StrongerBible

alam

עָלַם

HebrewH5956“hide, conceal, ...”

Appears 28 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Lev 4:13Lev 5:2Lev 5:3Lev 5:4Lev 20:4 (2×)Num 5:13Deu 22:1Deu 22:3Deu 22:41Sa 12:31Ki 10:32Ki 4:272Ch 9:2Job 6:16Job 28:21Job 42:3Psa 10:1Psa 26:4Psa 55:1(2)Psa 90:8Pro 28:27Ecc 12:14Isa 1:15Isa 58:7Lam 3:56Ezk 22:26Nam 3:11
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradeah-LAHMverb

What alam means

to hide or conceal something, or for something to slip out of sight and awareness

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

At its core this verb is about something being out of notice, not just out of place. It can describe a fact, a sin, or a hidden truth that has simply escaped people's attention, and it can describe a person who deliberately looks the other way. That range is what makes it powerful: the same word covers the innocent case (a matter nobody realized) and the guilty one (a duty someone chose not to see).

Three closely linked uses grow out of that center.

  • Something can be hidden or unnoticed, whether by accident or because God alone can see it.
  • A person can conceal something on purpose, keeping a matter from someone else.
  • And in its sharpest use the word appears in a set phrase, "to hide the eyes" from something, which means to knowingly ignore what is right in front of you.

A related turn is reflexive: to "hide oneself" from a person in need, meaning to withdraw and refuse to get involved. The Bible pushes this from a rule about a neighbor's stray animal all the way to accusations against God for seeming to look away in times of trouble, and warnings that God will one day bring every hidden thing into the open.

Nuances

1ato be hidden or escape notice; to slip past someone's awareness, whether by accident or because only God can see it
Lev 4:13Lev 5:2Lev 5:3Lev 5:4Num 5:131Ki 10:32Ch 9:2Job 28:21Psa 90:8Ecc 12:14Nam 3:11
Nam 3:11

How to read a difficult Hebrew word in Nahum 3:11. The received text has a form of the verb "to hide," giving roughly "you too will be hidden" or "pass out of sight," but the sense is awkward and some scholars read a different underlying word.

  • contestedKeep the received text: the city will "be hidden" or drop out of view.; Klaas Spronk, Nahum, Historical Commentary on the Old Testament (1997)
  • contestedRead a different root meaning "grow faint" or "be dazed."; Duane L. Christensen, Nahum, Anchor Bible 24F (2009)
1bpeople who hide their true selves: dissemblers or hypocrites
Psa 26:4
1cto conceal something on purpose; to keep a matter hidden from someone
2Ki 4:27Job 42:3
1dto hide the eyes (or the ear) from something: to deliberately ignore, overlook, or turn a blind eye
Lev 20:4 (2×)1Sa 12:3Psa 10:1Pro 28:27Isa 1:15Lam 3:56Ezk 22:26
1Sa 12:3

Whether the traditional Hebrew text of 1 Samuel 12:3 contains this verb at all. The received text reads "a bribe to hide my eyes with it," but the Greek translation and a Dead Sea Scroll copy read "a pair of sandals," a different word.

  • majorityThe Greek and Qumran reading "a pair of sandals" is original, so this verse does not contain the verb "to hide."; P. Kyle McCarter Jr., I Samuel, Anchor Bible 8 (1980)
  • minorityThe traditional Hebrew reading "to hide my eyes" should be retained.; BDB, p. 761, s.v. עלם
1eto hide oneself from someone: to look away, withdraw, or refuse to get involved
Deu 22:1Deu 22:3Deu 22:4Job 6:16Psa 55:1(2)Isa 58:7

