עַם
people
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
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
1 verse where H5972 appears in the Construct state in the Book of Daniel. Filtered view — show all forms. 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.
Daniel
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 עם centers on the idea of “people.” Daniel dominates its distribution — 9 of 14 verses. Spanning 14 verses in 2 books, it ranks among the uncommon words of the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Ezra 5:12, it then recurs through the corpus. Sharing its root, it stands alongside עם, עמון and עמיאל. Dig into 14-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5972 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 →
- 14
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 14 distinct verses.
- 2 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 2 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,836
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,836 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 14 occurrences in the concordance →
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 14 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 14 verses · 100%
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†: People 15×
- American Standard Version†: People 7×, Peoples 7×
- Berean Standard Bible†: People 13×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: People 7×, Peoples 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5972 across 15† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H5972 across 15† 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.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H5972 across 15† 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.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5972 across 18† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
18 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 18 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.
עם I
- 1. a people, nation (sometimes ‖ גּוֹי), n. coll. (sg. Ex 21:8 Jos 17:14, 15, 17; 2 S 17:29 + often, or pl. Ex 20:15; 24:2; Je 5:31 + often, or both in same clause Ex 1:20; 2 S 13:24): עַם אֶחָד = all mankind Gn 11:6 (J); peoples in gen. 27:29 (J; ‖ לְאֻמִּים), Ex 19:5 (E), Dt 2:25; 4:6 + often Dt, Ne 13:24 + often; קְהַל עַמִּים Gn 28:3 (P) an assembly (multitude) of peoples, 48:4 (P), Ez 23:24; 32:3 (+ דַבִּים); one’s own people Je 46:16 ψ 45:11; Ru 1:10, 15, 16(×2) + (on עַמִּי נָדִיב Ct 6:12 v. especially Bu); particular peoples, Egypt Gn 41:40 (E), Ex 1:22 (E), Ne 9:10 +; עַם־אֲרָם Am 1:5; עַם־כְּמוֹשׁ (i.e. Moab) Nu 21:29 (JE), Je 48:46; but especially Isr. Ex 1:20 (E) + often; עַם־בְּנֵי יִשׂ׳ v 9 (J); called ע׳ יהוה Nu 11:29 (E), 1 S 2:24 +, and (by י׳) עַמִּי Ex 3:7; 5:1 (J) + often (all periods); קְהַל עַם־הָאֱלֹהִים Ju 20:2, עַם־הַקָּהָל Lv 16:33 (P), קְהַל עָם ψ 107:32; especially הָעָם הַזֶּה (often in contempt or disgust) Nu 11:1, 12, 13 +; fig. of ants Pr 30:25, the shaphan v 26, locusts Jo 2:2, cf. לְעַם לְצִיִּים ψ 74:14 (where read לְעַם צִיִּים Hup-Now).—On Ju 1:16 v. עֲמָלֵקִי. e.g. Exodus 21:8
- 2. = smaller units, e.g.
