Hebrew word · H2000

הָמַם

lehumam

to confuse

To make a noise or commotion, to stir up, and so to throw into confusion or panic. It is mostly used of God bringing disorder and terror on enemies so that they break up and are destroyed. It is closely related to hum (H1949, 'be in uproar') and the noun mehumah (H4103, 'tumult, panic').

Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to move noisily, confuse, make a noise, discomfit, break, consume, crush, destroy, trouble, vex

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to move noisily

1a2) to confuse, discomfit, vex

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 Joshua 10:10

Range of meaning

To make a noise or commotion, to stir up, and so to throw into confusion or panic. It is mostly used of God bringing disorder and terror on enemies so that they break up and are destroyed. It is closely related to hum (H1949, 'be in uproar') and the noun mehumah (H4103, 'tumult, panic').

Against the English

KJV 'discomfited'; BSB and NIV 'threw them into confusion'; WEB 'confused'; ESV and NLT 'threw them into a panic'; NASB 'confounded'; YLT 'crush'. 'Panic' is closest to what the word means in battle. 'Confused' sounds like puzzlement. 'Crush' gives the result rather than the means.

How it drifted

In 1611 'discomfit' meant 'defeat, rout' (from Old French desconfire, 'to undo, defeat'). Over time English shifted it toward 'make uneasy, embarrass'. 'Confusion' has also weakened: a modern reader hears mental bewilderment, not an army stampeding in terror.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is the regular word for divine war panic: Exod 14:24 (Yahweh panics Egypt's army at the sea); Exod 23:27 (the promise: 'I will throw into confusion all the people'); Deut 7:23 (mehumah gedolah, 'great panic'); Judg 4:15 (Sisera's chariots); 1 Sam 7:10 (Yahweh thunders against the Philistines and panics them); 2 Sam 22:15 and Ps 18:14 and Ps 144:6 (God's arrows and lightning panic the foe). Other ancient Near Eastern war accounts likewise credit the gods with terror and storm that scatter an enemy (e.g. Sargon II's account of his eighth campaign, where the storm-god Adad's hail finishes off the enemy).

From the study of 1 Samuel 7:10

Range of meaning

'To throw into confusion, panic, rout'; to disrupt with noise and terror (HALOT: 'confuse, discomfit'; BDB: 'make a noise, move noisily, confuse, discomfit'). It is closely linked to the noun mehumah, 'tumult, panic.'

Against the English

KJV 'discomfited' and WEB 'confused' now sound mild, like embarrassment or puzzlement. BSB 'threw them into such confusion' and NIV's 'panic' come closer. The picture is an army losing its nerve and its order at once.

How it drifted

'Discomfit' once meant 'defeat, rout' (from Old French desconfire). Over time English speakers drifted it toward 'discomfort,' and it now means 'make uneasy.'

Used elsewhere in the period

A set term for holy war, meaning God fighting for Israel. Exod 14:24 (Egyptian army at the sea); Josh 10:10 (the identical form vayhummem, followed by stones from heaven, 10:11); Judg 4:15 (Sisera's chariots); Deut 7:23 promises God 'will throw them into great panic' (hamam mehumah gedolah).

From the study of Exodus 14:24

Range of meaning

To throw into confusion, panic, rout; to crush. A technical term of 'holy war' narratives, Israel's accounts of battles in which God himself fights. In these stories God sends a panic that breaks the enemy's cohesion. The related noun mehumah means 'tumult, panic' (Deuteronomy 7:23; 1 Samuel 5:9; 14:20).

Against the English

BSB/WEB 'confused' and NIV 'threw into confusion' can sound like mere bewilderment. ESV's 'panic' is closer. KJV/YLT 'troubled' meant 'thrown into disorder' in 1611, but today it sounds like 'worried'. The Hebrew means a military collapse.

How it drifted

'Trouble' once meant to stir up or throw into disorder (Latin turbare, compare 'troubled waters'). Modern English has narrowed it to inner distress, so the KJV now undersells the word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 23:27 (God promises to throw the nations into panic); Deuteronomy 2:15 (God's hand against the wilderness generation, 'to hamam them from the midst of the camp'); Joshua 10:10 (the Amorites routed at Gibeon); Judges 4:15 (Sisera and all his chariots routed, which pairs closely with this verse: chariots, water, Judges 5:21); 1 Samuel 7:10 (Philistines routed by thunder); 2 Samuel 22:15 / Psalm 18:14 and Psalm 144:6 (God's lightning-arrows rout the foe). The LXX here uses synetaraxen, 'threw into turmoil'.

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 14:24 וַיָּ֕הָם and he confused

    At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion.

    Here: A battle word for the God-sent panic that breaks an army's order and starts a rout. It means more than mental confusion: ranks collapse, chariots jam, men flee.

  2. Exodus 23:27 וְהַמֹּתִי֙ and I will confuse

    I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

    Here: "And I will throw into panic." A battle word for the sudden, God-sent confusion that breaks an army apart, as at the Sea (Exod 14:24). Its range runs from disorder to rout to the destruction that follows a rout.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 2:15 לְהֻמָּ֖ם to disturb them

    Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.

  2. Deuteronomy 7:23 וְהָמָם֙ and he will confuse them

    But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 10:10 וַיְהֻמֵּ֤ם and he routed them

    And the LORD threw them into confusion before Israel, who defeated them in a great slaughter at Gibeon, pursued them along the ascent to Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

    Here: 'And he threw them into panic.' This is the stock verb for the terror Yahweh sends on an enemy army so that it breaks and runs. It opens the verse and names the decisive act: before any sword is drawn, God has broken the coalition's nerve.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 4:15 וַיָּ֣הָם and he routed

    And in front of him the LORD routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 7:10 וַיְהֻמֵּ֔ם and he routed them

    As the Philistines drew near to fight against Israel, Samuel was offering up the burnt offering. But that day the LORD thundered loudly against the Philistines and threw them into such confusion that they fled before Israel.

    Here: A battle term for the panic God sends on an enemy army so that its ranks break up in disorder. The exact same form is used at Gibeon (Josh 10:10). The point is a panicked rout, not mental puzzlement.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:15 וַיָּהֹֽם׃ and he routed [them]

    He shot His arrows and scattered the foes; He hurled lightning and routed them.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 15:6 הֲמָמָ֖ם he troubled them

    Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God afflicted them with all kinds of adversity.

Esther · 1

  1. Esther 9:24 לְהֻמָּ֖ם to trouble them

    For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 18:14 וַיְהֻמֵּֽם׃ and he routed them

    He shot His arrows and scattered the foes; He hurled lightning and routed them.

    Here: 'And he threw them into panic.' This is battle language for the terror God sends on an enemy army, so that it falls apart. The same verb is used at the Red Sea, at Gibeon and against the Philistines.

  2. Psalm 144:6 וּתְהֻמֵּֽם׃ and you will rout them

    Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 28:28 וְ֠הָמַם and he sets in motion

    Grain for bread must be ground, but it is not endlessly threshed. Though the wheels of the cart roll over it, the horses do not crush it.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 51:34 הֲמָמַ֗נִי he confused me

    “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.

    Here: 'He threw me into panic' or 'he routed me.' This is battle language for an army broken up in confusion (Exod 14:24; Judg 4:15). It is more than 'crushed': it means the city's defense fell apart in chaos.

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