Hebrew word · H2560

חָמַר

vatachmerah

to trouble

There is a cluster of roots spelled ḥ-m-r. (1) 'To foam, ferment, churn.' Lamentations 1:20 has 'my insides churn', and the Aramaic noun ḥămar means 'wine' (Ezra 6:9; Dan 5:1); compare ḥemer, 'wine', in Deut 32:14. (2) 'To smear with bitumen' (Exod 2:3).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to boil, foam, foam up, ferment

1a) (Qal) to boil, foam up

1b) (Poalal) to be troubled, be in turmoil

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 Psalm 75:8

Range of meaning

There is a cluster of roots spelled ḥ-m-r. (1) 'To foam, ferment, churn.' Lamentations 1:20 has 'my insides churn', and the Aramaic noun ḥămar means 'wine' (Ezra 6:9; Dan 5:1); compare ḥemer, 'wine', in Deut 32:14. (2) 'To smear with bitumen' (Exod 2:3). (3) A possible link with 'red': in Arabic, the letter written ḥ in Hebrew corresponds to two sounds, one found in a word for 'red' and the other in a word for 'wine'.

Against the English

The KJV has 'the wine is red'. BSB, WEB, YLT and most modern versions have 'foaming' or 'foams'.

How it drifted

This is a dispute about which root the word comes from, not a word whose English meaning has shifted. The KJV followed an older explanation that linked the word with redness.

Used elsewhere in the period

HALOT and BDB list 'foam, ferment' as the meaning in this verse. Aramaic and later Hebrew words for 'wine' from this root back up the 'fermenting' sense.

From the study of Lamentations 2:11

Range of meaning

To foam, ferment or boil up. It is related to ḥemer, "(fermenting) wine" (Deut 32:14), and is used of foaming, surging water (Ps 46:3) and of wine foaming in the cup (Ps 75:8). Here it takes a rare doubled form that intensifies the meaning: to seethe violently, be in violent turmoil.

Against the English

KJV "troubled" and BSB "churning" are both acceptable. "Troubled" is too mild in modern English, while "churning" (BSB, ESV "churns") keeps the physical motion. Versions that render it with abstract words like "spirit" or "torment" lose the bodily picture of insides boiling over.

How it drifted

"Troubled" has weakened over time to mean "worried." The Hebrew pictures a physical, violent agitation.

Used elsewhere in the period

The identical phrase ḥomarmeru meʿay appears in Lam 1:20 in Zion's own mouth. Job 16:16 uses the same doubled form: "my face is red/inflamed (ḥomarmerah) from weeping." Compare Jer 4:19, "My bowels, my bowels! I writhe!"

From the study of Job 16:16

Range of meaning

The root חמר covers boiling and foaming (the sea in Ps 46:3; foaming wine in Ps 75:8), fermenting, and being red. Hebrew sometimes forms related words for wine (ḥemer) and red earth or bitumen (ḥēmār, ḥōmer). The doubled form ḥŏmarmar appears only three times: here and in Lam 1:20 and 2:11, where the mourner's 'insides are churning'. It means intense inner turmoil showing itself as heat, flushing and swelling.

Against the English

Most modern versions say 'red' or 'flushed'. KJV and YLT say 'foul'. Older English could use 'foul' for 'disfigured, marred, dirty-looking', but a modern reader hears 'disgusting' or 'smelly'. The Vulgate's 'swollen' (intumuit) catches another part of the picture.

How it drifted

Through the Middle Ages, 'foul' could mean 'unsightly, discoloured, defiled'. Since then the word has narrowed toward 'offensive, nasty', so KJV's choice now sounds like a judgment of disgust rather than a description of a face burned raw by crying.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lam 1:20 and 2:11 (מֵעַי חֳמַרְמָרוּ, 'my bowels are in ferment') use the same rare form for lament. Ps 46:3 has the verb for foaming waters, and Ps 75:8 has 'foaming wine'. The Septuagint's Greek here reads, as far as can be told, 'my belly is burned up from weeping'. That reading may be shaped by the Lamentations passages, and it keeps the idea of burning.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 2:3 וַתַּחְמְרָ֥ה and sealed it she

    But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

    Here: "She bitumened it." The verb is made from the noun that follows, so the Hebrew sounds like "she bitumened it with bitumen": a sound-play that stresses how thoroughly she waterproofed it.

Job · 1

  1. Job 16:16 חֳ֭מַרְמְרוּ they are reddened

    My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes;

    Here: 'Is flushed, burning red.' The root's last two letters are doubled, a form Hebrew uses for an intense or repeated state. The face is raw and inflamed, as if it were boiling. Lamentations uses the same rare form for a mourner's insides 'churning' (Lam 1:20; 2:11).

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 46:3 יֶחְמְר֣וּ they will foam

    though their waters roar and foam and the mountains quake in the surge. Selah

    Here: The waters churn and froth like wine fermenting in a vat. Paired with the previous verb by sound (yehemû yeḥmerû), it gives you the roar, then the foam you can see.

  2. Psalm 75:8 חָמַ֨ר׀ it is foaming

    For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.

    Here: 'The wine foams': it is fermenting, frothing and strong. The KJV takes it as 'is red', from a different possible root. Most modern lexicons prefer 'foams'.

Lamentations · 2

  1. Lamentations 1:20 חֳמַרְמָ֔רוּ they are in turmoil

    See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.

    Here: A rare doubled form of a verb used for wine foaming or fermenting (Ps 75:8). The doubling stresses repeated, churning action: 'my insides are seething, boiling over'.

  2. Lamentations 2:11 חֳמַרְמְר֣וּ they are in turmoil

    My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

    Here: A rare doubled form of a verb used for fermenting wine and foaming water; the doubling intensifies it: "seethe and seethe," "churn violently." The inner organs are pictured as boiling over.

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