Aramaic word · H8540
תְּמַהּ
vetimhin
wonder
A wonder, a marvel: something that astonishes. The related verb in Hebrew (tāmah) means to be astounded or dumbfounded. Biblical Aramaic uses it only in Daniel 3:32–33 and 6:28.
A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·
What it means
wonder, miracle
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
- Range of meaning
A wonder, a marvel: something that astonishes. The related verb in Hebrew (tāmah) means to be astounded or dumbfounded. Biblical Aramaic uses it only in Daniel 3:32–33 and 6:28.
- Against the English
'Wonders' is a good rendering. The word looks at the event from the side of the people watching it. A 'sign' points; a 'wonder' stuns.
- Used elsewhere in the period
It stands where Hebrew would use môp̄ēt in the fixed pair 'signs and wonders'. The same Aramaic pair appears in later Aramaic Bible translations (Targums) of the Exodus passages.
- Range of meaning
A wonder, a marvel, a deed that astounds. The related verb in Hebrew and Aramaic means to be stunned or dumbfounded (compare Dan 3:24, where Nebuchadnezzar is "astonished," a related word tǝwah).
- Against the English
"Wonders" is accurate, but in English it can sound pleasant, like "wonderful." Here the sense is overwhelming astonishment, even shock.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Found only in Dan 4:2, 4:3 and 6:27, always paired with ʾāt. The pair is the Aramaic counterpart of the Hebrew formula "signs and wonders" (ʾōtōt ûmōp̄tîm), used for God's acts against Pharaoh in Egypt (Deut 4:34; 6:22; 7:19; 26:8; Jer 32:20–21).
Where it appears
Daniel · 3
-
Daniel 4:2 וְתִמְהַיָּ֔א and wonders the
I am pleased to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
Here: 'And the wonders.' Things that leave people stunned. Paired with 'signs', it echoes the stock Hebrew phrase for God's great acts in Egypt, here put in Aramaic and in a foreign king's mouth.
-
Daniel 4:3 וְתִמְה֖וֹהִי and [are] wonders his
How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to generation.
Here: "And his wonders": deeds that astonish and leave people dumbfounded. The word is about the reaction of the people who see the deed, where "signs" is about what the deed points to.
-
Daniel 6:27 וְתִמְהִ֔ין and wonders
He delivers and rescues; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth, for He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”
Here: 'And wonders': things that leave people astonished. Paired with 'signs', it forms a stock phrase for God's extraordinary interventions.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.