Hebrew word · H510

אַלְקוּם

'alkum

army

This word also occurs only here. There are three main explanations. (1) Arabic al-qawm, 'the people, the tribe, the troop', with the Arabic article al-: 'a king with his troop/people with him'. (2) Hebrew ʾal + qûm, 'no rising/standing up': 'a king against whom there is no rising up'.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) (TWOT) (neg adv) no, not, nor, neither

2) (BDB) band of soldiers

3) (CLBL) no rebellion, no uprising (lit.)

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 Proverbs 30:31

Range of meaning

This word also occurs only here. There are three main explanations. (1) Arabic al-qawm, 'the people, the tribe, the troop', with the Arabic article al-: 'a king with his troop/people with him'. (2) Hebrew ʾal + qûm, 'no rising/standing up': 'a king against whom there is no rising up'. (3) A corrupted text, emended in various ways, for example to 'standing over/before his people'.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: 'against whom there is no rising up'. YLT: 'no rising up with him'. BSB, ESV, NASB and NLT: the king with or leading his army. NIV (2011): a king 'secure against revolt'. NRSV: 'striding before his people'.

Used elsewhere in the period

BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon) gives 'band of soldiers' and compares the Arabic. The Septuagint has 'a king addressing a nation (dēmēgorōn en ethnei)', which seems to reflect a Hebrew text with something like 'standing' and 'people'. Medieval Jewish commentators generally explained it as 'no one can rise against him'.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 30:31 אַלְק֥וּם a band of soldiers

    a strutting rooster; a he-goat; and a king with his army around him.

    Here: This word occurs only here, and its meaning is uncertain. It is usually explained as the Arabic al-qawm, 'the people/the troop', which gives 'with his people or army at his side'. Read as two Hebrew words, ʾal qûm, it gives 'no rising up (against him)'. On either reading the king is secure and unchallenged.

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