- a. inhab. of a city Gn 19:4 (J), 1 S 9:12, 13; Je 29:16, 25; 2 Ch 31:4 + (Je 8:5 del. יְרוּשׁ׳ 𝔊 Gie Co Rothst). e.g. Genesis 19:4
- b. inhab. of a locality Je 37:12 [appar. not = tribe, Dt 33:3 read עַמּוֹ 𝔊 Di Dr, Ho 10:14; Ju 5:8, 14 read בְּעָרֶיךָ We Now; v. sub d]. e.g. Jeremiah 37:12
- c. retainers, followers Gn 14:16; 32:8; 33:15; 35:6; Ju 3:18; 8:5; 2 S 15:17; Je 41:13, 14 +. e.g. Genesis 14:16
- d. people bearing arms 1 S 11:11; 1 K 20:10 +; ע׳ כָּבֵד Nu 20:20 (JE), i.e. a powerful force; עַם הַצָּבָא Nu 31:32 (P), ע׳ הַמִּלְחָמָה Jos 8:1, 3, 11; 10:7; 11:7 (all JE); so prob. Ju 5:8 a (fighting) band; perhaps also v 14 (read sg.? v. GFM Bu). e.g. 1 Samuel 11:11
- 3. = common people Je 21:7; 22:4, Lv 4:27 (opp. ruler v 22), Ne 5:1 (opp. יְהוּדִים), 7:5 (opp. rulers). e.g. Jeremiah 21:7
- 4. people in gen., persons Gn 50:20 (E), so appar. כָּל־הָעָם אֲשֵׁר וגו׳ Ex 33:16 (J), Nu 11:34 (J), Jos 5:5(×2) (D), Ju 9:36 (as sg.), v 37 (as pl.), Je 36:9; persons labouring 1 K 9:23; superior persons Jb 12:2 (iron.); עַם עוֹלָם Ez 26:20 people of long ago (now in Sheʾôl). e.g. Genesis 50:20
- 5. phrases are:
- a. (עַמָּהּ, עַמִּי, עַמְּךָ) כְּנֵי עַמּוֹ members of one’s people, compatriots, fellow-countrymen, etc. Nu 22:5 (E), Gn 23:11 (P) Lv 19:18 (H), Ju 14:16, 17; Ez 33:2, 12 +. e.g. Numbers 22:5
- b. בְּנֵי הָעָם = common people (v. 3) 2 K 23:6; Je 26:23 +; people in gen. שַׁעַר בְּנֵי הָעָם Je 17:19 i.e. public gate 2 Ch 35:5, 12. e.g. 2 Kings 23:6
- c. עַם הָאָרֶץ the people at large, as a body 2 K 11:14, 18, 19, 20; 15:5; 16:15; 21:24(×2) +, Je 37:2; 44:21 Lv 20:2 (H), Gn 23:7, 12, 13 (P); common people Je 34:19, cf. דַּלַּת ע׳ הא׳ 2 K 24:14; disting. from prince Ez 45:22; 46:3, 9, from priests Hg 2:4 Zc 7:5; = Canaanites Nu 14:9 (JE), cf. עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ 1 Ch 5:25; mixed post-exil. population Ezr 4:4. e.g. 2 Kings 11:14
- d. עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ usually peoples of the earth Jos 4:24 (D), 2 Ch 32:19 +; of heathen peoples about and in Pal. after exile Ezr 10:2, 11; traders Ne 10:31; עַמֵּי הָאֲרָצוֹת 9:30; 10:29; 2 Ch 32:13. e.g. Joshua 4:24
- e. מִשְׁפְּחוֹת עַמִּים ψ 96:7 = 1 Ch 16:28 (cf. ψ 22:23). e.g. Psalms 96:7
- f. בַּת־עַמִּי = people personif. Is 22:4; Je 4:11 + 7 times Je + 6:14 (van d. H.; om. בַּת Baer Gi), La 2:11; 3:48; 4:3, 6, 10; בְּתוּלַת בַּת־עַמִּי Je 14:17. e.g. Isaiah 22:4
- g. designations of Isr. are: עַם־קָדוֹשׁ Dt 7:6 + 3 times, ע׳ קְדוֹשִׁים Dn 8:24, ע׳ (ה)קֹדֶשׁ Is 62:12; 63:18; Dn 12:7; ע׳ סְגֻלָּה Dt 7:6; 14:2; 26:18. e.g. Deuteronomy 7:6
