Hebrew word · H6012

עָמֵק

'imkei

unfathomable

ʿāmēq means deep, as in deep water or a deep pit. Figuratively it means unsearchable or hard to get to the bottom of (Proverbs 18:4, 20:5; Ecclesiastes 7:24, 'deep, deep, who can find it out?'). śāpâ is 'lip', and by extension 'speech, language' (Genesis 11:1, 'one lip').

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) deep, unfathomable

1a) unintelligible (of speech)

Aramaic equivalent: a.miq (עֲמִיק "deep" H5994)

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 Isaiah 33:19

Range of meaning

ʿāmēq means deep, as in deep water or a deep pit. Figuratively it means unsearchable or hard to get to the bottom of (Proverbs 18:4, 20:5; Ecclesiastes 7:24, 'deep, deep, who can find it out?'). śāpâ is 'lip', and by extension 'speech, language' (Genesis 11:1, 'one lip'). Together, 'deep of lip' is a fixed Hebrew phrase for a foreign language whose words are opaque.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: 'deeper speech' / 'deep speech'. BSB: 'unintelligible'. ESV and NIV: 'obscure speech'. The literal 'deep' is accurate Hebrew, but in English 'deep speech' means profound or wise. The Hebrew means the opposite: speech you cannot get anything out of.

How it drifted

English 'deep' applied to words or thought has long meant 'profound, weighty'. In Hebrew idiom the depth here means hidden and out of reach, not wisdom.

Used elsewhere in the period

The exact phrase appears in Ezekiel 3:5–6: 'not to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue (ʿimqê śāpâ wəkibdê lāšôn)… whose words you cannot understand'. There it plainly means foreign languages. The Septuagint here seems to use a word meaning 'deep-voiced' (bathyphōnos), keeping the image.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 9:18 בְּעִמְקֵ֖י [are] in [the] depths of

    But they do not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 33:19 עִמְקֵ֤י [too] unintelligible of

    You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

    Here: 'Deep of' in the sense of hard to get to the bottom of, like deep water. Joined to 'lip' it means obscure speech that cannot be made out. It does not mean profound. It also echoes the sound of ʿam ('people'): ʿam ʿimqê.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 3:5 עִמְקֵ֥י deep of

    For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel—

  2. Ezekiel 3:6 עִמְקֵ֤י deep of

    not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.

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