חָם
Ham
BDB lists 4 entries for ‘Ham’ 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
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Every verse where H2526 appears in the Book of Genesis — 8 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 5:32 חָ֥ם n Proper Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- Genesis 6:10 חָ֥ם n Proper Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
- Genesis 7:13 וְ/חָ֥ם conj + n Proper In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ark;
- Genesis 9:18 וְ/חָ֣ם וְ/חָ֕ם conj + n Proper conj + n Proper The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan.
- Genesis 9:22 חָ֚ם n Proper Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
- Genesis 10:1 חָ֣ם n Proper Now this is the history of the generations of the sons of Noah and of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
- Genesis 10:6 חָ֑ם n Proper The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
- Genesis 10:20 חָ֔ם n Proper These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their languages, in their lands, in their nations.
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.
“Ham” is the headline sense of the Hebrew name חם (Châm). It clusters heavily in Genesis, which alone accounts for 53% of its uses. It turns up in 15 verses across 3 books, an uncommon footprint. First canonically at Genesis 5:32, it enters the text early. See 15-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2526 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 →
- 15
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 15 distinct verses.
- 3 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 3 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,752
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,752 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 15 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Genesis 8 verses 53%
- Psalms 4 verses 27%
- 1 Chronicles 3 verses 20%
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 15 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 8 verses · 53%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 47%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 3 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Ham 15×
- American Standard Version†: Ham 14×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Ham 15×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Ham 16×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2526 across 16† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H2526 across 16† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H2526 across 16† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears 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 H2526 across 17† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears 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 2 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.
חם I pers.m. and loc. (cf. Sab. חם Hal243)
- 1. Ham, 2nd son of Noah Gn 5:32; 6:10; 7:13; 9:18(×2) 1 Ch 1:4; called father of Canaan Gn 9:22 and of various peoples 10:1, 6, 20 1 Ch 1:8, cf. מִן־חָם הַיֹּשְׁבִים שָׁם 4:40; these peoples were inhabitants of southern lands, or related historically or politically to such inhabitants; v. כּוּשׁ, כְּנַעַן, מִצְרַיִם, פּוּט, etc. e.g. Genesis 5:32
- 2. in late ψψ a name (coll.) for Egyptians:—אָֽהֳלֵי־ח׳ ψ 78:51; אֶרֶץ־ח׳ 105:23, 27; 106:22 (all ‖ מִצְרַיִם, exc. 105:27).—On historical significance, and attempts at etymol. v. Di Gen. ed. 6, chap. 10, especially pp. 165, 168 f., Hom SV i. 427 BuUrg. 323 WiedemannÄgypt. Gesch. i. 22. e.g. Psalms 78:51
חם II husband’s father, v. חמה.
חם III husband’s father (NH id., of husband’s or wife’s father, so Aramaic חֲמָא
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
I. n.pr.pers.m. and loc. (cf. Sab. חם Hal243)—𝔊 Χαμ:—
II. husband’s father, v. חמה.
III. n.m. husband’s father (NH id., of husband’s or wife’s father, so Aramaic חֲמָא; Arabic حَمٌّ husband’s male relation (father, brother, paternal uncle), but also wife’s father, etc.; Ethiopic ሐም Assyrian emu, ZimBP 48);—only sf. חָמִ֫יךָ Gn 38:13, 25, of Judah as Tamar’s father-in-law; חָמִ֫יהָ 1 S 4:19, 21 of Eli, father-in-law of Phinehas’ wife.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from חם (châm) (H2525) — hot.
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.
חַם
- , perf. of חֲמַם.
חָם I
- (b. h.) pr. n. m. Ham, the son of Noah. Snh. 69ᵇ ח׳ גדול וכ׳ H. was the elder of Japheth by one year &c. Ib. 108ᵇ ח׳ לקה בעורו H. was punished on his skin (was made black); Gen. R. s. 36 יצא ח׳ מפוהם Ḥ. came out (of the ark) blackened; a. e.
חָם II
- warm, hot, boiling. Pes. 75ᵇ, sq.; a. fr.—Nidd. 43ᵃ בשרו חם his membrum excited.—Pl. חַמִּים, חַמִּין (sub. מים) hot water. Sabb. 134ᵇ ח׳ שהוחמו וכ׳ hot water which was made hot on the Sabbath; a. fr.—חַמֵּי טבריה the hot springs of Tiberias, in gen. natural hot water, opp. to חמי האור water heated by fire. Ḥull. 8ᵃ (Neg. IX, 1 מֵי); a. fr.—Fem. חַמָּה. Makhsh. III, 3 פת ח׳ hot bread.
חָם III
- v. Ges. H. Dict.10 s. v.) father-in-law, husband’s father, wife’s father. Yeb. XV, 7 חָמִי my husband’s father. Ib. I, 1 חָמִיו his (the yabam’s) father-in-law. Pes. 87ᵃ כלה בבית חָמִיהָ a bride in the house of her father-in-law (after being conducted to the husband’s home); a. v. fr.—Fem. חָמוֹת q. 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 9 distinct written forms H2526 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.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| חָ֑ם | Noun, Proper | Genesis 10:6 | 3 |
| חָ֥ם | Noun, Proper | Genesis 5:32 | 3 |
| חָֽם | Noun, Proper | Psalms 78:51 | 3 |
| חָ֔ם | Noun, Proper | Genesis 10:20 | 2 |
| וְ/חָ֕ם | Noun, Proper | Genesis 9:18 | 1 |
| וְ/חָ֣ם | Noun, Proper | Genesis 9:18 | 1 |
| וְ/חָ֥ם | Noun, Proper | Genesis 7:13 | 1 |
| חָ֚ם | Noun, Proper | Genesis 9:22 | 1 |
| חָ֣ם | Noun, Proper | Genesis 10:1 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2526, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Ham). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897
Warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning "black", the youngest son of Noah (Gen. 5:32; comp. 9:22, 24). The curse pronounced by Noah against Ham, properly against Canaan his fourth son, was accomplished when the Jews subsequently exterminated the Canaanites.
One of the most important facts recorded in Gen. 10 is the foundation of the earliest monarchy in Babylonia by Nimrod the grandson of Ham (6, 8, 10). The primitive Babylonian empire was thus Hamitic, and of a cognate race with the primitive inhabitants of Arabia and of Ethiopia. (See ACCAD.)
The race of Ham were the most energetic of all the descendants of Noah in the early times of the post-diluvian world.
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
(hot; sunburnt).
+ The name of one of the three sons of Noah, apparently the second in age. (B.C. 2448.) Of the history of Ham nothing is related except his irreverence to his father and the curse which that patriarch pronounced. The sons of Ham are stated, to have been "Cush and Mizraim and Phut and Canaan." (Genesis 10:6) comp. 1Chr 1:8 Egypt is recognized as the "land of Ham" in the Bible. (Psalms 78:51; 105:23; 106:22) The other settlements of the sons of Ham are discussed under their respective names. The three most illustrious Hamite nations--the Cushites, the Phoenicians and the Egyptians--were greatly mixed with foreign peoples. Their architecture has a solid grandeur that we look for in vain elsewhere. + According to the present text, (Genesis 14:5) Chedorlaomer and his allies smote the Zuzim in a place called Ham, probably in the territory of the Ammonites (Gilead), east of the Jordan.
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary · Roswell D. Hitchcock, 1869
hot; heat; brown
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 14 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 15 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
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.
