Hebrew word · H6004

עָמַם

'amamuhu

to darken

A rare verb, generally tied to the idea of being dark or dim. Its only other biblical occurrence is Ezekiel 31:8: 'the cedars in the garden of God could not ʿāmam it', usually translated 'rival' or 'eclipse'. A related verb in Lamentations 4:1 (ʿûm) describes gold growing dim.

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

What it means

1) to dim, darken, grow dark

1a) (Qal) to dim, eclipse, be held dark

1b) (Hophal) to be dimmed, grow dark

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 Ezekiel 28:3

Range of meaning

A rare verb, generally tied to the idea of being dark or dim. Its only other biblical occurrence is Ezekiel 31:8: 'the cedars in the garden of God could not ʿāmam it', usually translated 'rival' or 'eclipse'. A related verb in Lamentations 4:1 (ʿûm) describes gold growing dim. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'darken, dim' and, for the Ezekiel passages, 'be a match for, eclipse, outshine'.

Against the English

Most English versions turn the whole clause into 'no secret is hidden from you', which keeps the basic sense but loses the image. NASB's 'no secret that is a match for you' and NJPS's similar 'compare to' follow the 'eclipse/rival' sense.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 31:8 (twice, parallel to 'could not equal it'). The Septuagint seems not to have understood the verb in 28:3 and produced 'the wise have not instructed you'. Ancient Aramaic and later Jewish interpreters generally took it as 'hidden from'.

From the study of Lamentations 4:1

Range of meaning

To be dark, dim or obscured; in its other uses, to be hidden from or overshadowed. This verb is passive: "is made dark."

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT and ESV stay close with "dim." NASB's "dark" is also close and may be the strongest. BSB's "tarnished" and NIV's "lost its luster" read easily, but they suggest ordinary surface wear.

How it drifted

This is a matter of translation choice, not historical word change. "Tarnished" is an everyday word for silverware, and real gold famously does not tarnish. The poem's picture is of something that should not happen.

Used elsewhere in the period

Very rare in the Bible. BDB lists only two other uses: Ezekiel 28:3 (no secret is hidden from the king of Tyre) and Ezekiel 31:8 (other trees could not overshadow the great cedar). In later rabbinic Hebrew the root describes coals that have died down (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 53b), though that usage is much later than this poem. Lamentations 2:1 opens with a similar darkening image: the Lord "clouds" Daughter Zion in his anger.

Where it appears

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 4:1 יוּעַ֣ם it is dimmed

    How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.

    Here: "Is made dark." The form is passive, so the gold has had something done to it, and no one is named as doing it. This is a rare, literary verb, stronger than ordinary dulling.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 28:3 עֲמָמֽוּךָ׃ people hold dark from you

    Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you!

    Here: A rare verb, literally 'they have (not) darkened / dimmed you'. The hidden things are pictured as unable to cast you into the dark or outshine you: none is too obscure for you, none is a match for you. It occurs again only in Ezekiel 31:8, where no cedar could 'rival/eclipse' the great tree.

  2. Ezekiel 31:8 עֲמָמֻהוּ֮ they eclipsed it

    The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.

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