תֻּמִּים

From the study of Deuteronomy 33:8

Range of meaning

Objects kept in the high priest's 'breastpiece of judgment' (Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8) and used to get a divine decision, usually a yes/no or this/that answer (Num 27:21; 1 Sam 14:41 in the fuller Greek text; 1 Sam 28:6). Where the words come from is uncertain. Urim is often linked with ʾôr 'light' (or, less likely, ʾārar 'curse'), and Thummim with tāmam 'be complete, blameless, innocent'. Some have suggested a pairing of opposites ('guilty / innocent'), and others note that the words begin with the first and last letters of the alphabet (aleph and tav).

Against the English

English versions just transliterate the words, which is honest because nobody knows exactly what the objects were. The cost is that readers get two unexplained foreign words. The NLT adds 'sacred lots', which is a fair description of what they did. The Vulgate translated them as abstractions ('perfection and teaching'), and the KJV-era English Bible tradition sometimes followed similar glosses in its margins.

How it drifted

Later tradition turned them into something mysterious: shining gems, letters that lit up, or seer stones. The biblical texts present them simply as lots under priestly control.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders them dēlōsis/dēloi ('clarification, manifestation') and alētheia ('truth') (Exod 28:30; here 'his manifestations and his truth'). Josephus (Antiquities 3.214–218) identifies them with stones on the high priest's vestments that shone to signal God's answer, and says they had stopped working long before his time. The Mishnah (Sotah 9:12) says the Urim and Thummim ceased with 'the former prophets'. Ezra 2:63 / Neh 7:65 show that by the return from exile no priest could use them. Lots for consulting a god are also well known elsewhere in the ancient Near East.

From the study of Exodus 28:30

Range of meaning

Generally connected with tamam, "to be complete, whole, blameless, innocent" (compare tom, "integrity," and tamim, "unblemished"). The proposed senses include "perfection," "innocence" (as an oracle verdict), and "completion" (if paired with Urim as an A-to-Z merism, a pair of opposites that together mean the whole).

Against the English

Usually left as "Thummim." YLT's "Perfections" commits to one etymology.

Used elsewhere in the period

Always alongside Urim (Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8; Deut 33:8 in the order "your Thummim and your Urim"; Ezra 2:63; Neh 7:65). LXX Exodus translates alētheia, "truth." The Vulgate has veritas. The Greek choice may reflect the Egyptian custom, reported by Diodorus Siculus (1.48, 1.75) and Aelian (Varia Historia 14.34), of the chief judge wearing a pendant image of Truth (Maat) on his chest while judging.

From the study of Leviticus 8:8

Range of meaning

From the root tāmam, 'to be complete, whole, sound, blameless'. Related words are tām, 'blameless' (used of Job and Jacob), and tāmîm, 'without defect' (used of sacrificial animals, and of Noah and Abraham). As the name of an object it is usually taken to mean 'perfections', 'wholeness' or 'integrity'. If the pair worked like lots, it may have meant 'innocent' or 'yes'.

Against the English

Most English versions leave it untranslated as 'Thummim'. The YLT has 'Perfections'. The Vulgate's veritas and the Septuagint's alētheia, both 'truth', interpret it as truthfulness rather than giving its root meaning.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; Deuteronomy 33:8; Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65. It never appears without the Urim. The Greek of 1 Samuel 14:41 seems to have it as the answer that clears Saul and Jonathan. The Hebrew of the same verse reads tāmîm, 'give a perfect (lot)', which many scholars think is a shortened form of the longer original.