- h. of foreign (non-Isr.) peoples: ע׳ נָכְרִי Ex 21:8 (E), ע׳ אַחֵר Dt 28:32, and especially from language, ע׳ עִמְקֵי שָׂפָה Ez 3:5 cf. v 6, כִּלְשׁוֹן עַם וָעָם Ne 13:24 cf. Est 1:22(×2); 3:12, ע׳ לֹעֵג ψ 114:1. e.g. Exodus 21:8
- i. עַם עֶבְרָתִי Is 10:6, ע׳ חֶרְמִי 34:11, ע׳־מִבְחָרָיו Dn 11:15, עַמֵּי תּוֹעֵבוֹת הָאֵלָּה Ezr 9:14; לֹא עַם בִּינוֹת Is 27:11.—For עַם־עוֹלָם Is 44:7 read (אֹתִיּוֹת) מֵעוֹלָם (מִי הִשְׁמִי)עַ Oort Du Kit CheHpt cf. PerlesAnal. 40, 64. e.g. Isaiah 10:6
עם II [m.] kinsman* kinsman, later development of i. עַם RSK 58
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
II. n.m. Gn 11:6 (v. infr.) people (NH id., plebeian, common man; 𝔗 עַמָּא people, pl. peoples, tribes, etc.; Syriac ܥܰܡܳܐ; Arabic عَمٌّ v. supr.; orig. meaning prob. those united, connected, related, cf. WeGGN 1893, 480);—abs. עַם Gn 11:6 +, עַם Ju 9:36 +, הָעָם Jos 8:11 +; cstr. עַם Nu 21:29 +; sf. עַמִּי Ex 3:7 +, עַמְּךָ 22:27 +, etc.; pl. עַמִּים Is 2:3 +, עֲמָמִים (cf. Biblical Aramaic) Ne 9:22; cstr. עַמֵּי 1 K 8:43 +, עַמְמֵי Ne 9:24; pl. c. sf. v. ii. עַם;—(Thes cites foll. as f. וְחָטָאת עַמֶּ֑ךָ Ex 5:16 [but corrupt and unintellig.; read perhaps וְחַטָאתָ לְע׳, so 𝔊 𝔖 Di]; Ju 18:7 [but ישֶׁבֶת must agree with lost word city, or the like, v. GFM]; Je 8:5 [but read שׁוֹבַב for שׁוֹבְבָה Gie]);—
III. n.[m.] kinsman* kinsman, later development of i. עַם RSK 58; 2nd ed. 72. (on father’s side) (Arabic عَمٌّ paternal uncle, etc. v. I. עמם; cf. perhaps TelAm. ammu, kinsmen (?); on Nab. עם ancestor cf. Lzb151, 499; v. also especially NesEg 187, ZAW xvi (1896), 322 f. Krenkelib. viii (1888), 280–84);—sf. עַמִּי in בֶּן־עַמִּי (q.v.), and n.pr. sqq.; elsewhere pl. sf. עַמֶּיךָ Nu 27:13; 31:2 (Lv 19:16 read עַמְּךָ 𝔊 Sam), + (poss.) עֲמָמֶיךָ Ju 5:14; עַמָּיו Gn 25:8 + 15 times, עַמֶּיהָ 17:14 + 3 times; read עַמַּי (for MT עַמִּי, 1עַם; cf. Krenkell.c. 281) Gn 49:29 and perhaps Ju 14:3 (cf. Lv 21:14); according to Buhl Kit also 2 K 4:13;—father’s kinsmen: וַיֵּאָסֵף אֶל־עַמָּיו Gn 25:8 (of joining kinsmen in Sheʾôl), so v 17; 35:29; 49:33; Nu 20:24; Dt 32:50, cf. Gn 49:29 (v. supr.), Nu 27:13; 31:2; Dt 32:50 (all P); וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ מֵעַמֶּיהָ Gn 17:14 (severed from living kinsmen), so Lv 7:20, 21, 25, 27; 19:8; 23:29; Nu 9:13, מִקֶּרֶב עַמֶּיהָ Ex 31:14, cf. 30:33, 38; Lv 17:9 (all PH); מֵעַמָּיו יִקַּח אִשָּׁה 21:14 (H), and perhaps Ju 14:3 (sim. 1עַם: [ם—ָ, הּ—ָ] מִקֶּרֶב עַמּוֹ Lv 17:4, 10; 18:29 +); other combin. Ju 5:14 (si vera l., read perhaps בְּעַמֶּ֑ךָ, v. 1.עַם 2 d), Lv 21:1, 4, 15 (H), Ez 18:18 and (perhaps) 2 K 4:13.—בֶּן־עַמִּי (v. p. 122 b) perhaps = son of my kinsman; on n.pr. c. עַם v. GrayProp. N. 41 ff..
