Hebrew word · H8490

תִּימָרָה

vetimarot

column

A column or pillar, specifically of smoke. It occurs only twice: here and in Song 3:6 ('like columns of smoke', of a procession rising from the wilderness, perhaps with incense).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) pillar, column

1a) palm-like spreading at top

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 Joel 2:30

Range of meaning

A column or pillar, specifically of smoke. It occurs only twice: here and in Song 3:6 ('like columns of smoke', of a procession rising from the wilderness, perhaps with incense). It is generally linked to tamar, 'date palm', and tomer, 'palm-shaped post' (Jer 10:5), so it pictures a column shaped like a palm tree: a straight trunk with a spreading top.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'pillars', BSB/ESV 'columns', NIV 'billows'. 'Pillar' and 'column' keep the upright shape; 'billows' keeps the rolling movement but loses the tall vertical picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

HALOT and BDB both connect it with the palm root. Ancient translators found it hard: the Septuagint has atmis kapnou, 'vapour of smoke', and the Vulgate follows with vaporem fumi. Peter's quotation in Acts 2:19 keeps the Septuagint's 'vapour of smoke'. The more common phrase for a smoke column is 'ammud 'ashan (Judg 20:40).

From the study of Song of Songs 3:6

Range of meaning

Columns or plumes (of smoke). It is related to tāmār, 'date palm', and the palm-tree decorations (timōrâ) of the temple. The image is a straight trunk that spreads at the top.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV have 'pillars/columns' (plural, as in the Hebrew). BSB and NIV make it singular, 'a column'. YLT's 'palm-trees of smoke' follows the root literally.

How it drifted

English 'pillar' leads many readers to the Exodus 'pillar of cloud', which is a different Hebrew word, ʿammûd.

Used elsewhere in the period

It occurs only here and in Joel 3:3 (English 2:30), 'blood and fire and columns of smoke', among the signs of the day of the LORD. The Greek Septuagint renders it stelechē, 'trunks/stems', which keeps the tree picture.

Where it appears

Song of Songs · 1

  1. Song of Songs 3:6 כְּתִֽימֲר֖וֹת like columns of

    Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?

    Here: 'Like columns', plural. The word is related to tāmār, 'palm tree'. It pictures smoke rising in straight trunks that spread out at the top like palm crowns.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 2:30 וְתִֽימֲר֖וֹת and columns of

    I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

    Here: A rare word, found only here and in Song 3:6. It is related to tamar, 'palm tree', and pictures smoke rising in a tall trunk and spreading out at the top like a palm's crown: the kind of smoke that rises from a burning city or from Sinai.

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