Hebrew word · H481

אָלַם

me'alemim

be dumb

To be bound or mute, to fall silent. The adjective 'illem means 'a mute person' (Exod 4:11; Isa 35:6).

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 24, 2026

What it means

1) to bind

1a) (Niphal)

1a1) to be dumb

1a2) to be bound

1b) (Piel) binding (part.)

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

Range of meaning: To be bound or mute, to fall silent. The adjective 'illem means 'a mute person' (Exod 4:11; Isa 35:6).
Against the English: KJV 'is dumb' meant 'mute' in 1611. Modern English hears 'stupid'. BSB, WEB and the modern versions use 'silent'.
How it drifted: Over the 19th–20th centuries English 'dumb' moved from 'unable to speak' to 'unintelligent'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ps 39:9 (Heb 39:10): 'I was mute (ne'elamti), I would not open my mouth, for you have done it.' Ps 38:13–14: 'like a mute man who does not open his mouth… like a man who has no rebuttal in his mouth.' Ezek 3:26; 24:27.

Range of meaning: In the passive/reflexive form (niphal) the verb means to be or become speechless: struck dumb, tongue-tied, unable or unwilling to speak. The root may be related to the idea of 'binding' (the noun 'alummah, 'sheaf,' is something tied together, Gen 37:7), so speech that is tied up. It is used of shock or awe (Dan 10:15), of a prophet whose tongue God makes stick (Ezek 3:26; 24:27; 33:22), and of the sheep that is silent before its shearers (Isa 53:7).
Against the English: KJV 'dumb' meant 'unable to speak' in 1611, but readers today hear 'stupid.' 'Silent' (NIV) is accurate but softer: it can sound like plain quietness, and loses the sense of being struck speechless. 'Mute' (BSB, NASB, WEB) comes closest.
How it drifted: In English, 'dumb' moved from 'speechless' to 'unintelligent' over the 19th–20th centuries, partly through the influence of German dumm. Its older sense now survives mainly in old phrases like 'struck dumb.'
Used elsewhere in the period: Isaiah 53:7 has the same pairing as this verse: נֶאֱלָמָה … וְלֹא יִפְתַּח פִּיו, 'she is mute … and he does not open his mouth.' The Septuagint here uses ἐκωφώθην, 'I was made deaf or mute,' from kōphos, a word used for people who cannot speak or hear. Psalm 38:13–14, in the same cluster of psalms, describes the sufferer as 'like a mute man who does not open his mouth.'

Range of meaning: In the passive-reflexive stem used here (niphal): to become mute, be speechless, be unable or unwilling to speak. Related noun: illem, "a mute person" (Exod 4:11). A separate use of the same consonants means "to bind" (alummah, "sheaf," Gen 37:7). Some lexicons connect the two, with being mute pictured as having a bound tongue, but that link is uncertain.
Against the English: BSB "be silenced"; KJV "be put to silence"; WEB, ESV, NASB "be mute"; YLT "become dumb." All are accurate. "Be silenced" suggests someone else does the silencing, which fits the context (God is the one asked to act), though the Hebrew form itself only says "become mute."
How it drifted: Only YLT's "dumb" drifts: in older English it meant "unable to speak," and today most readers hear "stupid."
Used elsewhere in the period: Ps 39:2, 9 (Hebrew 39:3, 10): "I was mute, I did not open my mouth." Isa 53:7: the servant, like a sheep before its shearers, "is silent." Ezek 3:26; 24:27; 33:22: the prophet made mute and then released. Dan 10:15: struck speechless before an angel. The Greek translation (Septuagint) renders this verse with alala, "speechless."

Genesis · 1

Genesis 37:7 מְאַלְּמִ֤ים [were] binding

We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”

Psalms · 3

Psalm 31:18 תֵּ֥אָלַ֗מְנָה may they be dumb

May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.

Here: A passive verb form ("be made mute") used as a wish: "may they be struck dumb." It stands first in the verse for emphasis: the first thing the psalmist asks for is that the lying speech stop.
Psalm 39:2 נֶאֱלַ֣מְתִּי I was dumb

I was speechless and still; I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred.
Psalm 39:9 נֶ֭אֱלַמְתִּי I am dumb

I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.

Here: 'I have been made mute' or 'I fell silent.' The verb form is passive or reflexive: muteness that came over him, or that he took on, rather than a calm choice to stay quiet. It repeats the exact word from verse 2, where he first held his tongue, so it ties the psalm together.

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 53:7 נֶאֱלָ֑מָה it is dumb

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.

Here: 'Is struck dumb, goes mute'. The feminine form refers to the ewe. It is the same verb the psalmist uses of his own silence before God (Ps 39:9).

Ezekiel · 3

Ezekiel 3:26 וְנֶֽאֱלַ֔מְתָּ and you will be dumb

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.

Here: 'You will be struck dumb, tongue-tied.' It is the result of the clinging tongue. The same verb returns at 24:27 and 33:22, where the muteness is lifted ('you will no longer be mute'). That ties this verse to the moment Jerusalem's fall is reported.
Ezekiel 24:27 תֵֽאָלֵ֖ם you will be dumb

On that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped; you will speak and no longer be mute. So you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD.”
Ezekiel 33:22 נֶאֱלַ֖מְתִּי I was dumb

Now the evening before the fugitive arrived, the hand of the LORD was upon me, and He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning. So my mouth was opened and I was no longer mute.

Here: A passive-type verb: 'I was silenced', a condition put on him from outside rather than chosen. It is the same verb as in 3:26 ('you shall be mute') and 24:27 ('you will be mute no longer').

Daniel · 1

Daniel 10:15 וְנֶאֱלָֽמְתִּי׃ and I was dumb

While he was speaking these words to me, I set my face toward the ground and became speechless.

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