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from עם (ʻam) (H5971) — people.
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.
עִם
- v. עַם) junction; (prep.) with, near. Sabb. I, 8 עם השמש with the sun, i.e. as long as the sun shines, before sunset. Ib. II, 7 עם חשיכה, v. חֲשֵׁיכָה. Ber. 7ᵃ ותתנהג עם בניך וכ׳ and deal with thy children mercifully. Snh. 23ᵃ מי חותם עִמָּהֶן who is to sign as witness with them; a. fr.
עִם ²
- Targ. O. Gen. XXV, 11. Targ. Ps. LIV, 2 עִימָּנָא Ms. (ed. גַּבָּן). Targ. Job XXXII, 6 עִימְּכוֹן Ms. (ed. יַתְכוֹן); a. fr.
עַם
- עמם to press, crowd, join) gathering, crowd, people. Snh. 94ᵇ, v. עָיֵף. Men. 53ᵇ יבא זח … לעם זו let ‘this one’ (Moses) come and receive ‘this’ (the Law) … for ‘this people’ (Israel); a. fr.—עם הארץ, v. אֶרֶץ.—Pl. עַמִּים gentiles. Sabb. 14ᵇ, a. fr. על ארץ הע׳ concerning (importations from) heathen countries. Y. Shebi. VI, 36ᵇ bot.; a. fr.—V. עֲמָם.
עַם ²
- Targ. Gen. XII, 2. Targ. Ez. XLV, 16. Targ. Cant. VI, 5; a. v. fr.—Erub. 14ᵇ, a. e. מאי ע׳ דבר, v. דְּבַר. Y. Kil. V, 29ᵈ bot. כל ע׳; Y. Yeb. XIII, beg. 13ᵇ כל עַמָּה, a. fr., v. כּוֹל. Sot. IX, 15 ע׳ דארעא = עם הארץ, ignorant people; a. fr.—Pl., v. עֲמַם II.
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 13 distinct written forms H5972 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| עַֽמְמַיָּ֗/א | Particle, Definite Article | Daniel 5:19 | 2 |
| עַֽמְמַיָּ֞/א | Particle, Definite Article | Daniel 4:1 | 2 |
| וְ/עַם֙ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Ezra 6:12 | 1 |
| וְ/עַמָּ֖/ה | Particle, Definite Article | Ezra 5:12 | 1 |
| לְ/עַ֖ם | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Daniel 7:27 | 1 |
| לְ/עַ֥ם | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Daniel 2:44 | 1 |
| עַ֨ם | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Daniel 3:29 | 1 |
| עַֽמְמַיָּ֔/א | Particle, Definite Article | Daniel 3:4 | 1 |
| עַֽמְמַיָּ֜/א | Particle, Definite Article | Daniel 3:7 | 1 |
| עַמְמַיָּ֡/א | Particle, Definite Article | Daniel 3:7 | 1 |
| עַמָּ/ה֙ | Particle, Definite Article | Ezra 7:25 | 1 |
| עַמָּ֤/א | Particle, Definite Article | Ezra 7:16 | 1 |
| עַמָּ֨/ה | Particle, Definite Article | Ezra 7:13 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5972, 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
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- עמון ʻAmmôwn H5983 Ammon
- עמיאל ʻAmmîyʼêl H5988 Ammiel
- עמיהוד ʻAmmîyhûwd H5989 Ammihud
- עמיזבד ʻAmmîyzâbâd H5990 Ammizabad
- עמיחור ʻAmmîychûwr H5991 Ammihur
- עמינדב ʻAmmîynâdâb H5992 Amminadab
- עמי נדיב ʻAmmîy Nâdîyb H5993 Amminadib
- עמישדי ʻAmmîyshadday H5996 Ammishaddai
- עמעד ʻAmʻâd H6008 Amad
- עמרם ʻAmrâm H6019 Amram
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 12 — not the complete family. 10 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 14 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 14 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.
