Aramaic word · H7011

קַיָּם

kaiyamah

enduring

From qûm, "stand, rise": standing, lasting, firm, enduring, permanent. Also used of a kingdom that "will be sure" (Dan 4:26, qayyāmāh).

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. · Updated November 15, 2026

What it means

secure, enduring

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: From qûm, "stand, rise": standing, lasting, firm, enduring, permanent. Also used of a kingdom that "will be sure" (Dan 4:26, qayyāmāh).
Against the English: BSB "endures"; ESV and others "enduring"; KJV/WEB "stedfast"; YLT "abiding." "Steadfast" now suggests loyal commitment, which is not the main sense.
How it drifted: In 1611 "stedfast" still meant firmly fixed, standing fast. Modern English uses it mostly of faithful, unwavering people.
Used elsewhere in the period: The same root runs through this chapter's legal plot: the officials want the king "to establish a statute" (ləqayyāmāh qəyām, 6:7), and "no interdict or statute (qəyām) that the king establishes (yəhāqêm) may be changed" (6:15).

Range of meaning: From the root qûm, 'stand, rise'. It means standing, lasting, firm, secure. It describes God, 'the living God, enduring (qayyām) forever' (Daniel 6:26, Eng.), and a decree that stands firm (6:7, Eng. 'establish a statute').
Against the English: KJV has 'shall be sure unto thee'. YLT has 'abideth'. ESV and NASB have 'confirmed' or 'assured'. BSB, WEB and NIV have 'restored', and NLT has 'you will receive your kingdom back again'.
Used elsewhere in the period: Biblical Aramaic: Daniel 6:26 (God enduring); related verb forms in Daniel 2:44 ('it shall stand forever'), 6:7. The same root is common in later Aramaic (Targums) for 'established, lasting'.

Daniel · 2

Daniel 4:26 קַיָּמָ֑ה [will be] enduring

As for the command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots, your kingdom will be restored to you as soon as you acknowledge that Heaven rules.

Here: 'Standing, lasting, secure.' The kingship 'remains standing' for him, just as the stump remains standing in the ground. English 'restored' gives the end result; the Aramaic picture is that the kingdom is kept intact for him.
Daniel 6:26 וְקַיָּם֙ and enduring

I hereby decree that in every part of my kingdom, men are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel: For He is the living God, and He endures forever; His kingdom will never be destroyed, and His dominion will never end.

Here: "Standing firm, lasting." It comes from the root "to stand/rise" that the chapter used for the king's binding statute (qəyām, 6:7, 15). Darius's statute was supposed to stand; God is the one who truly stands.

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