Hebrew word · H6014

עָמַר

vehit'amer-

to tyranise

This form occurs only twice in the Bible, here and in Deut 21:14. Both times it appears alongside selling a person. Proposed meanings: "treat as a slave/chattel", "deal tyrannically or violently with", or "use as merchandise". The root's origin is uncertain.

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

What it means

1) to manipulate, deal tyrannically with

1a) (Hithpael) to treat as a slave

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 Deuteronomy 24:7

Range of meaning

This form occurs only twice in the Bible, here and in Deut 21:14. Both times it appears alongside selling a person. Proposed meanings: "treat as a slave/chattel", "deal tyrannically or violently with", or "use as merchandise". The root's origin is uncertain. Lexicons give glosses such as "deal tyrannically with" (BDB) and "treat as a slave / handle violently" (HALOT), and they acknowledge that the evidence is thin.

Against the English

KJV "maketh merchandise of him". BSB, NLT, WEB: "treats/deals with him as a slave". NASB: "deals with him violently". YLT: "tyrannized over him". The renderings differ because the word is rare. Each captures part of a picture in which the victim is reduced to an object that can be used, abused, or sold.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 21:14: a captive woman taken as a wife may be released but "you shall not sell her for money; you shall not titʿammer her". The Greek Septuagint translates our verse with katadynasteusas, "having overpowered/oppressed". Rabbinic interpretation (Sifre Deuteronomy; Rashi) took it as "making use of" the victim's labour, and KJV's "merchandise" reflects that tradition. No outside evidence settles the meaning.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 21:14 תִתְעַמֵּ֣ר you will treat as a slave

    And if you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. But you must not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

  2. Deuteronomy 24:7 וְהִתְעַמֶּר־ and he will treat as a slave

    If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you.

    Here: A rare verb found only here and in Deut 21:14, where it also sits beside "selling" a person. It means handling someone as your own disposable property: using him as a slave, or dealing with him by force. Its exact shade is debated (see studies).

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 129:7 מְעַמֵּֽר׃ [one who] binds sheaves

    unable to fill the hands of the reaper, or the arms of the binder of sheaves.

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