Hebrew word · H523

אֻמָּה

'umot

people

A people or tribal group bound by kinship. The word is rare in Hebrew: here, Num 25:15 (a Midianite 'head of the peoples of a father's house,' which is clan level), and Ps 117:1 ('all you peoples').

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

people, tribe, nation

Aramaic equivalent: um.mah (אֻמָּה "people" H0524)

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 Genesis 25:16

Range of meaning

A people or tribal group bound by kinship. The word is rare in Hebrew: here, Num 25:15 (a Midianite 'head of the peoples of a father's house,' which is clan level), and Ps 117:1 ('all you peoples'). It is more common in Aramaic (Daniel, Ezra), and the same word survives in Arabic as umma, 'community, people.' Related words in Akkadian, such as ummānu ('troop, host, people'), point to a group of people rather than a territory or state.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'nations' invites the modern idea of a nation-state with borders and a government. BSB/ESV/NASB 'tribes' fits the scale described here better.

How it drifted

'Nation' has shifted since the 1600s from 'a people of common descent' (Latin natio, from nasci, 'to be born') to a political state. The older sense was close to the Hebrew; the modern one is not.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 25:15 uses ʾummōt for Midianite clans under a single 'father's house,' which shows the small, kin-based scale of the word. The Septuagint here renders it with ethnē, 'peoples.' Interestingly, this matches God's promise to make Ishmael a gôy gādôl, 'a great nation' (Gen 17:20; 21:18).

From the study of Psalm 117:1

Range of meaning

People, tribe, kin-group. It appears in the Bible only here and as ummot in Genesis 25:16 (the tribes of Ishmael) and Numbers 25:15 (a Midianite clan). It is the ordinary word for "nation" in Aramaic and later Hebrew (the rabbinic phrase ummot ha-olam, "the nations of the world"), and Arabic umma is related.

Against the English

"Peoples" (BSB, WEB, ESV, NIV, NASB) correctly keeps the plural. KJV's "all ye people" is plural in older English, but modern readers can take it as one population or as "everybody". NLT's "people of the earth" makes the worldwide scope explicit.

How it drifted

KJV's "people" had a plural feel in 1611 that a modern ear does not hear. Modern versions restore it by writing "peoples".

Used elsewhere in the period

Its rarity in the Bible and frequency in Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew (the Hebrew of the early rabbis) suggest a later layer of the language. The Septuagint renders it λαοί (laoi, "peoples").

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 25:16 לְאֻמֹּתָֽם׃ to tribes their

    These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were their names by their villages and encampments—twelve princes of their tribes.

    Here: A rare word for a kin-based people or tribal group. 'According to their tribes' means each chief stands at the head of his own people.

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 25:15 אֻמּ֥וֹת tribes

    And the name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 117:1 הָאֻמִּֽים׃ the peoples

    Praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples!

    Here: "The peoples": the nations seen as kin-groups or populations. The word is rare in the Bible (elsewhere only Gen 25:16; Num 25:15) and common in later Aramaic and rabbinic Hebrew. It pairs with goyim to say "every people on earth".

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