Hebrew word · H98

אֲגַם

'agam-

pool

Standing water with reeds, a marsh or swampy pool. The plural can mean reed-beds themselves (Jer 51:32, where the ʾăḡammîm are "burned with fire"). It is related to Akkadian agammu, "swamp, marsh."

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) pool, troubled pool

1a) troubled or muddy (gloomy) pools, marshes

1b) any pool, pond

1c) swamp reeds, reeds, rush(es)

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 Isaiah 35:7

Range of meaning

Standing water with reeds, a marsh or swampy pool. The plural can mean reed-beds themselves (Jer 51:32, where the ʾăḡammîm are "burned with fire"). It is related to Akkadian agammu, "swamp, marsh."

Against the English

"Pool" is accurate, but to modern ears it can suggest a small, clear basin. The Hebrew picture is wetter and greener: a reed-fringed pond or marsh.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 41:18 ("I will make the wilderness a pool of water"). Ps 107:35 and 114:8 (God turns rock or desert into an ʾăḡam). Exod 7:19 and 8:5 (the pools of Egypt).

From the study of Isaiah 14:23

Range of meaning

"A pool or marsh of water": a pond, reedy swamp, or standing water. Elsewhere it is used both of fertile pools (Isa 41:18; Ps 107:35) and of stagnant marsh (Isa 35:7).

Against the English

KJV and WEB "pools of water" is literal. BSB and NIV "swamplands" bring out the sense of ruin, which suits the setting.

Used elsewhere in the period

Babylon sat on the Euphrates and depended on a dense network of canals. In his Bavian inscription, the Assyrian king Sennacherib boasts that when he destroyed Babylon in 689 BC he dug through the city and flooded it, leaving it like a meadow. Classical writers such as Strabo describe the site as largely deserted in later centuries.

From the study of Isaiah 41:18

Range of meaning

A pool, pond, marsh or reedy swamp: standing water, usually with reeds. Related to Akkadian agammu, 'marsh, lagoon'. The plural is used for the pools of Egypt (Ex 7:19; 8:1).

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'a pool of water', YLT 'a pond'. The English is accurate, though 'pool' may suggest something small. In Mesopotamia the word called up wide reed-marshes.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 107:35 and 114:8 ('who turns the rock into a pool of water'). In Isa 14:23 the same image runs the other way: Babylon is turned into 'pools of water' (agmei mayim), a swamp for hedgehogs, as judgment. In Isa 42:15 God threatens to 'dry up the pools'.

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 7:19 אַגְמֵיהֶ֗ם ponds their

    And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and all the reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.”

    Here: Reedy pools and marsh water, the kind left behind in low ground after the yearly flood, and common in the Delta.

  2. Exodus 8:5 הָאֲגַמִּ֑ים the ponds

    And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’”

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 107:35 לַֽאֲגַם־ into a pool of

    He turns a desert into pools of water and a dry land into flowing springs.

    Here: Standing water: a pool or marsh that holds water all year, the kind of place where reeds grow. It is the exact opposite of a dry wilderness.

  2. Psalm 114:8 אֲגַם־ a pool of

    who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a fountain of water!

    Here: A standing body of water, a pond or reedy marsh. Here it is the thing the rock becomes, with no preposition, which makes the change sound sudden and total: rock, then pool.

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 14:23 וְאַגְמֵי־ and reed-pools of

    “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

    Here: "And reed-pools of." Standing water full of reeds: a picture of Babylon's canals and irrigated fields left to turn into swamp.

  2. Isaiah 35:7 לַאֲגַ֔ם <into> a pool

    The parched ground will become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water. In the haunt where jackals once lay, there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.

    Here: "Into a pool." An ʾăḡam is standing water with reeds around it, a marshy pond, not a tidy basin. Elsewhere in Isaiah God promises to turn the wilderness into one (41:18).

  3. Isaiah 41:18 לַאֲגַם־ <into> a pool of

    I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.

    Here: 'Into a pool or marsh of…' An agam is standing water with reeds. The steppe becomes the opposite of itself: a wetland.

  4. Isaiah 42:15 וַאֲגַמִּ֖ים and pools

    I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.

    Here: 'And pools / reed-marshes', standing water edged with reeds. This undoes 41:18, where God turns desert into exactly such a pool (ʾăgam).

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 51:32 הָאֲגַמִּ֖ים the reed-marshes

    The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”

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