What scholars say about alam

The verb עלם occurs about 28 times and is treated by all modern critical lexicons (HALOT, BDB, DCH, TLOT, TDOT) as meaning "to hide, conceal, escape notice" across its Niphal, Hiphil, and Hithpael stems. TLOT (Jenni and Westermann) distinguishes it from the spatial hiding verbs סתר, כסה, טמן, and חבא by its cognitive, epistemic emphasis: being out of awareness rather than merely out of place, which is why it collocates so often with "eyes" and "ear." Comparative Semitics has established that this verb, together with the noun עֶלֶם "youth," derives from Proto-Semitic *ǵlm, distinct from *ʿlm behind עוֹלָם "eternity"; the two roots fell together only when Canaanite merged ghayin into ayin, a case built by Blau's work on polyphony, reinforced by Steiner and Huehnergard, and reflected in the two separate lemmata in the Ugaritic dictionary DULAT. The verb shows a diachronic development often traced from a priestly-legal use for inadvertent sin that "escaped notice" (Milgrom on Leviticus 4 to 5), through a Deuteronomic ethical demand not to "hide oneself" from a neighbor (Tigay on Deuteronomy 22), to prophetic reversals applying the idiom to God and to the priesthood (Wildberger on Isaiah 1:15; Greenberg on Ezekiel 22:26), and finally to a wisdom and Late Biblical use for "hidden things" open to divine judgment (Seow on Ecclesiastes 12:14; Hossfeld and Zenger on Psalm 90:8). Two occurrences are textually contested: 1 Samuel 12:3, where the Greek and 4QSam read "a pair of sandals" (McCarter), and Nahum 3:11, whose form is difficult (Christensen; Spronk).

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. עלם Ilexicon
  • BDB, pp. 761–762, s.v. עלםlexicon
  • DCH vol. VI, s.v. עלם Ilexicon
  • Ernst Jenni and Claus Westermann, Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, s.v. עלםtheological-dictionary
  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16, Anchor Bible 3 (1991)commentary
  • Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy, JPS Torah Commentary (1996)commentary
  • Hans Wildberger, Isaiah 1–12, Continental Commentary (ET 1991)commentary
  • Moshe Greenberg, Ezekiel 21–37, Anchor Bible 22A (1997)commentary
  • Choon-Leong Seow, Ecclesiastes, Anchor Bible 18C (1997)commentary
  • Joshua Blau, On Polyphony in Biblical Hebrew (1982)monograph
  • Richard C. Steiner, 'On the Dating of Hebrew Sound Changes,' JBL 124 (2005): 229–267article
  • Gregorio del Olmo Lete and Joaquín Sanmartín, A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition, 3rd ed. (Brill, 2015)lexicon
  • P. Kyle McCarter Jr., I Samuel, Anchor Bible 8 (1980)commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of עָלַם

niphal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְנֶעְלַם

Lev 4:13, Lev 5:2, Lev 5:3, Lev 5:4, Num 5:13

hiphil imperfect 2ms

תַּעְלִים, תַּעְלֵם

Psa 10:1, Lam 3:56

hithpael consecutive-perfect 2ms

וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ

Deu 22:1, Deu 22:4

niphal participle m s absolute

נֶעְלָם

1Ki 10:3, Ecc 12:14

hiphil conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וְאַעְלִים

1Sa 12:3

hiphil imperfect 1cs

אַעְלִים

Isa 1:15

hiphil imperfect 3mp

יַעְלִימוּ

Lev 20:4

hiphil infinitive-absolute absolute

הַעְלֵם

Lev 20:4

hiphil participle m s absolute

מַעְלִים

Pro 28:27

hiphil participle m s construct

מַעְלִים

Job 42:3

hiphil perfect 3cp

הֶעְלִימוּ

Ezk 22:26

hiphil perfect 3ms

הֶעְלִים

2Ki 4:27

hithpael imperfect 2ms

תִתְעַלָּם

Isa 58:7

hithpael imperfect 3ms

יִתְעַלֶּם

Job 6:16

hithpael infinitive-construct construct

הִתְעַלֵּם

Deu 22:3

hithpael jussive 2ms

תִּתְעַלַּם

Psa 55:1

niphal consecutive-perfect 3fs

וְנֶעֶלְמָה

Job 28:21

niphal participle f s absolute

נַעֲלָמָה

Nam 3:11

niphal participle m p absolute

נַעֲלָמִים

Psa 26:4

niphal perfect 3ms

נֶעְלַם

2Ch 9:2

qal passive-participle m s construct

עֲלֻמֵ

Psa 90:8