StrongerBible

za'am

זָעַם

HebrewH2194curse, indignation, ...

Appears 12 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Num 23:7Num 23:8 (2×)Psa 7:11(12)Pro 22:14Pro 24:24Pro 25:23Isa 66:14Dan 11:30Mic 6:10Zec 1:12Mal 1:4
Root family
Word studyzah-AHMverb

What za'am means

to condemn in anger: to burn with indignation against someone, and to voice that anger as a denunciation or curse.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This word ties together two things English usually splits apart: a feeling and a verdict. It names hot, condemning anger, and in the same breath the act of speaking that anger against its target. So the God who "is indignant" with the wicked every day and the seer asked to "denounce" a nation are doing the one same thing with this single word.

Most often the anger belongs to God, and it is the settled, judicial kind rather than a flash of temper: a righteous fury against wrongdoing that can smolder for years, as when the angel asks how long the LORD will withhold mercy after seventy years of indignation. When people are the ones denouncing, the word carries the force of pronouncing someone condemned, which is why it stands beside the ordinary Hebrew verbs for cursing (קָבַב, אָרַר) in Balaam's refusal to curse Israel.

The same idea can be turned around so that a person or thing is on the receiving end: something may be "denounced," meaning marked out as under condemnation, like the short, cheating measure the LORD rejects. Whether the anger is felt, spoken, or received, the constant is a hostile displeasure that passes sentence.

Nuances

1ato be indignant; to burn with condemning anger, most often God's settled wrath against evil
Psa 7:11(12)Pro 25:23Isa 66:14Dan 11:30Zec 1:12Mal 1:4
1bto denounce; to pronounce doom or a curse on someone, or (passively) to be marked out as accursed
Num 23:7Num 23:8 (2×)Pro 22:14Pro 24:24Mic 6:10

What scholars say about za'am

The standard critical lexicons (BDB; HALOT) treat זעם as a single root meaning to be indignant and, by extension, to express that indignation in speech as a denunciation or curse. The two nuances are not separate homonyms but one field of angry condemnation, with the emotive sense predominating where God is the subject (Psalm 7:11; Malachi 1:4; Zechariah 1:12) and the performative curse-sense in the Balaam oracles (Numbers 23:7-8), where זעם stands in poetic parallel with קבב and ארר. The passive participle (Micah 6:10; Proverbs 22:14) yields the resulting state of being denounced or accursed. TWOT and TDOT note the frequently judicial coloring of the divine indignation, distinguishing it from a merely impulsive anger.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. זעםlexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. זעםlexicon
  • R. Laird Harris et al., eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT), s.v. זעםdictionary
  • B. Wiklander, "זעם," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT) 4:106-111dictionary

All attested forms of זָעַם

qal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְזָעַם

Isa 66:14, Dan 11:30

qal perfect 3ms

זָעַם

Num 23:8, Mal 1:4

niphal participle m p absolute

נִזְעָמִים

Pro 25:23

qal imperative 2ms

זֹעֲמָ

Num 23:7

qal imperfect 1cs

אֶזְעֹם

Num 23:8

qal imperfect 3mp

יִזְעָמוּ

Pro 24:24

qal participle m s absolute

זֹעֵם

Psa 7:11

qal passive-participle f s absolute

זְעוּמָה

Mic 6:10

qal passive-participle m s construct

זְעוּם

Pro 22:14

qal perfect 2ms

זָעַמְתָּה

Zec 1:12