמֶ֤ה | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Plural | Isaiah 59:11 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1993, 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
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 27 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 32 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
- 1 Kings 1:41
- Psalms 39:6
- Proverbs 1:21
- Song of Solomon 5:4
- Isaiah 16:11
- Jeremiah 4:19
- Ezekiel 7:16
- Zechariah 9:15
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.
