Hebrew word · H554

אָמֹץ

'amutzim

strong

The word comes from the root ʾ-m-ṣ, "be strong, firm, bold" (as in the common charge "be strong and courageous," ḥăzaq weʾĕmāṣ). The adjective ʾāmōṣ appears only in Zechariah 6:3 and 6:7. Because it is so rare, its exact sense is uncertain.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 21, 2026

What it means

1) strong

2) bay, dappled, piebald (of colour)

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 Zechariah 6:7

Range of meaning: The word comes from the root ʾ-m-ṣ, "be strong, firm, bold" (as in the common charge "be strong and courageous," ḥăzaq weʾĕmāṣ). The adjective ʾāmōṣ appears only in Zechariah 6:3 and 6:7. Because it is so rare, its exact sense is uncertain. The lexicons offer "strong" (BDB) and also raise the possibility of a colour term. Some have connected it with ḥāmûṣ, "bright red, crimson" (Isa 63:1), which could support a reddish colour such as "bay."
Against the English: "Strong" (BSB, WEB, YLT, ESV, NASB) and "powerful" (NIV, NLT) follow the root. KJV's "bay" (a reddish-brown horse) follows the colour interpretation, which is also how the Greek translation took it ("dappled grey"). These are not two shades of one meaning. They reflect a real uncertainty about what the word is.
Used elsewhere in the period: The Septuagint renders it psaroi ("starling-coloured, dappled grey") in both 6:3 and 6:7, which treats it as a colour. Latin tradition (the Vulgate) takes it as strength ("the strongest"). In 6:3 it follows beruddîm, "spotted/dappled," without "and" between them. That arrangement can be read as "dappled, strong horses" or as a second colour.

Where it appears

Zechariah · 2

Zechariah 6:3 אֲמֻצִּֽים׃ strong

the third white horses, and the fourth dappled horses—all of them strong.
Zechariah 6:7 וְהָאֲמֻצִּ֣ים and the strong [horses]

As the strong horses went out, they were eager to go and patrol the earth; and the LORD said, “Go and patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.

Here: "And the strong ones." The word is a description used as a noun for the last team of horses, or possibly for all of them. Its root means strength, but in 6:3 it stands next to a colour word ("dappled"), so ancient and modern readers have also taken it as a colour, such as KJV's "bay."

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