Hebrew word · H3141

יוֹרָם

yoram

Joram

A short form of Yĕhôrām, 'YHWH is exalted / high'.

Appears 20 times in 16 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A king of the Kingdom of Israel, living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 2Ki.1.17;

son of: Ahab (H0256) and Jezebel (H0348);

brother of: Joash (H3101H), Ahaziah (H0274) and Athaliah (H6271); also called Jehoram at 2Ki.1.17a; 3.1,6; 1x,6,7;

Also named: ye.ho.ram (יְהוֹרָם "Joram" H3088I)

§ Joram = "Jehovah is exalted"

1) son of king Jehoshaphat of Judah and himself king of Judah for 8 years; his wife was the wicked Athaliah who was probably the instigator for his returning the nation of Judah to the worship of Baal

2) son of king Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel and king of Israel himself for 12 years; he was murdered by Jehu on the plot of land for which his father had murdered Naboth thus fulfilling the prophecy of Elijah to the very letter

3) a Levite in the time of David and an ancestor of Shelomith

4) son of Toi, king of Hamath

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 2 Kings 9:29

Range of meaning

A short form of Yĕhôrām, 'YHWH is exalted / high'.

Against the English

Some English versions use 'Joram' for the northern king and 'Jehoram' for the southern one to tell them apart. The Hebrew uses both forms for both kings.

Used elsewhere in the period

The fragmentary Tel Dan stele (9th century BC) appears to mention '[Jo]ram son of [Ahab], king of Israel' and '[Ahaz]iah son of [Jehoram], king of the House of David'. Both names depend on scholarly restorations of broken text.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 8:10 יֽוֹרָם־ Joram

    he sent his son Joram to greet King David and bless him for fighting and defeating Hadadezer, who had been at war with Toi. Joram brought with him articles of silver and gold and bronze,

2 Kings · 15

  1. 2 Kings 8:16 לְיוֹרָ֤ם of Joram

    In the fifth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat succeeded his father as king of Judah.

  2. 2 Kings 8:21 יוֹרָם֙ Joram

    So Jehoram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. When the Edomites surrounded him and his chariot commanders, he rose up and attacked by night. His troops, however, fled to their homes.

  3. 2 Kings 8:23 יוֹרָ֖ם Joram

    As for the rest of the acts of Jehoram, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

  4. 2 Kings 8:24 יוֹרָם֙ Joram

    And Jehoram rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the City of David. And his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.

  5. 2 Kings 8:25 לְיוֹרָ֥ם of Joram

    In the twelfth year of the reign of Joram son of Ahab over Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

  6. 2 Kings 8:28 יוֹרָ֣ם יוֹרָֽם׃ Joram

    Then Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram.

  7. 2 Kings 8:29 יוֹרָ֨ם יוֹרָ֧ם Joram

    So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.

  8. 2 Kings 9:14 יוֹרָ֑ם וְיוֹרָם֩ Joram, and Joram

    Thus Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. (Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram,

  9. 2 Kings 9:16 יוֹרָ֖ם יוֹרָֽם׃ Joram

    Then Jehu got into his chariot and went to Jezreel, because Joram was laid up there. And Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see him.

  10. 2 Kings 9:29 לְיוֹרָ֖ם of Joram

    (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.)

    Here: The preposition 'to/of' marks whose reign the year is counted in. Joram is the short form of Jehoram, 'YHWH is exalted'. Here it is the king of Israel whom Jehu had just shot (9:24).

  11. 2 Kings 11:2 י֠וֹרָם Joram

    But Jehosheba daughter of King Joram, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the sons of the king who were being murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah, and he was not killed.

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 3:11 יוֹרָ֥ם Joram

    Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,

  2. 1 Chronicles 26:25 וְיֹרָ֣ם and Joram

    His relatives through Eliezer included Rehabiah his son, Jeshaiah his son, Joram his son, Zichri his son, and Shelomith his son.

2 Chronicles · 2

  1. 2 Chronicles 22:5 יוֹרָֽם׃ Joram

    Ahaziah also followed their counsel and went with Joram son of Ahab king of Israel to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. But the Arameans wounded Joram.

  2. 2 Chronicles 22:7 יוֹרָ֑ם Joram

    Ahaziah’s downfall came from God when he went to visit Joram. When Ahaziah arrived, he went out with Joram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

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