Hebrew word · H121

אָדָם

'adam

Adam

In biblical Hebrew the one word 'ādām covers (1) humankind or a human being in general, the most common use by far; (2) the proper name of the first man, Adam (Gen 4:25; 5:1–5; 1 Chr 1:1); and (3) a town in the Jordan valley called Adam, where the waters of the Jordan piled up when Israel crossed...

Appears 12 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time before the Flood, first mentioned at Gen.2.19;

married to Eve (H2332);

father of: Cain (H7014B), Abel (H1893) and Seth (H8352); also translated "man" at Gen.2.19,21,23; 3.8,9,20; 5.2; "mankind" at Deu.32.8; "others" at Job.31.33;

§ Adam = "red"

1) first man

2) city in Jordan valley

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Hosea 6:7

Range of meaning

In biblical Hebrew the one word 'ādām covers (1) humankind or a human being in general, the most common use by far; (2) the proper name of the first man, Adam (Gen 4:25; 5:1–5; 1 Chr 1:1); and (3) a town in the Jordan valley called Adam, where the waters of the Jordan piled up when Israel crossed into the land (Josh 3:16). Hebrew has no capital letters, so only context decides between the three.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, YLT, ESV and NASB print "Adam" with a capital A, which most readers take to mean the man in Eden. KJV has "like men" (humankind in general). NRSV has "at Adam" and NIV (2011) "As at Adam", both of which take it as the place. The English reader sees one decision. The Hebrew reader saw an open word.

How it drifted

Printing a capital letter in English turns a real ambiguity into what looks like a definite reference to Genesis. Later theology then built on that reference (see debates).

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it "like a man" (hōs anthrōpos), so a generic human. The Vulgate has "like Adam" (sicut Adam). A close parallel is Job 31:33: "if I have covered my transgressions kᵉ'ādām". That is likewise rendered either "like Adam" or "as people do". Ps 82:7, "you shall die kᵉ'ādām", clearly means "like mere mortals". Joshua 3:16 names the town Adam beside Zarethan.

From the study of Genesis 3:21

Range of meaning

Human being, humankind, a person; from this word comes the personal name Adam. It sounds like ʾădāmâ, 'ground', the wordplay of Genesis 2:7.

Against the English

Most versions print 'Adam'; YLT has 'the man'. Up to this point in the chapter the Hebrew has mostly said hā-ʾādām, 'the human', with 'the'.

How it drifted

English Bibles follow the Greek and Latin in turning the word into a name, and English readers cannot hear the ordinary noun inside it.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Hebrew uses 'the man' throughout Genesis 2-3, with a few places lacking 'the' (2:20, 3:17, 3:21). The Septuagint already uses the name Adam here. A clear personal-name use comes at Genesis 4:25 and 5:1-5.

From the study of Job 31:33

Range of meaning

אָדָם is mostly a common noun meaning 'human being' or 'humankind', often in contrast with God. In Genesis 1–5 it slides into the personal name Adam. With the prefix kə- ('like, as') it can mean 'like a human / as people do' or 'like Adam'.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT and NASB put 'Adam'. NIV, ESV, NRSV and NLT put something like 'as others do' or 'as people do'. The choice changes the verse from a reference back to Genesis into a remark about how people usually behave.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Job, אָדָם nearly always means humans in general (e.g. 14:1, 'a human born of woman'). Job 15:7 asks 'Were you the first adam born?', which shows the book knows traditions about the first human. Hosea 6:7, 'like adam they broke the covenant', has the same ambiguity and the same split among translators. The Vulgate reads 'quasi homo', 'as a man'.

Where it appears

Genesis · 8

  1. Genesis 2:20 וּלְאָדָ֕ם and for Adam

    The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

  2. Genesis 3:17 וּלְאָדָ֣ם and to Adam

    And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

    Here: Placed first in the sentence to mark a change of addressee, just as 'to the woman' opens 3:16. Adam ('adam) means 'human, man' and sounds like 'adamah, 'ground', the word that comes a few words later, so the sound links the man to the soil he was taken from.

  3. Genesis 3:21 לְאָדָ֧ם for Adam

    And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

    Here: Adam is also the everyday Hebrew word for a human being, so a first hearer heard 'the human' inside the name. The preposition marks him as the one who benefits: this is made for him.

  4. Genesis 4:25 אָדָ֥ם Adam

    And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

  5. Genesis 5:1 אָדָ֑ם Adam

    This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness.

    Here: Tagged here as the personal name, since the genealogy that follows (5:3–5) treats Adam as an individual who fathers Seth. The same word means 'humankind', and the verse plays on both senses.

  6. Genesis 5:3 אָדָ֗ם Adam

    When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth.

  7. Genesis 5:4 אָדָ֗ם Adam

    And after he had become the father of Seth, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters.

  8. Genesis 5:5 אָדָם֙ Adam

    So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 3:16 מֵֽאָדָ֤ם from Adam

    the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

    Here: Adam is a town, almost certainly at Tell ed-Damiyeh, near where the Jabbok joins the Jordan, about 25–30 km north of the Jericho crossing. The written text has 'at Adam'; the reading tradition has 'from Adam' (see textual notes).

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 1:1 אָדָ֥ם Adam

    Adam, Seth, Enosh,

Job · 1

  1. Job 31:33 כְאָדָ֣ם like Adam

    if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,

    Here: 'Like Adam' or 'as humans do'. The Hebrew can be read either way: it may point to the first man, who hid after his wrong in Genesis 3, or it may mean human beings in general, who usually hide their faults. See the debate below.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 6:7 כְּאָדָ֖ם like Adam

    But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

    Here: The crux of the verse. The consonants can mean "like Adam" (the first man), "like human beings / like ordinary mortals", or, with a one-letter change or a loose sense of "like", refer to the town of Adam on the Jordan (Josh 3:16). The supplied data tags it as the personal name Adam. That is one interpretation, not a fact of the text.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.