Hebrew word · H564

אִמֵּר

'imer

Immer

Immer is a personal name that became the name of a priestly division. In 1 Chronicles 24:14 it is the 16th of the 24 priestly courses (rotating groups that took turns serving in the temple). Ezra 2:37 and Nehemiah 7:40 list 1,052 "sons of Immer" among the returning exiles.

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Ch.24.14

§ Immer = "he hath said"

1) a priest in David's time

2) a priest in Jeremiah's time

3) the father of Zadok the priest

4) an ancestor of a priest

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 Nehemiah 3:29

Range of meaning

Immer is a personal name that became the name of a priestly division. In 1 Chronicles 24:14 it is the 16th of the 24 priestly courses (rotating groups that took turns serving in the temple). Ezra 2:37 and Nehemiah 7:40 list 1,052 "sons of Immer" among the returning exiles. A Pashhur son of Immer was a temple official in Jeremiah's day (Jer 20:1).

Against the English

"Son of Immer" sounds to an English reader as if Immer were Zadok's father. In context it most likely means "of the Immer clan."

How it drifted

In Hebrew, "son of" commonly marks family membership across generations, while modern English uses "son of" only for the immediate parent.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezra 2:37; 10:20 ("of the sons of Immer"); Neh 7:40; 11:13; 1 Chr 9:12; 24:14; Jer 20:1.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 9:12 אִמֵּֽר׃ Immer

    Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah; Maasai son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer;

  2. 1 Chronicles 24:14 לְאִמֵּ֖ר to Immer

    the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,

Ezra · 3

  1. Ezra 2:37 אִמֵּ֔ר Immer

    the descendants of Immer, 1,052;

  2. Ezra 2:59 אִמֵּ֑ר Immer

    The following came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not prove that their families were descended from Israel:

  3. Ezra 10:20 אִמֵּ֔ר Immer

    From the descendants of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

Nehemiah · 4

  1. Nehemiah 3:29 אִמֵּ֖ר Immer

    Next to them, Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house, and next to him, Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the guard of the East Gate, made repairs.

    Here: The name of one of the priestly divisions (1 Chr 24:14). A large "Immer" group came back from exile (Ezra 2:37; Neh 7:40), which marks Zadok as almost certainly a priest.

  2. Nehemiah 7:40 אִמֵּ֔ר Immer

    the descendants of Immer, 1,052;

  3. Nehemiah 7:61 וְאִמֵּ֑ר and Immer

    The following came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not prove that their families were descended from Israel:

    Here: A place name here. Immer is also the name of a priestly family (7:40). The supplied tagging marks this occurrence as a personal name, but in this list it most naturally works as the last of the places of origin.

  4. Nehemiah 11:13 אִמֵּֽר׃ Immer

    and his associates, the leaders of families—242 men; Amashai son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer;

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 20:1 אִמֵּ֣ר Immer

    When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

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