דָּמַם

Exodus 15:16 יִדְּמ֣וּ they have become still

and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by.

Here: 'They are / will be struck still': motionless and silent, frozen with fear. This is the paralysis of terror, not calm.

Leviticus 10:3 וַיִּדֹּ֖ם and he was silent

Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I will reveal My glory.’” But Aaron remained silent.

Here: Aaron goes still and silent. He does not protest, argue or lament out loud. Whether this is stunned grief, submission, or both, the text does not say (see debates).

Joshua 10:12 דּ֔וֹם be still

On the day that the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”

Here: A command: 'Be still! Be silent! Hold! Wait!' The verb covers ceasing from motion, sound or activity. Whether Joshua wanted the sun to keep shining or to stop shining is debated (see debates). Either way it is an order for the sun to stop doing what it normally does.

Joshua 10:13 וַיִּדֹּ֨ם and it was still

So the sun stood still and the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance upon its enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? “So the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”

Here: "And [the sun] fell still." This is the same verb Joshua used as his command in v.12 ("Sun, dōm!"), so the narrator reports that the command was carried out word for word. The verb's basic sense is going silent or motionless. Whether the sun stopped moving or stopped blazing is one of the questions this verse raises.

1 Samuel 2:9 יִדָּ֑מּוּ they will be silenced

He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

Here: In this passive form the verb means 'be struck silent, be made still', and in several passages 'be destroyed'. The loud mouths of verse 3 are shut, and the stillness is the stillness of death (compare Psalm 31:17, 'silent in Sheol').

1 Samuel 14:9 דֹּ֕מּוּ be still

If they say, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stay where we are and will not go up to them.

Job 29:21 וְ֝יִדְּמ֗וּ and they may be silent

Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my counsel.

Job 30:27 דָ֗מּוּ they have been still

I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.

Here: "Have not gone still": the boiling never dies down. The verb covers both stopping and falling silent, so the turmoil is never quiet as well as never ending.

Job 31:34 וָ֝אֶדֹּ֗ם and I was silent

because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—

Psalm 4:4 וְדֹ֣מּוּ and be silent

Be angry, yet do not sin; on your bed, search your heart and be still. Selah

Here: 'And be silent.' The word means to fall quiet, stop moving or stop acting. Here it means stop your talk and agitation and go quiet before God. It is not a technique of meditation.

Psalm 30:12 יִדֹּ֑ם it may be silent

that my heart may sing Your praises and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks forever.

Here: "It will not fall silent." In the Psalms this verb and words related to it describe the silence of death and Sheol, the world of the dead (Ps 31:17; 94:17; 115:17). After verse 9, "Will the dust praise you?", this is the voice of someone who did not go down into that silence.

Psalm 31:17 יִדְּמ֥וּ may they be silent

O LORD, let me not be ashamed, for I have called on You. Let the wicked be put to shame; let them lie silent in Sheol.

Here: 'Let them be silent.' The enemies are the ones whose lying lips speak arrogantly against the righteous (v. 18), so the wish is that their talk be ended for good.

Psalm 35:15 דָֽמּוּ׃ they were still

But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee; they gathered together against me. Assailants I did not know slandered me without ceasing.

Here: 'They were (not) silent / did (not) stop.' The verb covers falling quiet and coming to a standstill. They kept tearing and talking without a pause.

Psalm 37:7 דּ֤וֹם׀ be still

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.

Here: A command: 'Be silent!' or 'Hush!' It means going quiet and stopping, and the main idea is silence, not relaxation. It also opens the dalet (ד) section of this alphabet poem.

Psalm 62:5 דּ֣וֹמִּי be silent

Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.

Here: A command addressed to a feminine singular listener (nefesh is a feminine noun): 'be silent, stop moving'. It means stopping all motion and speech, the way Joshua told the sun to 'stand still' (Josh 10:12, same verb). Here that means no more frantic protest or scheming.

Psalm 131:2 וְדוֹמַ֗מְתִּי and I have made quiet

Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Here: 'And I have hushed.' Damam is the stillness of something that stops moving or making noise (the sun 'stood still' in Josh 10:12–13). Here the form is causative: he has made his own self go quiet.

Isaiah 23:2 דֹּ֖מּוּ be silent

Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.

Jeremiah 8:14 וְנִדְּמָה־ הֲדִמָּ֙נוּ֙ so we may perish, he has silenced us

Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

Here: 'And let us be silent there.' In Hebrew, being 'silenced' often means dying (the dead lie in 'silence'). So 'be silent' and 'perish' are one idea. The people are walking into the walls knowingly, to meet their end there.

Jeremiah 25:37 וְנָדַ֖מּוּ and they will be devastated

The peaceful meadows have been silenced because of the LORD’s burning anger.

Jeremiah 47:6 וָדֹֽמִּי׃ and be still

‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’

Here: 'And be still / be silent!' This is the verb of Joshua 10:12, 'Sun, stand still'. It echoes v.5, where Ashkelon 'has been silenced' (nidmeṯāh). The city has been made still; now the sword is begged to fall still too.

Jeremiah 48:2 תִּדֹּ֔מִּי you will be silent

There is no longer praise for Moab; in Heshbon they devise evil against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off from nationhood.’ You too, O people of Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.

Here: 'You will fall silent', addressed to the town as a woman. Elsewhere in Jeremiah this verb describes soldiers silenced by death (49:26; 50:30), so this is the hush of a place that has been destroyed.

Jeremiah 49:26 יִדַּ֙מּוּ֙ they will be silenced

For her young men will fall in the streets, and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

Jeremiah 50:30 יִדַּ֛מּוּ they will be silenced

Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets, and all her warriors will be silenced in that day,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 51:6 תִּדַּ֖מּוּ you be destroyed

Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves.

Here: 'Be silenced', meaning be killed. The root means 'be still, be silent'. In this passive form Jeremiah regularly uses it for being destroyed, pictured as the silence of death.

Lamentations 2:10 יִדְּמוּ֙ they are silent

The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

Here: 'They are silent': the stunned, motionless silence of people with nothing left to say. The men whose job was to speak counsel have no words. A minority of scholars take it as 'they moan' (see debates).

Lamentations 2:18 תִּדֹּ֖ם it be still

The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief, and your eyes no rest.

Here: 'Let it not be still/silent.' The eye must not go quiet, meaning it must not stop weeping. The same verb is used in the close parallel in Jer 14:17.

Lamentations 3:28 וְיִדֹּ֔ם and let him be silent

Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.

Here: "And let him be still / keep silent." He does not protest or argue back. It echoes v. 26, where it is "good to wait in silence (dumam) for the salvation of the LORD." Some scholars hear a second Hebrew verb here meaning "to moan, mourn" (see debates).

Ezekiel 24:17 דֹּ֗ם be silent

Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.”

Amos 5:13 יִדֹּ֑ם he will be silent

Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.

Here: 'Will be silent / keeps silent'. The verb form can describe a habit or predict what will happen; it is not a command. The root also covers being struck still, dumbstruck in grief, or silenced in death. The main pause of the verse falls on this word.